Psalm 111 Grammar

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About the Grammar Layer

The grammar layer visually represents the grammar and syntax of each clause. It also displays alternative interpretations of the grammar. (For more information, click "Expand" to the right.)

The grammatical diagram provides a way to visualise how different parts of a sentence work together. It represents the “surface-level” grammar, or morphosyntax, of a sentence. Morphosyntax includes both the form of words (morphology) and their placement in the sentence (syntax). This approach to visualising the text, based on the Reed-Kellogg diagramming method, places the grammatical subject in one slot, the verb in another slot, and modifiers and connectives in other slots.

For a detailed description of our method, see the Grammar Creator Guidelines.

Grammar Visuals for Psalm 111

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Grammatical Term	Definition	Diagram	Example
Clausal Additions
Subject	The subject performs the action of the active verb or receives the action of a passive verb. With intransitive verbs	Indicated at the beginning of the main clausal line, and followed by a vertical line that crosses over the main clause line (separating the subject from the predicate).
Direct Object	Object that receives the direct action of a (transitive) verb	Indicate with a vertical line up from main clausal line
Predicate adjective/ Subject complement	A word used with a linking verb (ex. "to be"), renaming or restating the subject. Can be a whole prepositional phrase.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line. It can be on a stand if it is an embedded clause.
Object Complement	Word following a direct object to state what it has become.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line.
Infinitives	Can be subject, adverbial, or an infinitive construct.	Indicate with double vertical lines that cross the main clausal line. If used adverbially (ie. an embedded clause), place on a stand.
Participles	A verbal noun/adjective that can be used in three positions: (1) substantival; (2) attributive; (3) predicative.	Indicate with a round vertical line. Substantival participles are placed on a stand (they are embedded). Attributive participles are placed with a rounded line underneath what is modified.
Modifiers
Adjectives	A word modifying a noun to indicate quality, quantity, extent, or differentiating something from something else.	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Adverbs	A word that modifies a verb, adverb, adjective, prepositional phrase, clause, or sentence to express a relation (ex. manner, quality, or time).	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Construct relationships	Construction can express many different relationships between two (or more) nouns. English grammarians call this construction a ‘Construct’ (our term) or ‘Genitive’ phrase; Hebrew grammarians call it smīḵūt (סְמִיכוּת).	Indicate with a stair-step down from the modified word/clause/phrase.
Prepositional phrases	A phrase that consists of a preposition and its object and has adjectival or adverbial value	Indicate with a slanted vertical line connecting to a new clause.
Connectives	(1) Coordinating conjunctions join together words or word groups of equal grammatical rank (2) Subordinating conjunctions join a main clause and a clause which does not form a complete sentence by itself.	Indicate with a dashed line down from a vertical line marker.
Embedded clause	A clause inside another clause which can include substantival participles, adverbial infinitives, and prepositional phrases.	Indicate using stilts.
Particles
Subordinating particle	Indicates a dependent clause.	Indicate with a dashed line down from the antecedent to the pronoun.
Apposition	A word that is functioning as an explanatory equivalent as another in the sentence	Place on a line apart from the diagram but next to the word it is the equivalent of with an equal sign in between.
Vocative	Indicating a person being addressed (usually with a 2nd person verb)	Place on a line apart from the diagram next to the '()' indicating the gapped subject an equal sign in between.

Master Diagram

v. 1

• Is הַלְלוּ יָהּ a clause ("praise Yah") or a single-word exclamation ("Hallelujah!")?
  
  In the MT, הַלְלוּ יָהּ is treated as two words; sometimes הַלְלוּ and יָהּ are joined by maqqef, and, when they are not, each word receives its own accent (e.g., Ps. 111:1 - הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ ׀). The division of הַלְלוּ יָהּ into two words suggests (though it does not require) that the words are understood as a clause: "praise Yah." By contrast, the LXX does not translate הַלְלוּ יָהּ as a clause, but rather transliterates הַלְלוּ יָהּ as an exclamation: Αλληλουια (cf. Revelation 19: Αλληλουια; Jerome: Alleluia; Targum: הללויה; so HALOT). In the DSS, הללו יה is sometimes written as two words (e.g., 4QPsf Apostrophe to Judah) and sometimes as one (e.g., 4QPsd, 4QPse), though sometimes it is difficult to tell. In the Babylonian manuscript EC1 (Ps. 106:48), הללויה is written clearly as a single word.

If הללויה was added by the final editors of the psalter not too long before the LXX was translated, then it should probably be interpreted as the LXX understood it: as a single-word exclamation.

• The preposition בְּ, although prefixed to סוד, governs סוד and עדה (cf. LXX: ἐν βουλῇ εὐθείων καὶ συναγωγῇ).

v. 2

• The word חֶפְצֵיהֶם may be the plural from the noun חֵפֶץ (so LXX [τὰ θελήματα αὐτοῦ] and Jerome [voluntatibus suis]) or a plural participle/adjective of חָפֵץ (so Peshitta [ܠܟܠ ܕܨܒܝܢ ܒܗܘܢ], Targum [לכל דצביין להון]; cf. Radak [וחפציהם. תואר מן חפץ חפצים]). The parallel in v. 10 (לכל־עשׂיהם) supports reading חֶפְצֵיהֶם as a participle, as does the fact that a lamed prepositional phrase sometimes indicates the agent of a passive participle (e.g., ברוך ליהוה). We might have expected the plural participle to be vocalized חֲפֵצִים > חֲפֵצֵהֶם (e.g., חֲפֵצֵי in Pss. 35:27; 40:15), but the heavy 3mp suffix might explain the vowel reduction. In any case, the form is analogous to כָּל־שִׂמְחֵי־לֵֽב in Is. 24:7 (cf. שְׂמֵחֵי רָעָתִי in Ps. 35:26).

v. 3

• On the form לָעַד and the qametz under ל, see GKC 102i. Compare לָנֶצַח.

v. 4

• The prepositional phrase לְנִפְלְאֹתָיו modifies זֵכֶר. So LXX: μνείαν ἐποιήσατο τῶν θαυμασίων αὐτοῦ; Jerome: memoriam fecit mirabilium suorum. The thing "remembered" (stimulus) is sometimes indicated by a lamed PP: Jer 31:34 (וּלְחַטָּאתָם לֹא אֶזְכָּר־עֹוד); 2 Chron. 6:42 (זָכְרָה לְחַֽסְדֵי דָּוִיד).

v. 5

v. 6

vv. 7-8

• The word יָשָׁר in v. 8 is, in every other instance, an adjective. But it is difficult to read it as an adjective in this context. There are at least two possible interpretations of יָשָׁר as an adjective in this context.
  • Some read יָשָׁר as predicate adjective: "[they are] done in faithfulness and [they are] upright (ZÜR [in Treue geschaffen und gerecht]).<ref<Hupfeld 1871, 208.</ref> The description thus corresponds to Ps. 19:9, where YHWH's פקודים are also described as ישרים. The problem with this interpretation is that the subject (פִּקּוּדָיו) would be plural and the predicate adjective (יָשָׁר) singular, though there may be support for this in Ps. 119:137 (וְיָשָׁר מִשְׁפָּטֶֽיךָ).
  • Others read יָשָׁר as an adverbial accusative modifying עשוים: "done in faithfulness and (by) one who is upright."

Most commentators, however, choose to revocalize the adjective יָשָׁר to the noun יֹשֶר. All of the ancient versions translate ישר with a noun: LXX (ἐν ἀληθείᾳ καὶ εὐθύτητι), Peshitta (ܒܙܕܝܩܘܬܐ ܘܒܩܘܫܬܐ), Jerome (in veritate et aequitate), Targum (בקושטא ותירוצא).

Some commentators argue for the same interpretation of ישר as an abstract noun but without any need to revocalize the text. They argue that יָשָׁר, which is normally an adjective, here acts as an abstract noun (this possibility is listed in BDB), just as תמים, which is usually an adjective, acts as an abstract noun in Judges 9:16, 19 (בֶּאֱמֶת וּבְתָמִים) and Joshua 24:14 (בְּתָמִים וּבֶאֱמֶת) (so Ehrlich 1905:283; Dahood 1970:124). It is not unusual for adjectives to function like abstract nouns in biblical Hebrew (e.g., טוֹב and רַע). Cf. Radak: עשויים באמת ובדרך ישר. Cf. טוֹב in Ps. 21:4—בִּרְכ֣וֹת ט֑וֹב.

For more information see the exegetical issue The Text, Grammar, and Meaning of Ps. 111:8b.

v. 9

v. 10

Bibliography

Allen, Leslie. 2002. Psalms 101-150. Vol. 3. Word Biblical Commentary 21. Revised edition. Waco: Word Books.

Baethgen, Friedrich. 1904. Die Psalmen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.

Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar, and Erich Zenger. 2011. Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalms 101-150. Edited by Klaus Baltzer. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Hermeneia. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.

Hupfeld, Hermann. 1871. Die Psalmen. Vol. 4. Gotha: F.A. Perthes.

Jenni, Ernst. 2000. Die Hebräischen Präpositionen Band 3: Die Präposition Lamed;;. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer.

Robertson, O. 2015. “The Strategic Placement of the ‘Hallelu-Yah’ Psalms within the Psalter.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 2: 165–68.