Psalm 20 Macrosyntax

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Psalm 20/Macrosyntax
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Guardian: Mari Strube

Macrosyntax

  What is Macrosyntax?

Macrosyntax Diagram

  Legend

Macrosyntax legend
Vocatives Vocatives are indicated by purple text.
Discourse marker Discourse markers (such as כִּי, הִנֵּה, לָכֵן) are indicated by orange text.
Macrosyntax legend - discourse scope.jpg The scope governed by the discourse marker is indicated by a dashed orange bracket connecting the discourse marker to its scope.
Macrosyntax legend - preceding discourse.jpg The preceding discourse grounding the discourse marker is indicated by a solid orange bracket encompassing the relevant clauses.
Subordinating conjunction The subordinating conjunction is indicated by teal text.
Macrosyntax legend - subordination.jpg Subordination is indicated by a solid teal bracket connecting the subordinating conjunction with the clause to which it is subordinate.
Coordinating conjunction The coordinating conjunction is indicated by blue text.
Macrosyntax legend - coordination.jpg Coordination is indicated by a solid blue line connecting the coordinating clauses.
Macrosyntax legend - asyndetic coordination.jpg Coordination without an explicit conjunction is indicated by a dashed blue line connecting the coordinated clauses.
Macrosyntax legend - marked topic.jpg Marked topic is indicated by a black dashed rounded rectangle around the marked words.
Macrosyntax legend - topic scope.jpg The scope of the activated topic is indicated by a black dashed bracket encompassing the relevant clauses.
Marked focus or thetic sentence Marked focus (if one constituent) or thetic sentences[1] are indicated by bold text.
Macrosyntax legend - frame setter.jpg Frame setters[2] are indicated by a solid gray rounded rectangle around the marked words.
[blank line] Discourse discontinuity is indicated by a blank line.
[indentation] Syntactic subordination is indicated by indentation.
Macrosyntax legend - direct speech.jpg Direct speech is indicated by a solid black rectangle surrounding all relevant clauses.
(text to elucidate the meaning of the macrosyntactic structures) Within the CBC, any text elucidating the meaning of macrosyntax is indicated in gray text inside parentheses.

If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.

Emendations/Revocalizations legend
*Emended text* Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation.
*Revocalized text* Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization.
(Click diagram to enlarge)


Psalm 020 - Macrosyntax - Ps 20 Updated.jpg

  • vv. 7-9:
    • There is a shift from a series of modal verbs to indicative statements.
    • There is also a person shift, from addressing YHWH's anointed (i.e., the king) in 2nd person to referring to YHWH's anointed in 3rd person.
    • The discourse marker עַתָּ֤ה (now) indicates the beginning of a new paragraph.
    • The perspective shifts to the 1st person.
    • The occurrence of YHWH in vv. 2 and 6 marks the beginning and end of the paragraph.
  • v. 10:
    • The vocative of direct address introduces a new paragraph.
    • There is a shift in modality (from a series of indicative to imperative and jussive).
    • This verse concludes with a final petition that corresponds to the introductory petition (v. 2).
  • The fronting in vv. 3-6 is most likely the result of structural symmetry. In vv. 3-6, the clauses (A-line and B-line) are waw-conjoined, and the first constituent of the B-line is structurally similar to the last constituent of the A-line (מ–preposition, ךָ-suffix, ךָ-suffix, ב–preposition). This pattern can be explained poetically as structural chiasm. The fronting of מִצִּיּ֗וֹן (v. 3), עוֹלָתְךָ֖ (v. 4), כָל־עֲצָתְךָ֥ (v. 5), בְשֵֽׁם־אֱלֹהֵ֥ינוּ (v. 6) results in chiastic structures. Therefore, the fronting of these words are for poetic structure.
    • v. 3: (a) May he send you help (b) from the sanctuary, (b') and from Zion (a') sustain you.
    • v. 4: (a) May he remember (b) every offering of yours, (b') and your burnt offering (a') may he accept.
    • v. 5: (a) May he give you (b) that which is according to your heart’s desire, (b') and your whole plan (a') may he fulfill.
    • v. 6: (a) May we shout for joy (b) over your victory, (b') and in the name of our God (a') may we array ourselves with banners!
Lunn refers to the structural symmetry in vv. 3-6 as a phenomenon of defamiliarised word order in parallel B-lines. Parallelism in Hebrew poetry can feature an "defamiliarisation" in word order between A lines and B lines. Therefore, if an A line follows the standard verb-subject-object word order, its parallel B line will frequently diverge from that word order.[3]
Possible additional reading for vv. 5b and 6b
Although the fronting in vv. 3-6 are for poetic structure, there are two cases in which the poetic fronting may coincide with a focus reading. These cases are:
1. v. 5b: "all your plan>>your whole plan" (כָל־עֲצָתְךָ֥). Before going into battle, the king sought to know YHWH's will. Hence, the petition in Ps 20:5 is for God's favorable response concerning the plan for battle.[4] Verse 5b would be rendered as "and May YHWH fulfill (even) your whole plan!"
2. v. 6b: "in the name of our God" (בְשֵֽׁם־אֱלֹהֵ֥ינוּ). YHWH is the one who wins victory. Setting up a banner was a sign of victory in battle.[5] Therefore, the people prayed that they would shout for joy and raise banners in celebration of the victory YHWH will win for the king. Verse 6b would be rendered as "and in the name of our God (and no one else), may we array ourselves with banners!"
  • The fronting in vv. 8-9:
    • vv. 8-9: The fronting of the pronouns in vv. 8 (אֵ֣לֶּה , וְאֵ֣לֶּה ,וַאֲנַ֓חְנוּ) and 9 (הֵ֭מָּה, וַאֲנַ֥חְנוּ) are for topic. Topical participants are usually expressed by means of pronouns.[6] In this case, the pronouns represent contrasting groups, namely, those who put their confidence in their military and those who put their confidence in YHWH. Likewise, the former group will suffer defeat in battle while the latter group will emerge victorious by God's hand.
  • v. 10 contains a clause-initial vocative (YHWH) of direct address. Psalm 20:1-6 records an intercessory prayer "directed rhetorically to the king, and thus only implicitly directed to God."[7] Then, in v. 10, the Psalm addresses God directly through the use of a vocative.
  • v. 4: Although the use for the term סֶֽלָה (Selah) in this psalm is uncertain, we can infer that it does not indicate the end of a paragraph because vv. 3-6 are bound together by a symmetrical pattern (cf. note below under word order). According to Alexander, one potential use for the term סֶֽלָה (Selah) in this psalm could be to mark "the pause in the performance of the psalm, during which the sacrifice was actually offered."[8] Therefore, the music may pause while the sacrifices are being made and then resume at the conclusion of the burnt offering.
  • v. 7: The discourse marker עַתָּ֤ה (now) acts as a rhetorical turning point signaling a shift in the speaker's frame of mind (from hopefulness to confidence in YHWH's answer) (cf. also Ps 39:7, in which עַתָּה signals the speaker shifting his attention to YHWH in desperate prayer).[9]
  • v. 7: The particle כִּ֤י acts as a complementizer to the verb יָדַ֗עְתִּי (I know); therefore, it is translated as "that".[10]
  • Coordinating clauses within a line: vv. 8a, 9b, and 9d.
  • Coordinating lines within a verse: vv. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9c.
  • In this psalm, waw never coordinates verses; no verse begins with waw.


  1. ↑ When the entire utterance is new/unexpected, it is a thetic sentence (often called "sentence focus"). See our Creator Guidelines for more information on topic and focus.
  2. ↑ Frame setters are any orientational constituent – typically, but not limited to, spatio-temporal adverbials – function to "limit the applicability of the main predication to a certain restricted domain" and "indicate the general type of information that can be given" in the clause nucleus (Krifka & Musan 2012: 31-32). In previous scholarship, they have been referred to as contextualizing constituents (see, e.g., Buth (1994), “Contextualizing Constituents as Topic, Non-Sequential Background and Dramatic Pause: Hebrew and Aramaic evidence,” in E. Engberg-Pedersen, L. Falster Jakobsen and L. Schack Rasmussen (eds.) Function and expression in Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 215-231; Buth (2023), “Functional Grammar and the Pragmatics of Information Structure for Biblical Languages,” in W. A. Ross & E. Robar (eds.) Linguistic Theory and the Biblical Text. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 67-116), but this has been conflated with the function of topic. In brief: sentence topics, belonging to the clause nucleus, are the entity or event about which the clause provides a new predication; frame setters do not belong in the clause nucleus and rather provide a contextual orientation by which to understand the following clause.
  3. ↑ Cf. Lunn 2004, 96.
  4. ↑ Jacobson and Tanner 2014, 217.
  5. ↑ NIDOTTE; Bratcher and Reyburn 1991, 200; Jacobson and Tanner 2014, 216; Dahood 1966, 128.
  6. ↑ Cf. Lunn 2006, 77.
  7. ↑ Jacobson and Tanner 2014, 216.
  8. ↑ Alexander 1864, 100-101.
  9. ↑ Jacobson and Tanner 2014, 218.
  10. ↑ Cf. BHRG, §40.29.2, page 434.