Psalm 38/Macrosyntax/Notes

• The first paragraph break is in v. 10 with the reintroduction of YHWH as a participant and the vocative.
• The second paragraph break is in v. 12 with the shift in topic from the psalmist to the people around him, marked by the fronted topic. In addition, vv. 12-15 are all connected by coordinating conjunctions, clearly setting them apart as a unit.
• The third paragraph break is in v. 16. The use of אַתָּ֥ה in v. 16 is not necessary for the grammar and so is emphatic. The emphatic use of the pronoun, the three vocatives, the fronting of לְךָ֣, and the contrastive כִּי all serve to emphasize this verse.
• The final paragraph break is in v. 22, marked by the frequent use of vocatives in this segment. The pattern the vocatives form (final, initial, final) also solidifies this as its own paragraph. The culmination of the three groups mentioned in vv. 20-21 also indicates the that that paragraph is closing, especially with the length of the fronted subject in v. 21.

• v. 2a is contrastive focus. David accepts that YHWH will rebuke him, but he doesn't want YHWH to do it while he is angry, but rather justly (cf. Jer 10:24, Isa 11:4).
• v. 2b is also contrastive focus.
• v. 3a is most likely information focus; however, it could also be topic activation. If this line is topic * activation, it could be paraphrased "For concerning your arrows, they have been shot into me." If it is topic activation, the arrows would need to be presupposed in the discourse, potentially from the concept of YHWH's wrath in the previous verse.
• v. 5a is contrastive focus.
• v. 5b has כְּמַשָּׂ֥א כָ֝בֵ֗ד fronted for poetic reasons. With the prepositional phrase fronted, the same word order is repeated in 5b as in 5a. In addition, the phonetics also emphasize this pattern, with the 3mp qatal and the 1cs suffix.
• v. 7bα is a frame setter, giving the temporal scope of the clause.
• v. 7bβ is information focus, introducing the new concept of the psalmist's emotional reaction to his suffering.
• v. 8 is topic shift. Since the psalmist's body is already in the discourse here, this is not a new subject, but a shift to discuss a particular body part.
• v. 10a is confirming focus.
• v. 10bα and β are fronted for poetic reasons, mirroring the word order in v. 10a. It is possible that וְ֝אַנְחָתִ֗י מִמְּךָ֥ could be fronted because of topic shift, but this is unlikely.
• v. 11a is topic shift. It could be that this is fronted due to poetic symmetry within the clause, however.
• v. 11cα is topic shift.
• v. 11cβ is scalar focus.
• v. 12aα is topic shift.
• v. 12aβ is replacing focus.
• v. 12b repeats the structure of 12a. It is possible that אֹֽהֲבַ֨י ׀ וְרֵעַ֗י is fronted because of topic shift.
• v. 13b is fronted for poetic reasons in order to mirror the word order of v. 13a.
• v. 13cα is topic shift. The fronted וּ֝מִרְמ֗וֹת is semantically similar to הַוּ֑וֹת, so it is already active in the discourse.
• v. 13cβ is information focus.
• v. 14aα is topic shift.
• v. 14aβ is contrastive focus. From the previous context, it would be more likely that David would be listening to everything his enemies have been muttering, so the comparison of David to a deaf person is unexpected.
• v. 16a is fronted as contrastive focus, emphasizing that David trusted in God rather than man.
• v. 16b is confirming focus.
• v. 17cα is a frame setter, setting the temporal orientation for the rest of the clause.
• v. 17cβ is fronted for poetic reasons, mirroring the word order in v. 17b.
• v. 18a is confirming focus.
• v. 19a is fronted for poetic purposes, mirroring the word order in v. 19b. This is further strengthened by the phonological similarity with the two verbs. If not poetic, it could be topic reactivation, since עָוֹן hasn't been mentioned since verse 4.
• v. 20a is topic shift.
• v. 21a is fronted to match the structure of v. 20a.

• The vocatives are evenly spaced throughout the psalm, about 7 verses apart from each other. The psalm also begins and ends with vocatives. In addition, the vocatives increase towards the end of the psalm. Verse 16 takes the two vocatives used previously and adds a third all in one verse. These same three vocatives are repeated in vv. 22-23.
• The vocative in v. 2 is clause-initial, used here to grab God's attention to answer this urgent request (Kim 2022, 213-217).
• The vocative in v. 10 is clause-initial, serving to reactivate YHWH as a participant in the psalm, since there has been no mention of him since v. 4, identifying the antecedent of the pronoun in נֶגְדְּךָ֥.
• The first vocative in v. 16 immediately follows the fronted לְךָ֣, further emphasizing that prepositional phrase as the focus (Miller 2010, 357).
• The vocatives in v. 16b serve to indicate line delimitation (Miller 2010, 360-363).
• In both v. 22 and v. 23 there are two vocatives grouped together. The position of the vocatives in these verses creates a pattern: clause-final, clause-initial, and clause-final.

For comments on the structural and poetic usage of vocatives in this psalm see Psalm 38 Poetics.

(There are no notes on discourse markers for this psalm.)

• vv. 12-14 are grouped according to semantic similarities. However, the conjunction and pronoun in 14a sets vv. 14-15 apart as in contrast with vv. 12-13.
• The כִּי in v. 16 could be functioning in one of three ways. First, it could be introducing a counter statement to the previous segment, contrasting the abandonment by humans and David's trust in God (BHRG 2017, §40.21.2). Second, it could be causal, giving the reason why David gives no arguments: because he has placed his hope in the Lord, not in any arguments he could make. Third, it could be causal, but subordinate to the following clause, giving the reason why YHWH will answer. Because of the fronting of לְךָ֣, the focus is on YHWH, not necessarily on the answer or the arguments, so the first analysis is more likely.
• The פֶּן in v. 17 governs both the clause immediately following it and the clause subordinate to it.
• The כִּי in v. 18 gives David's motivation for saying what he did in v. 17. It is possible that this segment could be subordinate to the פֶּן clause in v. 17, in which case it would indicate the reason for why David's enemies are rejoicing.
• The כִּי in v. 19 functions as a concessive (BHRG §40.29.1(1)d), showing that even though David is confessing his iniquity, it is useless, since he is still anxious about his sin.