Psalm 16/Notes/Lexical.v. 9.986987

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  • There are several cases in the Masoretic Text where the phrase "my glory" (כְּבוֹדִי) is poetically parallel to words like "soul" (נֶפֶשׁ) (Gen 49:6; Ps 7:6) and "heart" (לֵב) (Pss 57:8; 108:2) and appears to refer to the "self" (see also Ps 30:13). Some scholars see this as a figurative extension of the word "glory" (כָּבוֹד). SDBH, for example, defines the usage as follows: "literally: glory; hence: = the inner person of a human being ◄ as the glory and pride of that individual" (SDBH). But others have argued that, in these cases, the text should be revocalized to כָּבֵד: liver (so HALOT, TDOT; cf. Nötscher 1952). Three arguments support this conclusion. First, in Genesis 49:6, where the MT has "my glory" (כְּבֹדִי), the Septuagint has "my liver" (τὰ ἥπατά μου) (= כְּבֵדִי). If this early (third-century BC) exegetical tradition is correct, then it provides a case in which the Masoretic vocalization of כבדי as כְּבֹדִי (“my glory”) is secondary and the text should instead be read as כְּבֵדִי (“my liver”). Second, in Psalm 16:9, several medieval Hebrew manuscripts read כבד, without the waw (see Kennicott 1776, 316). This spelling, which could very well be the earlier spelling, fits with the revocalization to כְּבֵדִי (“my liver”). Third, the meaning “my liver” (כְּבֵדִי), a reference to the “self,” fits well in the context of Psalm 16. Several body parts, including internal organs, are mentioned in the immediate context: “my kidneys” (v. 7b), “my right hand” (v. 8b), “my heart” (v. 9a), “my body” (v. 9b). Furthermore, if there is a poetic allusion to the Ancient Near Eastern practice of “extispicy” (examining animal entrails for divine messages; see note on v. 7), then a reference to the “liver” would be appropriate, since the liver was the most important organ involved in this practice (see e.g., Maul 2015). Therefore, we conclude with Waltke: "The best solution is to emend the text to כְּבֵדִי ('my liver'), supposing that when the early use of liver to designate emotions in Canaanite literature was lost, its textual tradition came to be vocalized as כָּבוֹד" (Waltke 2010, 323). In this context, "liver" (like "heart" and "kidneys") describes the "seat of human emotion" (DCH).