Psalm 3 Academics
Victory is YHWH's!
Psalm 3
Academic Resources
Explore our academic Psalms resources for Psalm 3, including our Layer-by-Layer analysis, select Exegetical Issues, and Overview Videos.
Overview 
- This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 3 as a whole. It covers the message, structure, background and participants of the psalm.
Layer-by-Layer Analysis 
- The heart of our process is our layer-by-layer exegetical analysis, where we unfold the semantics, story behind, discourse, and poetics of each psalm.
Grammar & Semantics
Semantics is the study of how language is used to represent meaning. The goal of semantic analysis is to understand the meaning of words and how they relate to each other in context. Our Semantics analysis consists of the following sub-layers:
- Grammar & Textual Criticism
- Lexical Semantics
- Phrase-Level Semantics
- Verbal Semantics
Story Behind
The Story Behind the Psalm shows how each part of the psalm fits together into a single coherent whole. Here, we analyze the meaning of sentences and larger units of discourse, up to and including the entire psalm. This also include historical background and figurative imagery.
Discourse
Our Discourse Layer moves beyond semantic-level meaning, and analyzes features of the text dependent on the speaker, addressee, and macrosyntax.
Poetics
Exploring the Psalms as poetry is crucial for understanding and experiencing the psalms and thus for faithfully translating them into another language.
Verse-by-Verse Notes 
- Explore the psalm verse-by-verse and section-by-section.
Psalm 3 Exegetical Issues 
- These issues examine the top three tough questions for each psalm, explaining different scholarly interpretations, and offering our perspective.
- The verbs אֶקְרָא ("call out") and וַיַּֽעֲנֵנִי ("answer") can be interpreted in the following wyas regarding their tense and aspect: (1) habitual ("I call out... he answers..."); (2) perfective ("I called out... he answered..."); or (3) future ("I will call out... he will answer...").
- This exegetical issue will focus on the verbs שָׁכַבְתִּי ("lie down"), וָאִישָׁנָה ("sleep") and הֱקִיצוֹתִי ("wake up"). The verbs could be contstured as past tense ("I lay down and slept... I woke...") or habitual ("I lie down and sleep... I wake...").
- The verbs in the first line of Ps 3:8 (קוּמָה and הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי) are clearly imperative: "rise up... save me!" The qatal verbs in the next two lines (הִכִּיתָ and שִׁבַּרְתָּ) will be the focus of this exegetical issue, as the semantics of these verbs have been interpreted and translated in many ways.
