Psalm 16/Notes/Lexical.v. 6.281572

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  • The verb is beautiful (שׁפְרָה), which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, is an Aramaism (so HALOT). It occurs frequently in Aramaic in the G-stem (which corresponds to the qal stem in Hebrew) with the meaning "be beautiful, pleasing" (CAL). For example, a passage in the Genesis Apocryphon (1QapGen, Aramaic) uses the root שׁפר together with the root נעם (cf. Ps 16:6) to describe Sarah's beauty: "How... pretty (שפיר) is the shape of her face, and how lovely (נעים) and how smooth the hair of her head... No virgin or wife who enters the bridal chamber is more beautiful (ישרפן) than her" (1QapGen XX.1, 6; cited in García-Martínez and Tigchelaar 1997, 40–41; see also יִשְׁפַּר in Dan 4:24 [English: Dan 4:27]). The use of this Aramaic verb in Psalm 16 might be due to its alleged northern/Israelian origin (Rendsburg 2003, 28; cf. Gen 49:21 [שָׁפֶר, with reference to the northern tribe of Naphtali]). At the same time, it might have been chosen for its sound (note the connection with שְׂפָתָי in v. 4c; see Poetic Structure).