Psalm 21 Discourse

Psalm Overview

• Grammar
• Semantics
• Story behind the Psalm
• Discourse
• Poetics

About the Discourse Layer

Our Discourse layer includes four analyses: macrosyntax, speech act analysis, emotional analysis, and participant analysis. (For more information, click 'Expand' to the right.)

Macrosyntax

The macrosyntax layer rests on the belief that human communicators desire their addressees to receive a coherent picture of their message and will cooperatively provide clues to lead the addressee into a correct understanding. So, in the case of macrosyntax of the Psalms, the psalmist has explicitly left syntactic clues for the reader regarding the discourse structure of the entire psalm. Here we aim to account for the function of these elements, including the identification of conjunctions which either coordinate or subordinate entire clauses (as the analysis of coordinated individual phrases is carried out at the phrase-level semantics layer), vocatives, other discourse markers, direct speech, and clausal word order.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Macrosyntax Creator Guidelines.

Speech Act Analysis

The Speech Act layer presents the text in terms of what it does, following the findings of Speech Act Theory. It builds on the recognition that there is more to communication than the exchange of propositions. Speech act analysis is particularly important when communicating cross-culturally, and lack of understanding can lead to serious misunderstandings, since the ways languages and cultures perform speech acts varies widely.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Speech Act Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Emotional Analysis

This layer explores the emotional dimension of the biblical text and seeks to uncover the clues within the text itself that are part of the communicative intent of its author. The goal of this analysis is to chart the basic emotional tone and/or progression of the psalm.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Emotional Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Participant Analysis

Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing? It is often helpful for understanding literary structure, speaker identification, etc.

For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Participant Analysis Creator Guidelines.

Discourse Visuals for Psalm 21

Macrosyntax

Notes

Clause Delimitation

• v. 8b: בְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן בַּל־יִמּֽוֹט has been analyzed as a single clause rather than the alternative option of בְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן being a separate clause with an elided verb (בֹּטֵ֣חַ) from the preceding clause.
• v. 10: יְהוָה has been located as part of the B-line rather than A (where it would otherwise have been a vocative ([Lunn 2006] takes it as part of the A-line and therefore a vocative). Both options have manuscript support (see Poetics layer for the evidence for each) but there is better line balance when YHWH is included with the latter line.

Coordination and Subordination

• v. 12: כִּי is understood as functioning concessively here with the first two clauses subordinate to the final clause in the clause cluster.
• v. 13: כִּי is causal here, giving the cause of the enemies inability to succeed. This verse is being understood as subordinate to the concessive structure in v. 12.

Vocatives and Other Discourse Markers

• v. 2: The vocative is clause-initial identifying the addressee.
• v. 3: The discourse marker סֶּֽלָה (Selah) ends this verse.
• vv. 4, 7, 8: כִּי in these verses is understood to be advancing the text as a causal discourse marker (or through "speaker-oriented" causal relationship) rather than through logical causal subordination.
• v. 14: The vocative is the second constituent. Miller claims that in this case the preceding entity is focused.

Word Order

• v. 2a Fronted constituent: בְּעָזְּךָ֥. The prepositional phrase precedes the verb and is understood as marking topic.
• v. 2b Fronted constituent: וּ֝בִישׁ֥וּעָתְךָ֗. The prepositional phrase precedes the verb and is understood as marking topic.
• v. 3a Fronted constituent: תַּאֲוַ֣ת לִ֭בּוֹ. The direct object precedes the verb and is understood as marking topic.
• v. 3b Fronted constituent: אֲרֶ֥שֶׁת שְׂ֝פָתָ֗יו. The direct object precedes the verb and is understood as marking topic.
• v. 5a Fronted constituent: חַיִּ֤ים. The direct object is fronted to mark focus.
• v. 6a Fronted constituent: גָּד֣וֹל. The complement is fronted to mark focus.
• v. 6b Fronted constituent: ה֥וֹד וְ֝הָדָר. The compound direct object is fronted for marked focus.
• v. 8b Fronted constituent: בְחֶ֥סֶד עֶ֝לְי֗וֹן. The prepositional phrase fronts the clause to mark focus.
• v. 9b Fronted constituent: יְ֝מִֽינְךָ. The explicit subject precedes the verb to mark topic
• v. 10b Fronted constituents: יְ֭הוָה and בְּאַפּ֣וֹ. The subject precedes the verb to mark topic and the subsequent prepositional phrase precedes the verb to mark focus.
• v. 11a Fronted constituent: פִּ֭רְיָמוֹ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ. Fronting of the object marks topic while the fronted modifier here marks focus to show the extent of the destruction.
• v. 11b is verb gapped.
• v. 13b Fronted constituent: בְּ֝מֵֽיתָרֶ֗יךָ. The modifier is fronted to mark topic, providing the context for the predicate focus verbal phrase that follows.

Paragraph Delimitation

• vv. 2-3: This section opens with the vocative YHWH and ends with the discourse marker סֶּֽלָה (Selah).
• vv. 4-7: This section both opens with כִּי functioning as a discourse marker.
• vv. 8-13: This section opens with כִּי functioning as a discourse marker.
• v. 14: The vocative YHWH starts this final section.

Speech Act Analysis

Summary Visual

Speech Act Chart

Notes

• v. 8: The congregation or an individual is understood to be the speaker of the psalm rather than the king speaking of himself in the third person (see the participant analysis layer for further analysis on this issue). This means that for v. 8, for example, the speaker is acknowledging the king’s trust and not the king professing his own trust.

Emotional Analysis

Summary visual

Think-Feel-Do Chart

Participant analysis

There are 4 participants/characters in Psalm 21:

• The king could be David to whom the Psalm is attributed or a king from within his Judean dynasty. The text is ambiguous (probably intentionally) on who this king is.
• The enemies in this psalm are those who plan evil and devise a plot against the king they are alternatively referred to as those who hate. Ultimately they will not succeed such that even their offspring (also referred to as descendants) will be utterly destroyed.
• There are several different speakers proposed for this Psalm. It is traditionally attributed as written to David, so he is naturally one possibility. Some see David or the king for at least vv. 2-7 speaking of himself in the third person. Others see the lack of a "first-person affirmation of confidence" as an argument for the speaker being someone other than the king (though speaking on his behalf). Some options include a prophet (Gerstenberger 1988, 106) a priest or an anonymous leader or individual.

There is also a good possibility that it is the congregation speaking throughout Those who see the speaker in vv. 2-7 as David or the king -- while also recognizing a change in addressee in vv. 8-13 -- see either a priest or the congregation as the new speaker from vv. 8-14. Craigie alternatively sees a movement from the congregation speaking in the first part to a presumed priest in the second part, finishing finally in v. 14 with the congregation again.

Because there are no further specifics given within the text itself on who the speaker is or their particular role or function the generic label of leader has been selected along with the understanding that the congregation is also involved. This is inferred with the first-person plural cohortative forms in v. 14.

Participant Relations Diagram

The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarized as follows:

Participant Analysis Table

Notes

• vv. 9-13: There is ambiguity as to whether the identity of the addressee in this section is the king or YHWH.
  • While some commentators see the overarching theme of God's might (which forms an inclusio around the psalm) and the "language of divine acts" as a reason to favor YHWH as the subject of the second-person references in the second half of the psalm, there are significant challenges to this approach. One problem includes the change in person of references to YHWH from second to third person. Instead, the king is preferred as the subject of the second-person references in vv. 9-13 based on the switch from the second-person reference to YHWH in vv. 2-7 to the third-person in v. 8. The direct address of the king in third-person in v.8 then accounts well for a transition of the leader or congregation speaking to the king in the second-person in vv. 9-13. The vocative YHWH in v. 14 then changes the addressee from the king back to YHWH again to close out the psalm. For further analysis of this issue please see the exegetical issue The Subject(s) in Ps. 21:9-13.
• v. 10: Fire has been excluded as a participant, though it should be understood as God working through the agency of fire here.

Participant Distribution Table

The table below demonstrates the participant distribution throughout Psalm 21. The number "1" indicates that the participant speaks in first person. The number "2" indicates that the participant is addressed directly. The number "3" indicates that the participant is spoken of in third person.

Bibliography

Bratcher, Robert G., and William D. Reyburn. 1991. A Translator's Handbook on the Book of Psalms. New York: UBS Handbook Series.

Craigie, Peter C. 2004. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 1–50. 2nd ed. Vol. 19. Nashville: Nelson Reference & Electronic.

DeClaissé-Walford, Nancy L., Rolf A. Jacobson, and Beth Laneel Tanner. 2014. “Book One of the Psalter: Psalms 1–41,” in The Book of Psalms, ed. E. J. Young, R. K. Harrison, and Robert L.

Gerstenberger, Erhard. 1988. Psalms Part 1: With an Introduction to Cultic Poetry. Vol. 14. The Forms of the Old Testament Literature. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.

Goldingay, John. 2006. Psalms: Psalms 1-41. Vol. 1. BCOT. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.

Kidner, Derek. 1973. Psalms 1–72: An Introduction and Commentary. Vol. 15. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Kim, Young Bok. 2022. Hebrew Forms of Address: A Sociolinguistic Analysis.

Kraus, Hans-Joachim. 1988. Psalms 1–59. Minneapolis: Fortress.

Schaefer, Konrad. 2001. Psalms. Berit Olam Studies in Hebrew Narrative and Poetry. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press.

Van der Merwe, Christo H. J., Jacobus A. Naudé, and Jan H. Kroeze. 2017. A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar. 2nd ed. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark.

VanGemeren, Willem. 2008. Psalms: The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.