Psalm 3/Particles

Particles

Negative markers

1
2a
2b
3a
3b			אֵין
4a
4b
5a
5b
6a
6b
7a				לֹא
7b
8a
8b
8c
8d
9a
9b

,

Independent personal pronouns

1
2a
2b
3a
3b
4a			אַתָּה
4b
5a
5b
6a				אֲנִי
6b
7a
7b
8a
8b
8c
8d
9a
9b

,

Prepositions

1			ל	ב	מן
2a
2b						על
3a			ל
3b			ל	ב
4a							בעד
4b
5a								אל
5b					מן
6a
6b
7a					מן
7b						על
8a
8b
8c
8d
9a			ל
9b						על

• The use of ל in v.9a in connection with the noun ישׁועה forges a connection with v.3b. While David's enemies say that he has (ל) no deliverance, David declares that deliverance is Yahweh's (ל).,

Waw/Vav

Coordinating Words

• v.4a. כְּבוֹדִי וּמֵרִים
• v.6a. שָׁכַבְתִּי וָֽאִישָׁנָה

Coordinating Lines

• v.5a --(waw + verb [וַיַּֽעֲנֵנִי])--> v.5b
• The majority of lines are joined asyndetically (2b, 3a, 3b, 4b, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7a, 8a, 8b, 8d, 9a, 9b)
• some MT manuscripts, along with the Syriac Peshitta, have a conjunction before שִׁנֵּי in 8d.
• some MT manuscripts, along with the LXX and the Syriac Peshitta, have a conjunction before עַל in 9b.

Coordinating Sections

• Section 1 --(waw + pronoun[וְאַתָּה])--> Section 2
• the first waw to appear in the Psalm (not until v. 4a!) is disjunctive,

Other particles

• The conjunction כִּי appears twice (6b, 8c), both times as a coordinating conjunction
  • In the first instance (6b), כִּי is clearly causal.
  • Its function in the second instance (8c) is not as clear. Elsewhere in the psalms the particle כִּי, when collocated with a perfect verbal form and subordinated to a preceding imperative directed to God, almost always has an explanatory or causal force (“for, because”) and introduces a motivating argument for why God should respond positively to the request (see Pss 5:10; 6:2; 12:1; 16:1; 41:4; 55:9; 56:1; 57:1; 60:2; 69:1; 74:20; 119:94; 123:3; 142:6; 143:8). (On three occasions the כִּי is recitative after a verb of perception [“see/know that,” see Pss 4:3; 25:19; 119:159]). If כִּי is taken as explanatory here, then the psalmist is arguing that God should deliver him now because that is what God characteristically does. However, such a motivating argument is not used in the passages cited above. The motivating argument usually focuses on the nature of the psalmist’s dilemma or the fact that he trusts in the Lord. For this reason it is unlikely that כִּי has its normal force here. Most scholars understand the particle כִּי as having an asseverative (emphasizing) function here (“indeed, yes”; NEB leaves the particle untranslated). If the particle כִּי is taken as explanatory, then the perfect verbal forms in v. 7b would describe God’s characteristic behavior. However, the particle probably has an asseverative force here. If so, the perfects may be taken as indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene.