Psalm 16/Notes/Textual.v. 3.916540

• Many scholars conclude that the text of v. 3 is corrupt, and they propose various ways of "fixing" the text (conjectural emendation). The number and variety of proposed emendations is bewildering – we have catalogued some 18 different conjectural emendations for this verse. Needless to say, at least 17 of these proposals are incorrect, and, in all probability, all 18 are incorrect. Even if the text is "corrupt," the probability of recovering an earlier form of the text through conjectural emendation is extremely unlikely in this case (cf. Barthélemy 2012, 92–96). Therefore, it is best to try and make sense of the Masoretic Text, whose reading probably underlies all of the textual witnesses (cf. Barthélemy et al 2005, 62–71). Indeed, we argue that the Masoretic Text, although difficult, is grammatical and makes good sense. See the grammar note, and see The Text and Grammar of Psalm16:3 for a detailed discussion of the issues. The alternative diagrams on this page will not deal with conjectural emendations – there are simply too many. Instead, the alternative diagrams here will focus on three alternative ways of reading the Masoretic Text.