Psalm 36 Macrosyntax
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Psalm 36/Macrosyntax
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YHWH's Unending Loyalty
Psalm 36
Please note: Resources for Psalm 36 are in the process of being reformatted for visual consistency and improved functionality.
Macrosyntax
Macrosyntax Diagram
| Macrosyntax legend | |
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| Vocatives | Vocatives are indicated by purple text. |
| Discourse marker | Discourse markers (such as כִּי, הִנֵּה, לָכֵן) are indicated by orange text. |
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The scope governed by the discourse marker is indicated by a dashed orange bracket connecting the discourse marker to its scope. |
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The preceding discourse grounding the discourse marker is indicated by a solid orange bracket encompassing the relevant clauses. |
| Subordinating conjunction | The subordinating conjunction is indicated by teal text. |
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Subordination is indicated by a solid teal bracket connecting the subordinating conjunction with the clause to which it is subordinate. |
| Coordinating conjunction | The coordinating conjunction is indicated by blue text. |
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Coordination is indicated by a solid blue line connecting the coordinating clauses. |
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Coordination without an explicit conjunction is indicated by a dashed blue line connecting the coordinated clauses. |
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Marked topic is indicated by a black dashed rounded rectangle around the marked words. |
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The scope of the activated topic is indicated by a black dashed bracket encompassing the relevant clauses. |
| Marked focus or thetic sentence | Marked focus (if one constituent) or thetic sentences[1] are indicated by bold text. |
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Frame setters[2] are indicated by a solid gray rounded rectangle around the marked words. |
| [blank line] | Discourse discontinuity is indicated by a blank line. |
| [indentation] | Syntactic subordination is indicated by indentation. |
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Direct speech is indicated by a solid black rectangle surrounding all relevant clauses. |
| (text to elucidate the meaning of the macrosyntactic structures) | Within the CBC, any text elucidating the meaning of macrosyntax is indicated in gray text inside parentheses. |
If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.
| Emendations/Revocalizations legend | |
|---|---|
| *Emended text* | Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation. |
| *Revocalized text* | Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization. |
(Click diagram to enlarge)
- The first section (vv. 2-5) is delimited based on its thematic unity as a description of the wicked person.
- The end of the first section and beginning of the second (vv. 6-7) is signaled by the vocative, יְהוָה. The second section extends until the occurrence of another vocative, יְהוָה, which signals the end of that section.
- The division between the second and third section (vv. 8-13) is strengthened, not only by the section-ending vocative in v. 7c, but by the exclamative statement in v. 8a. The discourse function of the exclamative statement, מַה־יָּקָר חַסְדְּךָ "How precious is your devotion!", may be similar to that of a rhetorical question in that it has the potential to "open or close a section and thus play a part in the (poetic) structuring of the text" (de Regt 1996, 75). Exclamative are similar to thetics in that both "convey[s] surprise," yet different in that exclamative presuppose a proposition whereas thetics do not (García Macías 2016, 79). In other words, "How precious is your devotion!" presupposes the proposition, "YHWH's devotion is precious," which is the very point the psalmist is at pains to demonstrate in the previous section (vv. 6-7). Based on macrosyntactic considerations, the psalm divides into three parts: vv. 2-5, 6-7, and 8-13.
- v. 5a - In the previous verse, the psalmist describes the wicked person's words as אָוֶן וּמִרְמָה "evil and deceit." As a result, these two characteristics are activated in the discourse and, hence, made available for selection in the following text. Of these two characteristics, the psalmist selects אָוֶן as the topic of the sentence, that is, what remainder of the sentence will be about. The remainder of the sentence relates new information about this topic; not only does the wicked person speak evil, but he even "plots [it] while on his bed."
- v. 5c - Similar to אָוֶן (v. 5a), the fronted constituent רָע represents the topic of the sentence. The rest of the sentence relates new information about it — the wicked person "(certainly) does not refuse [it]." Yet this instance of topic selection is different from אָוֶן in that רָע is not chosen from a previously activated set (such as אָוֶן from אָוֶן וּמִרְמָה). Instead, the psalmist selects רָע "from an open set of possible candidates for the role of topic" (Khan and Van der Merwe 2020, 25).
- v. 6a - The default word order for verbless clauses is subject-predicate (BHRG §46.2.3.1). This line exhibits non-default word order in that the predicate (בְּהַשָּׁמַיִם) appears before the subject (חַסְדֶּךָ), however the effect of this order is purely poetic, forming a chiasm with the following line: A (prep. phrase + noun, suffix) // B (noun, suffix + prep. phrase).
- v. 7c - The fronted אָדָם־וּבְהֵמָה "humans and animals" represents marked focus. The set of alternatives from which "humans and animals" are chosen is creation. The mention of "sky," "clouds," and "great deep" indicates that all of creation is in view, from which the psalmist selects only "humans and animals" as the beneficiaries of YHWH's deliverance (cf. "Selective Focus" in Khan and Van der Merwe 2020, 20-21).
- v. 8b - The fronted phrase, אֱלֹהִים וּבְנֵי אָדָם "divine beings and people," represents a topic shift. "Divine beings and people" are the subjects of vv. 8b, 9a, and are the direct objects of 9b. In vv. 8b and 9a the focus is on what is said about "divine beings and people" — they take refuge and drink to the full. As the direct objects of v. 9b, the focus is on the fact that they are given the river to drink from by YHWH. Also preposed before the verb is the prepositional phrase בְּצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ "within the protection of your wings," which represents marked focus. The idea is that divine beings and people take refuge only within the protection of YHWH's wings.
- v. 9b - The non-default word order of this B line is for poetic effect, as it completes a chiasm begun in the A line: A (verb, adverbial + suffix) // B (adverbial + suffix, verb) (see Lunn 2006, 106).
- v. 10a - The default word order for verbless clauses is subject-predicate (BHRG §46.2.3.1). This line exhibits non-default word order in that the predicate (עִמְּךָ) appears before the subject (מְקוֹר חַיִּים). This line's non-default order, however, is likely for poetic effect and does not represent an instance of marked topic or focus. The fronted constituent of the A line (PP with 2ms suffix) corresponds with the fronted constituent of the B line (PP with 2ms suffix).
- v. 10b - See previous note.
- v. 12b - The non-default word order of this B line is for poetic effect, as it completes a chiasm begun in the A line: A (verb, subject) // B (subject, verb) (see Lunn 2006, 106).
- v. 13a - For the fronting of שָׁ֣ם, see the note on the discourse marker, below.
- vv. 6a and 7c - The first vocative (יְהוָה) appears at the beginning of a new poetic section (vv. 6-10) and functions to signal the beginning of a turn in the psalm from descriptions of the wicked person (vv. 2-5) to praise of YHWH (vv. 6-10) (see Kim 2023, 136). The second vocative (יְהוָה) appears at the end of a sub-section (vv. 6-7) and aids in determining where this line/section ends and a new line/section begins (see Miller 2010, 361). Both of these vocatives form an inclusio around vv. 6-7, delimiting it as the "meaningful centre" of the psalm (Labuschagne 2006, 1; see Poetic Structure note).
- v. 8 - Most ancient versions and modern translations understand אֱלֹהִים as a vocative (e.g., LXX - ὡς ἐπλήθυνας τὸ ἔλεός σου, ὁ θεός "How you increased your mercy, O God!" (NETS); ESV - "How precious is your steadfast love, O God!"). Though this option is not preferred (see forthcoming Exegetical Issue and Grammar note), the function of אלהים as a vocative could be to assist in delimiting poetic lines; because it would occur at the end of a clause as a vocative, אֱלֹהִים marks the end of a poetic line (see Miller 2010, 361).
(There are no notes on discourse markers for this psalm.)
- v. 3a - This כִּי clause provides the reason why the wicked person lacks the "fear of God" (v. 2b); specifically, it identifies and describes the event that led to such lack of fear. Read this way, it becomes clear that the consequence/result of the wicked person's deception (i.e., his self-flattery) is that he does not, indeed cannot, fear God and so relate to him as he should (for an explanation of this "metalinguistic causal" use of כי, see Locatell 2017, 169-179).
- vv. 3-4 - Two pairs of לְ plus infinitive construct phrases appear in vv. 3-4. The first of each pair is subordinate to the preceding text. The second of each pair is coordinated to the first asyndetically, resulting in the renderings: "finding...and hating"; "to act wisely and to do good."
- v. 6-7 - The lack of formal coordination among these clauses, in addition to their terseness, creates a staccato-like effect across this section in which each clause seems to follow the previous in rapid succession. On a discourse-level, the effect of such rapid succession (facilitated by the lack of formal coordination) is to mark this section as especially prominent within the psalm.
- v. 10a - The previous two clauses (v. 9ab) feature prominently water terms and imagery; within YHWH's house, divine beings and people "drink" and are "give[n] drink" from YHWH's delightful "stream." This information gives rise to the question: "How is it possible for divine beings and people to 'drink' and be 'give[n] drink' from YHWH's 'stream'? Where does this water come from?" The following כִּי clause provides the answer: such water/drink comes from YHWH, "because the spring (i.e., source) of life is with YHWH." The כִּי clause thus provides the explanation as to why divine beings and people can and do drink within YHWH's house.
- v. 13 - Of the three verbal clauses in v. 13, only the last two are formally coordinated (דֹּחוּ וְלֹא־יָכְלוּ). Although the first (נָפְלוּ) is not formally coordinated with the others (indicated by waw), it should still be seen as conceptually coordinated based on its similar semantic profile. In other words, all three verbs are qatals and together provide the answer/resolution to the psalmist's plea in vv. 11-12: "That evildoers have fallen, been thrust down, and are not able to stand up indicates that YHWH has continued his devotion and righteousness and has not allowed wicked people to triumph over the psalmist" (cf. Verbal Semantics).
- ↑ When the entire utterance is new/unexpected, it is a thetic sentence (often called "sentence focus"). See our Creator Guidelines for more information on topic and focus.
- ↑ Frame setters are any orientational constituent – typically, but not limited to, spatio-temporal adverbials – function to "limit the applicability of the main predication to a certain restricted domain" and "indicate the general type of information that can be given" in the clause nucleus (Krifka & Musan 2012: 31-32). In previous scholarship, they have been referred to as contextualizing constituents (see, e.g., Buth (1994), “Contextualizing Constituents as Topic, Non-Sequential Background and Dramatic Pause: Hebrew and Aramaic evidence,” in E. Engberg-Pedersen, L. Falster Jakobsen and L. Schack Rasmussen (eds.) Function and expression in Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 215-231; Buth (2023), “Functional Grammar and the Pragmatics of Information Structure for Biblical Languages,” in W. A. Ross & E. Robar (eds.) Linguistic Theory and the Biblical Text. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 67-116), but this has been conflated with the function of topic. In brief: sentence topics, belonging to the clause nucleus, are the entity or event about which the clause provides a new predication; frame setters do not belong in the clause nucleus and rather provide a contextual orientation by which to understand the following clause.