Psalm 3/Notes/Lexical.v. 3.782664

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  • The word נֶפֶשׁ frequently means "life" and occurs in contexts "where a life is in general peril; where a life desperately requires help (often from God)" (Witthoff 2021, §4.2.3.3). It can also stand metonymically for a person, profiling the inner being or emotional center of that person (Witthoff 2021, 177-181). In Ps 3:3, the phrase נַפְשִׁי (my soul >> me) is related to both of these meanings. As Witthoff writes regarding several examples, including Ps 3:3, "the concept of LIFE in need may still be present in the contexts of these instances, but ׁנֶפֶש may be closer in these examples to representing a part of a person that feels, thinks, or chooses a course of action, than to a state of LIFE" (171; cf. Pss 34:3; 35:9; 42:5; 57:7; 62:2, 6; 63:9; 69:11; 77:3; 107:5; 119:25; 130:5-6; 142:8).