Psalm 16/Notes/Grammar.v. 3.200780

• Barthélemy et al (2005, 71) propose analyzing the grammar of v. 3 as it is presented in v. 3 alternative diagram 3. This analysis results in the following translation: "(2) I said... (3) about the holy ones who are in the land, the mighty ones in whom I used to delight: (4) 'May the punishment of those who acquire a foreign god with gifts be multiplied; I will no longer pour out their blood libations...'" According to this interpretation, vv. 2–4 constitute one large syntactic unit. The lamed prepositional phrase that begins v. 3 (לִקְדוֹשִׁים) modifies the verb "I say" (אָמַרְתִּ) in v. 2; v. 3 introduces the topic of speech ("I say about the holy ones... and [about] the mighty ones..."); and v. 4 introduces the actual content of the speech ("May the punishment... be multiplied..."). This interpretation is a noble attempt to make sense of the Masoretic Text, but it falls short at multiple points. In the first place, it requires that the construct chain כָּל־חֶפְצִי־בָם refer to the past – "in whom was all my delight" – which would be unusual (see also NET, CEB). Second, this interpretation requires analyzing "they" (הֵמָּה) as a retrospective subject pronoun within the relative clause ("who [they] are in the land"), which, as Driver notes, "is incorrect Hebrew... [T]he pronoun in such cases never stands at the end, except after a negative" (Driver 1915, 190; cf. JM §158g). Finally, this interpretation requires that v. 3 be an exceptionally long quotative frame, which, though not impossible, seems unusual. See The Text and Grammar of Psalm16:3 for a detailed discussion of this verse.