Psalm 32 Participant Analysis
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Psalm 32/Participant Analysis
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Joy of Confession
Psalm 32
Participant Analysis
Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing? It is often helpful for understanding literary structure, speaker identification, etc.
For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Participant Analysis Creator Guidelines.
There are 4 participants/characters in Psalm 32:
Profile List
| David (v. 1) |
| YHWH (vv. 2, 5, 10-11) |
| "a shelter" (v. 7) |
| Congregation |
| "righteous ones" (v. 11) |
| "those with integrity in their heart" (v. 11) |
| The faithful person (v. 6) |
| "the one whose offense is taken away, whose sin is forgiven" (v. 1) |
| "the person against whom YHWH does not count guilt" (v. 2) |
| "the one who trusts in YHWH" (v. 10) |
| The wicked (v. 10) |
Profile Notes
- The psalmist is identified as David in the superscription. It is through his own experience of keeping silent about his sin (v. 3a) that led to YHWH's corrective hand (vv. 3b–4), David's confession and subsequent restoration (v. 5) prompt him to share his learned experience with v (vv. 9–11), so that they will not make the same mistake (cf. Ps 51:15).
- YHWH forgives David's sin when David confesses it (v. 5). YHWH is said to be "a shelter" to any and all the faithful who will pray to him (v. 7) when they discover their sin.
- The congregation are considered to be the addressee in vv. 1–2 and 9–11 (see the notes accompanying the text table), to whom David imparts wisdom gained from his own experience. The faithful person is presented as the ideal subset of the congregation, who will duly pray to YHWH when convicted of his sin and experience the same relief David did. Indeed, they are abundantly blessed with forgiven sin (vv. 1–2) and will be able to confess that YHWH surrounds them with celebrations of deliverance (v. 7) in the same way faithfulness surrounds all who trust in YHWH (v. 10).
- On the contrary, the wicked, those who do not recognize and confess their sin, experience nothing but many sorrows (v. 10).
| Hebrew | Verse | English |
|---|---|---|
| לְדָוִ֗ד מַ֫שְׂכִּ֥יל | 1a | By David. A maskil. |
| אַשְׁרֵ֥י נְֽשׂוּי־פֶּ֗שַׁע | 1b | How happy is the one whose offense is taken away, |
| כְּס֣וּי חֲטָאָֽה׃ | 1c | whose sin is covered! |
| אַ֥שְֽׁרֵי אָדָ֗ם לֹ֤א יַחְשֹׁ֬ב יְהוָ֣ה ל֣וֹ עָוֺ֑ן | 2a | How happy is the person against whom YHWH does not count guilt |
| וְאֵ֖ין בְּרוּח֣וֹ רְמִיָּה׃ | 2b | and in whose mind there is no deceit! |
| כִּֽי־הֶ֭חֱרַשְׁתִּי בָּל֣וּ עֲצָמָ֑י | 3a | When I kept silent, my bones began to waste away |
| בְּ֝שַׁאֲגָתִ֗י כָּל־הַיּֽוֹם׃ | 3b | in my groaning all day. |
| כִּ֤י ׀ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַיְלָה֮ תִּכְבַּ֥ד עָלַ֗י יָ֫דֶ֥ךָ | 4a | For day and night your hand was weighing down upon me. |
| נֶהְפַּ֥ךְ לְשַׁדִּ֑י בְּחַרְבֹ֖נֵי קַ֣יִץ סֶֽלָה׃ | 4b | My vigor was changed like in the drought of summer. Selah. |
| חַטָּאתִ֨י אוֹדִ֪יעֲךָ֡ וַעֲוֺ֘נִ֤י לֹֽא־כִסִּ֗יתִי | 5a | "I will make known my sin to you." I did not cover my guilt; |
| אָמַ֗רְתִּי אוֹדֶ֤ה עֲלֵ֣י פְ֭שָׁעַי לַיהוָ֑ה | 5b | I decided: "I will confess to YHWH about my offenses," |
| וְאַתָּ֨ה נָ֘שָׂ֤אתָ עֲוֺ֖ן חַטָּאתִ֣י סֶֽלָה׃ | 5c | and you took away the guilt of my sin. Selah. |
| עַל־זֹ֡את יִתְפַּלֵּ֬ל כָּל־חָסִ֨יד ׀ | 6a | Because of this, every faithful person should pray |
| אֵלֶיךָ֮ לְעֵ֪ת מְ֫צֹ֥א | 6b | to you at the time of discovery [of his sin]. |
| רַ֗ק לְ֭שֵׁטֶף מַ֣יִם רַבִּ֑ים | 6c | But in the flood of many waters, |
| אֵ֝לָ֗יו לֹ֣א יַגִּֽיעוּ׃ | 6d | they will not reach him. |
| אַתָּ֤ה ׀ סֵ֥תֶר לִי֮ מִצַּ֪ר תִּ֫צְּרֵ֥נִי | 7a | You are a shelter for me; you will protect me from distress. |
| רָנֵּ֥י פַלֵּ֑ט תְּס֖וֹבְבֵ֣נִי סֶֽלָה׃ | 7b | With celebrations of deliverance you will surround me. Selah. |
| אַשְׂכִּֽילְךָ֨ ׀ וְֽאוֹרְךָ֗ בְּדֶֽרֶךְ־ז֥וּ תֵלֵ֑ךְ | 8a | I will give you understanding and I will teach you about the way in which you should walk. |
| אִֽיעֲצָ֖ה עָלֶ֣יךָ עֵינִֽי׃ | 8b | I will advise [you] with my eye upon you. |
| אַל־תִּֽהְי֤וּ ׀ כְּס֥וּס כְּפֶרֶד֮ אֵ֤ין הָ֫בִ֥ין | 9a | Do not be like a horse, like a mule in whom there is no understanding. |
| בְּמֶֽתֶג־וָרֶ֣סֶן עֶדְי֣וֹ לִבְל֑וֹם | 9b | One must restrict its walking with a bit and reins, |
| בַּ֝֗ל קְרֹ֣ב אֵלֶֽיךָ׃ | 9c | otherwise it will not come near you. |
| רַבִּ֥ים מַכְאוֹבִ֗ים לָרָ֫שָׁ֥ע | 10a | The sorrows of the wicked are many, |
| וְהַבּוֹטֵ֥חַ בַּיהוָ֑ה חֶ֝֗סֶד יְסוֹבְבֶֽנּוּ׃ | 10b | but the one who trusts in YHWH—faithfulness surrounds him. |
| שִׂמְח֬וּ בַֽיהוָ֣ה וְ֭גִילוּ צַדִּיקִ֑ים | 11a | Rejoice in YHWH and be glad, you righteous ones, |
| וְ֝הַרְנִ֗ינוּ כָּל־יִשְׁרֵי־לֵֽב׃ | 11b | and shout for joy, all you with integrity in your heart! |
- As discussed in the grammar note, what we have rendered as a verbless clause ("How happy is...!") is morphosyntactically simply a construct chain in Biblical Hebrew ("The happiness of...!"), such that it doesn't qualify as a predication and has not been highlighted in this table.
- Does the addressee shift from the congregation to YHWH in v. 3 or v. 4?
- It is quite possible that v. 3 continues the general wisdom orientation David offers the congregation. Nevertheless, YHWH is unambiguously the addressee in v. 4 and the discourse marker כִּי—which begins v. 4—grounds the content of v. 3. Both verses should therefore be considered one thought unit with the same addressee across both verses.
- For a full discussion concerning whether David or the faithful person (preferred) is speaking in v. 7, see the exegetical issue The Participants of Psalm 32:7-9.
- For a full discussion concerning whether YHWH (preferred) David is speaking in v. 8, see the exegetical issue The Participants of Psalm 32:7-9.
- For a full discussion concerning whether YHWH or David (preferred) is speaking in v. 8, see the exegetical issue The Participants of Psalm 32:7-9.
- For a full discussion concerning whether David or the faithful person is the addressee in v. 8, see the exegetical issue The Participants of Psalm 32:7-9.
- The suffix on אֵלֶֽיךָ at the end of v. 9 has not been highlighted because it is a second-person impersonal (cf. Ps 49:19; Prov 19:25; 30:10, 28). For further discussion, see the exegetical issues The Participants of Psalm 32:7-9 and The Syntax and Meaning of Psalm 32:9c.
Participant Relations Diagram
The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarized as follows:
Participant Analysis Summary Distribution
