Psalm 37/Notes/Grammar.v. 20.930879

It is not clear whether the prepositional phrase כֶּעָשָׁן modifies the first כּלוּ, which precedes it, or the second כּלוּ, which follows it. The Masoretic tradition might support grouping the PP with the first כּלוּ, since the preposition in בֶעָשָׁן has no dagesh and the accent under the first כָּל֖וּ (tarcha) is conjunctive (so Baethgen 1904, 106; a number of Masoretic manuscripts, however, do have a dagesh; see Ginsburg 1913, 73). The word בֶעָשָׁ֣ן also has a conjunctive accent (munach), but this accent might be a substitute for the disjunctive accent revia mugrash (Delitzsch 1996, 284). The word order might also support grouping the prepositional phrase with the first verb, since modifiers typically follow (rather than precede) the verbs they modify (cf. Ps 102:4—כִּֽי־כָל֣וּ בְעָשָׁ֣ן יָמָ֑י).