Psalm 28/Notes/Verbal.v. 1.687900

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  • I cry out (אֶקְרָ֗א): The lack of reference point movement prompts a simple present translation in English, and it indicates the habitual action of the psalmist crying out to YHWH in distress (God's people [regularly] cried out to YHWH in times of trouble. Cf. Ps 50:15; 91:15; 20:2; and 34:6).
  • My rock, do not be deaf (אַֽל־תֶּחֱרַ֪שׁ) to me: The jussive, which is to be expected after אַל־, does not, as a rule,[1] differ in form from the simple imperfect.
  • Lest you be silent (פֶּן־תֶּֽחֱשֶׁ֥ה) to me: According to BHRG, “פֶּן indicates the negative purpose of a matrix clause, i.e. the prevention of a possible event.”[2] In other words, פֶּן expresses the potential result(s) that the psalmist wishes to avoid, namely, (1) God's silence and (2) becoming like those who go down to the pit.[3]
Alternative reading: The majority of modern translations render פֶּן־תֶּֽחֱשֶׁ֥ה מִמֶּ֑נִּי וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּי עִם־יֹ֥ורְדֵי בֹֽור as a conditional sentence (ESV: "lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit," and NIV: "For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit"). According to this rendering, פֶּן introduces a cluster of two coordinate clauses indicating a conditional sentence. In this case, the yiqtol verb תֶּֽחֱשֶׁ֥ה would express the condition[4] and the waw in וְנִמְשַׁלְתִּי ("and I become like") would be marking an apodosis (i.e., it expresses the consequence of the verb חשה - to be silent).
  • And I become like (וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּי עִם־): Weqatal continuing semantics of previous verb. Different than the qatal form in which the stress tends to be marked in the penultima syllable, the stress in the weqatal form is typically marked on the ultima syllable.[5] Nevertheless, some exceptions exist, and וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּי (Ps. 28:1) is one of them. The accent in וְ֝נִמְשַׁ֗לְתִּי is on the penultimate, not on the last syllable. Revell explained that the stress position in weqatal forms "is affected by structural factors . . . in that final stress is proportionately much more common in forms with a closed penultimate syllable."[6]
  1. ↑ Cf. GKC § 109.
  2. ↑ BHRG §41.11.
  3. ↑ Cf. Noll 2020, 53-54; cf. also Ps 143:7 for similar occurrence.
  4. ↑ GKC § 107m.
  5. ↑ Cf. GKC § 49k and Joosten 2012, 15.
  6. ↑ Revell 1985, 285, 286.