Psalm 36 Exegetical Issues

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Psalm 36/Exegetical Issues
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Exegetical Issues Video

Introduction to Exegetical Issues

Presented here are the top three Exegetical Issues that any interpreter of the psalm—whether they’re reading the text in Hebrew or looking at a number of translations—are likely to encounter. These issues usually involve textual criticism, grammar, lexical semantics, verbal semantics, and/or phrase-level semantics, though they sometimes involve higher-level layers as well.

Exegetical Issues for Psalm 36

The textual and grammatical difficulties of this phrase have led some scholars to the resignation that, "In spite of many suggestions, the original text cannot be recovered."[1] The considerable divergence among modern translations seems to support this notion. The differences among these translations prompt the following questions:
  • Who or what is the speaker? A sinner or transgression?
  • Whose heart is it? The wicked person's or the psalmist's?
  • What is the function of the prepositional phrase לרשׁע? Does the ל preposition indicate the recipient of the declaration, the possessor of the declaration, the object of a verb, or a purpose clause?
Modern translations disagree regarding the subject of the finite verb, הֶחֱלִיק he flatters, and the function of two לְ + infinitive construct phrases, לִמְצֹא עֲוֺנוֹ לִשְׂנֹא. The translations identify the subject of הֶחֱלִיק as either רָשָׁע "the wicked person(s)" (v. 2; ESV, NET, NIV), לִמְצֹא עֲוֺנוֹ לִשְׂנֹא "carrying out sin and practicing hatred" (ELB, EÜ), or פֶּשַׁע "transgression" (v. 2; JPS85).
The syntax of this verse makes it difficult to determine whether אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים God should be grouped with the preceding text (e.g., "How precious is your steadfast love, O God!") or the succeeding text (e.g., "Gods and men seek refuge in the shadow of your wings"). The grouping of אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים significantly affects the meaning and message of the psalm as a whole, but especially vv. 8-11.
  1. ↑ deClaissé-Walford, et al. 2014, 341.