Psalm 111/Notes/Verbal.V. 5.801046

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  • Several modern translations render נתן with a present/timeless verb: "he gives/provides food".[1] The qatal form, however, is more likely past perfective: he gave.[2]
  • The past-perfective qatal clause in v. 6a ('he gave') is followed by a future yiqtol clause in v. 6b: he will remember his covenant forever.[3] The provision of food in the wilderness (v. 6a) was one historical expression of YHWH's covenant remembrance. The 'covenant' referred to here is probably the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.[4]
  1. ↑ NLT, NET, NIV, ESV, CEV, GNT; cf. LUT, ZÜR.
  2. ↑ So LXX: ἔδωκεν; cf. EÜ, NGÜ.
  3. ↑ Alternatively, it might be that the second clause/line (v. 6b) is in some sense subordinate to the first (v. 6a): "he gave food... remembering his covenant" (cf. Symmachus: μνημονεύων αἰωνίου συνθήκης αὐτοῦ). Niccacci has argued that in past-tense contexts, "the line of information with x-yiqtol/weqatal does not stand on the same level with the line of information with qatal/wayyiqtol, but the former is subservient to the latter—it specifies it in different ways according to various context situations" (Niccacci 2006; cf. Ps 78).
  4. ↑ Cf. Ps 105:8–11. "It is 'remembering his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' (cf. Exod 2:24) that moves YHWH to free oppressed Israel from Egypt and give it the land promised to the ancestors (cf. Exod 6:2-8)" (Hossfeld and Zenger 2011:164).