Psalm 121/Macrosyntax/Notes

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  • The macrosyntactic features observed at this layer do not suggest any particular division of the text into smaller units.
  • v. 6.
    • The non-default word order in v. 6 creates a chiasm:[1] A. "during the day"; B. "the sun"; C. "will not strike you"; B'. "the moon"; A'. "at night". Lunn argues that the word order in this verse might be marking a literary peak in the psalm.[2] Indeed, v. 6 further stands out as being the only verse in vv. 3–8 that does not have the word שׁמר. This word occurs three times before v. 6 and three times after it.
    • In addition to creating a chiastic pattern, the fronted adverbial "during the day" could function as a frame-setter.
  • vv. 7–8. The subject-predicate word order in vv. 7a, 8a matches the subject-predicate word order in v. 5. Note especially the similarity between יְהוָה שֹׁמְרֶךָ in v. 5a (the beginning of a poetic section) and יְהוָה יִשְׁמָרְךָ in v. 7a (the beginning of the next poetic section). Thus, the non-default subject-verb word order in vv. 7–8 is part of a poetic pattern. It might also be that the subject-verb word order in vv. 7–8 is necessary to mark these clauses as indicative (or assertive). Verb-subject word order might have implied directive (or projective) semantics : "May YHWH guard...".[3]
  • v. 5. The verbless clauses in v. 5a and v. 5b each predicate something about YHWH: "YHWH (topic) is your guard, i.e., the one who guards you. YHWH is your shade..." Alternatively, it is plausible that the verbless clause in v. 5a is specificational (rather than predicational): "(Who is the one who guards you [see v. 3a]?) YHWH is the one who guards you" (cf. vv. 1–2).
  • v. 4. The discourse marker indeed (הִנֵּה) at the beginning of v. 4 signals to the reader that the information in v. 4 is "noteworthy or newsworthy with respect to the other discourse active information."[4] Specifically, it signals that the content of v. 4 "modifies the content or implicatures of statements in the preceding cotext," providing either confirmation, elaboration, or a clarification.[5] The previous verse expressed a wish, or a blessing ("May he..."), with the implicit possibility that it might not come true. But v. 4 corrects this possible misunderstanding and affirms, without doubt, that YHWH will not doze off or fall asleep.
  1. ↑ Cf. Maré 2006, 714.
  2. ↑ Lunn 2006, 181.
  3. ↑ See Gentry 1998, 22–24.
  4. ↑ Miller-Naudé and van der Merwe 2011, 79.
  5. ↑ Miller-Naudé and van der Merwe 2011, §3.3.2.