Psalm 36/Participant Analysis/Notes

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vv. 2-5: The Identity of the Addressee

  • Unlike vv. 6-12 which is addressed to YHWH, the addressee of vv. 2-5 is unspecified. Within the section addressed to YHWH, a group is referred to as "those who know you" (v. 11), and "the upright in heart" (v. 11). Taken together, these references suggest that "YHWH's people" are in view as the likely addressee of vv. 2-5. This is further evidenced by the juxtaposition of this group with "arrogant [people]" and "wicked [people]" (v. 12) (i.e., not YHWH's people; see Botha 2004).

v. 3a: The subject(s) and referent(s) of כִּי־הֶחֱלִיק אֵלָיו בְּעֵינָיו For he has flattered himself in his eyes

  • For a fuller treatment of the participants involved in v. 3a, see The Syntax and Meaning of Ps. 36:3.

vv. 8-10: The subject(s) of יֶחֱסָיוּן, יִרְוְיֻן, and נִרְאֶה YHWH's people or both YHWH's people and Divine Beings?

  • The subject(s) of three verbs is/are determined by whether אֱלֹהִים (v. 8) is grouped with the preceding clause as a vocative (so ESV) or the succeeding clause as part of a compound subject (so REB). If the former, the subject is בְנֵי אָדָם "people"; if the latter, the subjects are both בְנֵי אָדָם "people" and אֱלֹהִים "divine beings." The latter is preferred so that "divine beings and people" both "take refuge," "drink to the full," and "see" light. For a fuller treatment on the position of אֱלֹהִים, see The Division of Psalm 36:8.
  • The person shift at v. 10, from third to first, most likely marks the end of a section (see de Regt 2000).

v. 13: The Identity of the Addressee

  • That the addressee switches back to YHWH's people here, and does not continue with YHWH, is not signalled by an overt person-shift, for third-person language appears throughout vv. 12-13. Based on the parallels with v. 5 however, there is reason to believe that the psalmist stops addressing YHWH and begins to address YHWH's people again: both include a three-fold description of the wicked person(s) (with three verbs in each), along with a contrast between where the wicked person stands (v. 5b) and where he falls down (v. 13a; see Botha 2004, 516n30).