Psalm 37/Notes/Textual.v. 10.179067

4Q171 reads a first person singular verb with a he suffix in its lemma: ואתבוננה ("I will stare")—ועוד מעט ואין רשע ואתבוננה על מקומו ואיננו (reading adopted by Craigie 1983, 294). The LXX (καὶ ζητήσεις) agrees with MT in reading a 2ms verb. The 2ms verb better fits the context (cf. the consistent use of 2ms verbs and pronouns through vv. 1-9). The 1cs reading of 4Q171 might be a harmonization to vv. 35-36, a similar strophe which uses first-person language (cf. Ruiz 2009, 53). Or, the variant אתבוננה may have a graphic explanation. At one point in the textual history, התבוננתָ might have been written as אתבוננתא (cf. Kutscher 1974, 163), which could easily be confused for אתבוננא / אתבוננה.