Psalm 28/Notes/Verbal.v. 7.500319

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  • The sequence of verbs in v. 7 conveys a mini-narrative: "When my heart trusted in him (בָטַח),[1] then (1) I was helped - (we)qatal (וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי), (2) and (then) my heart exulted - wayyiqtol (וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז), (3) and (now) with my song I will praise him - yiqtol-cohortative (אֲהֹודֶֽנּוּ).
  • We understand וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי (and I was helped) as waw + qatal instead of weqatal, and, therefore, past tense.[2] Moreover, different than the weqatal form in which the stress (or accent) is typically marked on the ultima syllable, the qatal form tends to be marked in the penultima syllable. Although this marking was not consistently carried out,[3] the stress in וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי points to a waw + qatal form instead of a weqatal. Moreover, in his analysis of stress as a way to distinguish the weqatal from the waw + qatal, E. J. Revell noted that waw + qatal is used "in a rather restricted set of circumstances."[4] Revell placed Ps 28:7 under the following circumstance: both verbs (qatal followed by waw + qatal) act "as a semantic unit, that is, representing different aspects of the same event, not different actions in a sequence of events as [בָּנִים֙ גִּדַּ֣לְתִּי וְרֹומַ֔מְתִּי] ('Children have I reared and raised', Isa l :2)."[5] In the case of Ps 28:7, the verbs בָטַ֥ח and וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי can be regarded as describing the same event ("by trusting ... I was helped"), rather than as separate acts in sequence ("My heart trusted ... then I was helped").[6] Futhermore, the verb וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי points back to the begining of Ps 28 when the psalmist cries out to YHWH for help (vv. 1-2). YHWH hears him (v. 6) and answers him by providing the help the psalmist needed (v. 7). By contrast, Goldingay takes וְנֶעֱזָ֥רְתִּי as a weqatal having a future reference ("So, I will be helped"). The author noted two challenges with this rendering. First, this reading is not supported by the MT (וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי), the LXX (καὶ ἐβοηθήθην - "and I was helped" NETS), or Jerome (Jerome Gall.: adiutus sum and Jerome Hebr. et habui adiutorium). Second, rendering וְנֶעֱזָ֥רְתִּי as a weqatal with future reference makes difficult to take the wayyiqtol וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז, which follows וְנֶעֱזָ֥רְתִּי, as having past reference (which would result in the following translation: "So I will be helped and my heart exulted"). Therefore, Goldingay reconciled his reading by rendering the wayyiqtol וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז as having a present reference. He translated וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז as "So I will be helped, and my hear exults."[7] Goldingay noted: "a qatal could have present reference (cf. GKC 111r), and I take this wayyiqtol thus. Its relationship with what precedes is logical rather than chronological (cf. GKC 111l)."[8] For a present reading "I am helped" see ESV, NET NRSV, NEB/REB, etc.[9]
  • And my heart exulted (וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז לִבִּ֑י): Wayyiqtol in poetry often "appears in isolation and expresses a past-time, temporally successive event following a qatal."[10] Cook added that in some of these cases the "successive relation tends toward more of a consequential sense, as illustrated by . . . Ps 81:8a: בַּצָּרָ֥ה קָרָ֗אתָ וָאֲחַ֫לְּצֶ֥ךָּ - 'In distress you called, and (then) I rescued you.'"[11] So, in Ps 28:7: וְֽנֶ֫עֱזָ֥רְתִּי וַיַּעֲלֹ֥ז לִבִּ֑י - ". . . and I was helped, and (then) my heart exulted."
Moreover, wayyiqtol forms tends to continue the tense, aspect (and sometimes modality) from the preceding conjugation; i.e., qatal.[12] For this reading, see JPS, 1985: "and my heart exulted," RVR95 "por lo que se gozó mi corazón," etc.[13]
For a present tense reading see ESV, NRSV: "my heart exults," NIV: "My heart leaps for joy," etc.[14]
LXX: καὶ ἀνέθαλεν
  • I will praise him (אֲהוֹדֶֽנּוּ): Instead of אוֹדֶנוּ we have אֲהוֹדֶנוּ the strong form of the Hiphil imperfect.[15] In other words, the ה is typically elided after the preformatives of the Hiphil/Hophal imperfect and participle. However, there are a few instances in which ה is retained such as in the imperfect אֲהוֹדֶנוּ I will praise for אוֹדֶנוּ (cf. also Neh 11:17, Ps 45:18. Cf. also 1 Sam 17:47 and Ps 116:6 for cases of the imperfect יְהוֹשִׁיעַ He will save for יוֹשִׁיעַ).[16]
In terms of morphology, אֲהוֹדֶנּוּ could be either a yiqtol or a cohortative. Since this verb often occurs alongside morphologically cohortative verbs, we have rendered it as a cohortative verb (cf. Pss 7, 18; 9:2; 118:19, 21. Cf. also IBHS 34.5.1 a. 3.).
Modern translations have adopted either a future-oriented or a present reading. For future-oriented reading see JPS, 1985 ("I will glorify him"), NET ("I will sing to him in gratitude"), CEV ("I will thank"), NASB ("I shall thank"), etc. Jerome's Hebrew Psalter (confitebor) and the LXX (ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ) also favor a future-oriented reading. For present reading see NIV ("I praise"), NLT ("I burst out"), ESV and NRSV ("I give thanks"), GNT ("I praise"), etc.
LXX: ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ
  1. ↑ Although the verb בָטַח is often treated as having present tense stative value (cf. JM 2018, 112a), in Ps 28:7 בָטַח it makes the most sense in the simple past ("my heart trusted") (cf. Ps 22:5).
  2. ↑ "I was helped" JPS, 1985; cf. Craigie 2004, 236; Delitzsch 1944, 362; Alter 2019, 81; Radak; Hitzig 1835, 45 "und mir ward geholfen;" etc.
  3. ↑ Cf. GKC §49k; Joosten 2012, 15.
  4. ↑ Revell 1985, 279.
  5. ↑ Revell 1985, 279; cf. footnote #7.
  6. ↑ Cf. Revell 1985, 279 for the example in 1 Sam 17:35.
  7. ↑ Goldingay 2006, 403.
  8. ↑ Goldingay 2006, 403.
  9. ↑ Cf. also Perowne 1870, 261; Kirkpatrick 1906, 146; Ross 2011, 647; etc.
  10. ↑ Cook 2012, 299; cf. also footnote #18 where Cook listed Ps 28:7.
  11. ↑ Cook 2012, 299.
  12. ↑ Cf. GKC §112.2.d.
  13. ↑ Cf. also Craigie 2004, 236; Delitzsch 1944, 362; Alter 2019, 80; etc.
  14. ↑ Cf. Ross 638, 2011; Goldingay 2006, 403; etc.
  15. ↑ Cf. Briggs and Briggs 1906, 251; Delitzsch 1883, 444.
  16. ↑ GKC § 53q/r.