Psalm Overview
Word-Level Semantics
Several of the key words in Psalm 1 along with other words that may be difficult to understand are highlighted in the translation below. Click on one of these words to learn more about its meaning. For words not discussed below, visit the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew.
- Key words: bold
- Difficult words: underlined
v. 1
| 1 |
A psalm by David, when he fled from the presence of Absalom, his son.
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v. 2
| 2a |
YHWH, how my adversaries have multiplied.
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| 2b |
Many are those rising up against me.
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v. 3
| 3a |
Many are those saying about my soul,
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| 3b |
“There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah.
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v. 4
| 4a |
But you, YHWH, are a shield around me,
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| 4b |
my honour and the one who lifts my head.
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v. 5
| 5a |
Whenever I cry out to YHWH with my voice,
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| 5b |
he responds to me from his holy mountain. Selah.
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v. 6
| 6a |
I lay down and fell asleep.
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| 6b |
I woke up, for YHWH supports me.
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v. 7
| 7a |
I will not be afraid of myriads of people
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| 7b |
who have taken position against me all around.
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v. 8
| 8a |
Rise up, YHWH. Save me, my God.
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| 8b |
For you have struck all of my enemies on the jaw.
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| 8c |
You have broken the teeth of wicked people.
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v. 9
| 9a |
Salvation is YHWH’s.
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| 9b |
Your blessing is on your people. Selah.
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Phrase-Level Semantics
Sentence-Level Semantics
For semantics at the level of the sentence and above, see Psalm 3 Story behind the Psalm.
Verbal Semantics
Several of the verbs in this psalm are difficult to interpret, and the way in which they are interpreted influences the way in which the whole psalm is understood. The most important issues of verbal semantics are discussed in the notes below.
Notes
- "whenever I cry... he responds..." (v. 5). The immediately preceding situation (v. 4) is gnomic (true of all time). In this context, the yiqtol in v. 5a is probably habitual. If this were past tense, we would expect a qatal (as in the next verse). The wayyiqtol in v. 5b continues the semantics of the yiqtol in v. 5a.[1]
- "I lay down and fell asleep. I woke up" (v. 6). Some English translations interpret these verbs as present tense (e.g., NIV, RSV, NEB, GNT, etc.) and others as past tense (e.g., KJV, ESV, NASB, NLT, NET, etc.). The latter is more likely for the following reasons:
- For active/dynamic verbs (like שָׁכַבְתִּי and הֱקִיצוֹתִי), the prototypical meaning of qatal is past tense and perfective/perfect aspect.[2]
- The prototypical meaning of qatal as past perfective works well in the context of Psalm 3. David is fleeing from Absalom his son (v. 1), who contemplates assassinating David in the night (2 Sam. 17:1-2). In this perilous situation, David is able to lie down and fall asleep as an expression of confidence. He woke up the next day (without being killed), because YHWH is the one who sustains him. In the psalm, David expresses his trust in YHWH’s protection in general terms (vv. 4-5) and then goes on to give a more concrete expression (vv. 6-7).
- Brief personal past tense narratives occur elsewhere in the Psalms (e.g., Ps. 30:3-4; 32:5bc; 118:18).
- "You have struck... You have broken" (v. 8bc). The meaning of the qatal verbs in this verse have been interpreted as timeless/gnomic ("you strike...") (ESV, GNT), past perfect ("you have struck…") (KJV, NASB), and imperative (strike...!) (NIV, NLT, CEB). The third option (qatal as imperative) is unlikely, because it requires an unusual interpretation of both ki (as an asseverative particle)[3] and qatal (as a precative perfect).[4] The past tense interpretation is more likely than the present tense interpretation, since this is the prototypical meaning of qatal[5], and it works well in this context. David grounds his plea in past demonstrations of YHWH's faithfulness. This is typical of prayer in the psalms.[6]
- "Your blessing is..." (v. 9b). This verbless clause could be interpreted as either a wish or a statement. In light of the previous clause (v. 9a), which is clearly a statement ("salvation is YHWH's"), this clause is probably also a statement. Because YHWH is the one who saves (v. 9a), YHWH's people are the ones who are blessed (v. 9b).
References
- ↑ "The imperfect consecutive may represent all varieties in the relations of tense and mood, which... follow from the idea of the imperfect" (GKC 111n). Cf. Elizabeth Robar, The Verb and the Paragraph in Biblical Hebrew: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach, in Studies in Semitic Languages and Linguistics 78 (Boston: Brill, 2015).
- ↑ E.g. BHRG 19.1.5.
- ↑ Ki functions as a modal adverb "primarily in the context of swearing an oath" (BHRG 40.29.2). It is "used to express the speakers' conviction about that they regard as true about a situation" (BHRG 40.29.2).
- ↑ The category of "precative perfect" in Hebrew poetry is dubious. See Elizabeth Robar, “The Unfolding of Your Words Gives Light: Studies on Biblical Hebrew in Honor of George L. Klein,” Journal of Semitic Studies 65, no. 2 (Fall 2020): 633–39.
- ↑ E.g. BHRG 19.1.5.
- ↑ See e.g. Ps. 22:1-12.
