Psalm 2/Notes

From Psalms: Layer by Layer
Jump to: navigation, search

All notes

v. 1 (Method:Grammar)

The interrogative "'why" (לָמָּה) is elided in the second clause. Cf. NLT: "Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans?"[1] At least semantically, it is probably implied in the clauses of v. 2 as well.[2]

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._1.69605 }}


v. 1 (Method:Grammar)

The noun רִיק could either be the direct object of the verb[3] or a nominal adverb.[4] Both interpretations are grammatically possible. For the direct object interpretation, cf. Ps 4:3 (תֶּאֱהָב֣וּן רִ֑יק). See also the numerous examples of הגה taking a similar abstract noun as its object: Isa 59:3 (עַוְלָה); Ps 37:30 (חָכְמָה); Ps 38:13 (וּמִרְמֹות); Prov 8:7 (אֱמֶת); Job 27:4 (רְמִיָּה). For the nominal adverb interpretation, cf. Ps 73:13—אַךְ־רִ֭יק זִכִּ֣יתִי לְבָבִ֑י (also Isa 30:7; cf. the frequently occurring phrase לְרִיק/לָרִיק, Lev 26:16, 20; Isa 49:4; 65:23; Job 39:16). Given the fact that the verb הגה typically takes an object (either a bare noun phrase or a beth prepositional phrase), the direct object interpretation is more likely. If the poet wanted to clearly indicate an adverbial reading, we might have expected לריק.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._1.155802 }}


v. 2 (Method:Grammar)

The prepositional phrases "against YHWH and against his anointed" (v. 2c) probably modify both of the preceding clauses (v. 2ab). Implicitly, it modifies the clauses in v. 1 as well.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._2.226056 }}


v. 2 (Method:Grammar)

The Septuagint includes "Selah" (Greek: διάψαλμα) at the end of v. 2.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._2.713038 }}


v. 4 (Method:Grammar)

The prepositional phrase "them" (לָמוֹ) appears to modify not only the verb in the b-line (ילעג), but the verb in the a-line as well (ישׂחק).[5] For other instances of שׂחק ל, see Pss 37:13; 59:9.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._4.723594 }}


v. 4 (Method:Grammar)

In v. 4b, many manuscripts read יהוה instead of אֲדֹנָי.[6] But אדני, which is attested in our earliest Hebrew manuscript (11Q7), is almost certainly the earlier reading. Scribes are more likely to have changed אדני (which is far less common) to יהוה (which is far more common) rather than the other way around. Furthermore, אדני, which highlights YHWH's superiority, fits the context very well (see esp. the similar context for אדני in Ps 37:13a—אֲדֹנָ֥י יִשְׂחַק־ל֑וֹ). Note also that the earthly kings are called to become YHWH's "servants" in v. 11, i.e., to submit to his lordship and serve him as master.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._4.449169 }}


v. 6 (Method:Grammar)

The waw at the beginning of v. 6 functions at the discourse level "to signal text level disjunction or transition."[7] Specifically, in this case, it connects and contrasts YHWH's response to the nations' speech in v. 3. "The function of this type of speech-initial וְ is to mark a dispreferred response."[8]

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._6.881641 }}


v. 7 (Method:Grammar)

Depending on how one divides the lines in v. 7ab, "YHWH" may be either the final noun of a construct chain ("...decree of YHWH. He said..." so Targum: קימא דייי; see also the layout in the Aleppo Codex) or the subject of the following clause ("...decree. YHWH said..." so MT accents [ole we-yored]; Aquila[?]: κύριος; Peshitta), or, if "YHWH" is read twice, both the final noun of a construct chain and the subject of the next clause ("...decree of YHWH. YHWH said..." so LXX; Jerome [iuxta Hebr.]). Most of the modern translations consulted group "YHWH" with v. 7a.

  • "I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me" (NIV, cf. NRSV, NLT, CSB, CEV, GNT, REB, NET, LUT, HFA, NGÜ, ELB, EÜ, GNB, ZÜR)
  • "I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me" (ESV, cf. NJPS)

A decision is difficult. In the absence of any compelling evidence one way or another, we have defaulted to following the reading tradition of the Masoretes.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._7.127241 }}


v. 9 (Method:Grammar)

In v. 9a, the Septuagint says "you will shepherd them” (ποιμανεῖς αὐτούς). This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev. 2:27, 12:5, and 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text (תִּרְעֵם) and understands the verb as רָעָה ("to shepherd") rather than רָעַע ("to break"). But the presence of the verb נפץ ("to smash") in the parallel line strongly favors the MT vocalization. Goldingay proposes a deliberate rhetorical ambiguity here, namely, that this line "lays alternative possibilities before the nations—either firm shepherding or devastating destruction."[9]

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._9.456997 }}


v. 12 (Method:Grammar)

The word בַר is interpreted by some as an adjective ("kiss the pure one") and by others as an adverb ("kiss purely>>sincerely"). The adverbial interpretation is unlikely since "בַּר occurs nowhere else as an adverb" and "the stem נשקו, moreover, never appears in classical Hebrew without an object."[10] The adjectival interpretation ("pure one") is possible, but it is less likely than the interpretation of the word as a noun meaning (in Aramaic) "son." See The Text and Meaning of Ps 2:12a.

Code to display this note elsewhere 

 {{Note/Display | Chapter=2|NotePageName=Psalm_2/Notes/Grammar.v._12.703061 }}
  1. ↑ So NET, GNT; Tsumura 2023, 68.
  2. ↑ So Craigie 1983, 62-3.
  3. ↑ Cf. LXX trans. NETS: "vain things;" so Radak [ריק הוא כל דבריהם]; Hupfeld 1855, 21.
  4. ↑ Cf. ESV, NIV: "in vain;" so HALOT, DCH; Baethgen 1904, 5; Aquila: κενῶς.
  5. ↑ Cf. Delitzsch 1996, 55; Tsumura 2023, 22-23, 65-66.
  6. ↑ sSe Kennicott 1776, 308.
  7. ↑ Bandstra 1995, 52.
  8. ↑ BHRG §40.23.4.3; see e.g., 1 Kgs 2:21-22.
  9. ↑ 2006, 101.
  10. ↑ Prince 1900, 2; cf. NIDOTTE.
Retrieved from "https://psalms.scriptura.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Psalm_2/Notes&oldid=71152"