Back to Psalm 13

Overview

There are three participants in Psalm 13:

David
YHWH
Enemies
- My (=David's) enemy (אֹיְבִי)
- My (=David's) foes (צָרַי)

Participant Relations

The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarised as follows:

David's enemies threaten him, and YHWH seems to have hidden his face.
David, trusting in YHWH, asks him for help.

Participants in the Psalm

Vocative reflects structure. The vocative of direct address (YHWH) is used twice in Ps 13, in the opening line (v. 2) and again at what looks like the main section break of the psalm (v. 4, which moves from the "complaint" to the "petition"). The divine name appears once again, in the final line (though not vocative). Thus God's name appears at the beginning, roughly middle, and end of the psalm.
David's activity shift. The psalmist has a largely passive role in Psalm 13, appearing as predicative participant throughout the psalm (with the exception of v. 3a). It appears that he is helpless at the hands of others--until the final confession of trust (v. 6). In this final verse, he becomes an active participant: he trusts, he rejoices, and he praises YHWH.
Other observations:
- The psalm doesn't say anything about a direct relationship between YHWH and David's enemies.
- YHWH appears in 2nd person direct address throughout the psalm, except for the final clause, which switches to 3rd person.

Participant Analysis Diagram

Legend

For Visual, click "Expand" to the right

Diagram

The following image is the grammatical diagram overlaid with information regarding the participants, or characters, of the psalm. It makes explicit who is doing what to whom. For Visual, click "Expand" to the right.

Chart