Psalm 32/Notes/Lexical.v. 4.183020

From Psalms: Layer by Layer
Jump to: navigation, search

v. 4 – The head noun of the prepositional phrase בְּחַרְבֹ֖נֵי קַ֣יִץ, only occurring here in the Bible, is quite unambiguously derived from the root חרב, "to be dry, dry up." Though Targum Psalms employs שרבא "heat," with the root √חרב, dryness is most likely in view. Morphologically, the noun belongs to the qiṭṭālōn pattern (Blau 2010, §4.4.6.7), similar to other abstract nouns (cf. e.g., זִכָּרוֹן 'memory'), such that its independent form is most likely חֵרָבוֹן (so BDB, DCH) and the sense of drought is most plausible (see the CJB, JPS, KJV, REB).