Psalm 150 Participant analysis

Back to Psalm 150

Psalm Overview

• Grammar
• Semantics
• Story behind the Psalm
• Discourse
• Poetics

Overview

Participant mini-story

There are three participants, or characters, in Psalm 150:

• YHWH
• Those who are summoned to praise YHWH (i.e., every living creature)
• The psalmist (anonymous)

Throughout the whole psalm, YHWH is the object (or predicative participant), and those who praise YHWH (i.e., all living creatures) are the subject.

Participant Relations

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

• Every living creature, including the psalmist, praises YHWH.
• The psalmist summons every living creature to praise YHWH.
• YHWH is not the agent of any explicit action in this psalm.

Participants in the Psalm

• In terms of participants, there is little variation throughout the psalm.
  • There is no change in speaker or addressee.
  • There is no change in subject; the subject throughout is "you" (="every living creature").
  • There is no change in predicative participant (YHWH).

• However, there are slight variations which, as far as participant analysis is concerned, divide the text into sections.
  • The 3ms possessive pronouns in vv. 1-2 ("his" x4) make these lines a unit.
  • The shift in person in v. 6 (2nd person -> 3rd person) and the mention of "every living creature" make v. 6 stand out as an independent unit.
  • Consequently, vv. 3-5 are left standing as an independent unit.

Participant Analysis Diagram

Legend

Diagram

Chart