Psalm 19/Notes/Grammar.V. 3.332801
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- Option 3 (preferred): יוֹם לְיוֹם//לַיְלָה לְּלַיְלָה as subjects. So, possibly, ESV: "Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." In other words, the passage of time—the movement of one day/night to the next—communicates YHWH's glory. "The orderly and useful succession of days and nights eloquently proclaims the glory of God" (Calvin). The MT accents, which group the lamed PP's with the preceding words (with the subject rather than the predicate), might also support this interpretation. The ancient versions could also be understood in this sense. For example, the LXX says, ἡμέρα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐρεύγεται ῥῆμα, καὶ νὺξ νυκτὶ ἀναγγέλλει γνῶσιν, which Theodoret has understood to describe "the ordained succession of night and day" (trans. Hill 2000, 134). Cf. Jerome's commentary on this verse: quod ex ordine temporum ad Dei magis notitiam perveniamus (ed. Risse 2005, 112). Ps 145:4—דּ֣וֹר לְ֭דוֹר יְשַׁבַּ֣ח מַעֲשֶׂ֑יךָ—might also be understood in this way (cf. Zenger).
- For the unusual dagesh in לְּלַיְלָה, see GKC §20f.