Psalm 13 Poetics
Poetic Structure
- Nearly every commentator divides the poem into three strophes 2–3; 4–5; and v. 6. Although a few divide the psalm in half at v. 4 (E.g., Calès 1936, 71; Kissane 1953, 52).
- MT v. 4a. The request matches the problem. There is a semantic connection elsewhere in the Psalms between God 'forgetting', 'hiding his eyes' and 'seeing' (see Ps 9:13–14; 10:1 cf. 10:12,14).
- Number of Lines. Each strophe subtracts one line. This iconically symbolises the movement in the Psalmist's hope. The poem opens with a never-ending עד אנה. But finishes with a triumphant ואני (note the sound similarity).
- MT v. 6. The ואני opens the final strophe. It draws attention to itself by being the only conjunctive waw and pronoun in the psalm.
- The relationships between the strophes. Strophes 2 and 3 closely interact with stophe 1 to bring the message of the psalm into sharper focus—v. 2 interacts with strophe 2 and verse 3 with strophe 3.
- V. 2/strophe 2. Recall from the note above that the imperatives in 4 are requests fittingly made on the basis of the stated problem in v. 2. YHWH is hiding his face (פַן), and he should pay attention to the psalmist lest (פֶן) he die. Note also that the b line in all three bi-cola (vv. 2, 4 and 5) end with a lexeme beginning with mem.
- V.3/strophe 3. There are a number of striking structural parallels between v. 3 and v. 6.
- They are the only two tri-cola in the psalm.
- They both contain 11 words.
- The third line of each is the longest line in its tri-colon.
- They both contain the only occurences of the preposition ב.
- The first line of both contain a 1st-person verb complemented by ב.
- The second line of both begins with yod-gimel-[LIQUID] plus the lexeme 'heart'.
- The third line of both ends with the form עלי.
- The beginnings of all the lines sound similar.
Top Poetic Features
1. Answers
Feature
The psalm draws attention to a few striking phonological correspondences, the members of each set of which changes only slightly.
- The four-fold repetition ‘how long’ (עד־אנה) in vv. 1–3 sounds similar to ‘and I’ (ואני) in v. 6 (initial assonance of 'a' vowel followed by alef-nun).
- The surface form of three verbs within the psalm contain a contiguous alef-shin-yod-sequence: 'I will set' (אשית), 'I sleep' (אישן), 'I will sing' (אשירה).
- The sequence "yod-gimel" + the lexeme 'heart' (לב)" occurs in 3b and 6a (notice the different forms of the lexeme לב vs. לבב).
Effect
Both (1) the situation that prompts this prayer (although somehow involving enemies and the threat of death) and (2) if/how the prayer was answered are conspicuously underspecified. While not impossible to reconstruct (see unit-level semantics) the poetry reinforces one of the messages of the psalm: by the end, it is the psalmist, rather than the circumstances, that have changed.
- The 'I' that cries ‘how long’ (vv. 1–3) has a different perspective than the 'I' that asserts ‘but I' (viz., the new 'I')...'.
- The repetition of alef-shin-yod traces the psalmist's movement from making futile plans, to fear of death, to rejoicing, the turning point of which is the new 'I' that trusts in the Lord's hesed.
- The 'heart'" has a different perspective than 'heart'" (graphically expressed by one less bet) that is commanded to rejoice in v. 6.
2. The Power of Prayer
Feature
This psalm is arranged in a chiasm, structured by various criteria (See Terrien 2003, 158–159).
-A/A': Both 'A' sections feature YHWH as the subject of a verb.
-B/B': The Psalmist is the grammatical subject of the first line in each 'B' section (note also the sound similarity of עצות and חסד —a guttural + sibilant + dental in that order). In the second line of each B-section, the heart is subjected to some emotional state, each beginning with the Hebrew letters yod and gimmel.
-C/C': The enemy is the grammatical subject of each 'C' section.
-D: The remaining 'D' section constitutes the middle of the chiasm. This section is poetically bound together by identical sounding beginnings: a weak verb in the hiphil producing a-i-ā assonance followed by almost identical sounding words (ʿanēnī and ʿēynāy). This section also contains a double-invocation of God.
Effect
Each initial section (A, B, C) communicates a problem and its counter part (A', B', C'), the resolution.
-A/A': In v. 2 the Psalmist lament's YHWH's absence, whereas in v. 6c, the Psalmist sings to YHWH because of the evidence of His presence.
-B/B': In v. 3a-b, the Psalmist afflicts himself with 'counsels' (ʿeṣōt) and sorrows. In v. 6, the he comforts himself with the remembrance of YHWH's loyalty (ḥesed).
-C/C': In v. 3c the exalted triumph of the enemies has actually been happening, whereas in v. 5, their victorious taunts are merely potential.
What brings about these reversals of fortune? The prayer in v. 4a–bα, symbolising either the certainty or reality of God's response (this perhaps explains the qatal verbs in v. 6) and, by extension, the efficacy of the prayer.
3. Closer and Closer
Feature
The psalm draws attention to one of its main themes with its opening refrain, ‘how long’, and that is time.
-The distribution of time throughout is such that the first two strophes are dominated by events whose time reference is future (yiqtols, volatives, and pen-clauses) and whose aspect is imperfective. This comes to a halt in the final strophe, which contains the only two past-tense qatals.
-Another feature by which the poet signifies the importance of time is the length of the strophes. Each strophe decreases by one line.
In short, the line length, word count and the temporal structure of events gradually contract throughout the psalm.
Effect
Length and temporal structure in this Psalm reflect the perceived time until God's intervention. What at first seems like an endless period of suffering with no end in sight, ends with a compact and confident declaration of God's faithfulness.
Line Divisions
Line Length
Repeated Roots
