Psalm 28/Notes/Phrasal.v. 8.503074

• *לְעַמּו* (of his people). Instead of following the MT reading לָמוֹ (to them >> their), we follow the reading לְעַמּוֹ (to/of his people), found in the LXX, Peshitta, and some medieval manuscripts. The MT's reading לָמוֹ, which creates difficulties since there is no clear antecedent for the suffix, can be explained as a phonetic spelling variant of לְעַמּוֹ. "At a time when the ayin was not pronounced . . . a scribe copied לעמו as למו." For these reasons, we have rendered Ps 28:8a as, יְהוָ֥ה עֹֽז־לְעַמּוֹ ("YHWH is the strength of his people"). For a full analysis of this line, see exegetical issue The Text of Ps 28:8a. The MT reading (לָמוֹ) and the emendation (לְעַמּוֹ) are represented in the diagram in pink and blue, respectively.