Psalm 37/Participant Analysis/Notes

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  • *Emendations*:
    • v. 20: For the emendation כֶעָשָׁן, see Method:Grammar (MT: בֶעָשָׁ֣ן).
    • v. 28B: For the emendation עַוָּלִים נִצְמָתוּ, see The Text of Psalm37:28.
    • vv. 28-31: For the rearrangement of the strophes/letters, see Poetic Structure.
    • v. 36: For the emendation וָאֶעֲבֹר, see Method:Grammar (MT: וַ֭יַּֽעֲבֹר).


  • v. 22: YHWH?
The referent of the pronominal suffixes in v. 22 is not immediately clear. Up to this point, the strophe (vv. 21-22) has only mentioned the righteous and the wicked, but it does not make sense for either of them to be the referent. The suffixes must refer to YHWH, even though he has not yet been mentioned in this strophe (so NIV, NLT, ESV, CEV, GNT, JPS1917, NET, LUT, HFA, NGÜ, GNB). Echoes of Gen 12:3 (cf. Hossfeld and Zenger 1993, 293) and the blessings and curses of Deuteronomy (cf. Craigie 1983, 298) support this identification.
  • v. 23: On the participants in v. 23b, see lexical semantics.


  • v. 38b: future or children of the wicked?
It is difficult to know whether the word "future" (אַחֲרִית) refers to the children of the wicked (NRSV, NASB: "posterity"; GNT: "their descendants"). See note on lexical semantics. At the very least, children are implied. Cf. parallel in v. 28B.