Psalm 32/Notes/Phrasal.v. 4.965263
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
v. 4 – The prepositional phrase בְּחַרְבֹ֖נֵי קַ֣יִץ introduces a temporal frame (BHRG §39.6(2)), as made explicit by the construct dependent "summer" (קַ֣יִץ). Compare the בְּ preposition in בימי קיץ (Ben Sira (B) 50:8).[1] As occurs elsewhere in terse Biblical Hebrew poetry, either בְּ or כְּ can stand in for the sense of both prepositions (though this is typically only observed for overt כְּ requiring the local sense of בְּ—JM §133h; cf. Ps 95:8), such that בְּחַרְבֹ֖נֵי קַ֣יִץ introduces a simile "as in the summer drought" (JPS; cf. most modern translations). Alternatively, the בְּ could be interpreted as causal, as the ESV's "as by the heat of summer."
