Psalm 4/Macrosyntax/Notes

• v. 2 / vv. 3–6. The vocative in v. 3a introduces a new unit.
• vv. 3–6 / vv. 7–9. Beginning in v. 7, the psalmist turns again to speak to YHWH (see vocatives in vv. 7, 9; cf. v. 2b).

• v. 2a - Clause- and line-initial בְּקָרְאִי is a frame setter.
• v. 2b - Likewise, בַּצָּר is a frame setter, parallel to בְּקָרְאִי in the previous line/clause. These first two lines (v. 2ab) have an abab structure.
• v. 4b - יְהוָה is fronted to indicate a thetic sentence, with both YHWH and בְּקָרְאִ֥י אֵלָֽיו activated and accessible from the previous discourse.
• v. 8b - The fronting of דְּגָנָם וְתִירוֹשָׁם is poetically motivated; it allows the verb רָבּוּ to conclude the line and form an inclusio with רַבִּים in v. 7a (see Poetic Structure).
• v. 9 - The word order in v. 9 is a-typical in a number of ways.
  • The phrase בְּשָׁלוֹם is fronted, probably to create a poetic correspondence with בְּקָרְאִי at the beginning of v. 2 (see Poetic Structure).
  • The adverbial יַחְדָּו is pre-verbal (contrast, e.g., Isa 46:2; Ps 35:26), perhaps for marked focus: I will both lie down and fall asleep, i.e., these two actions will happen simultaneously: I will fall asleep as soon as I lie down.
  • The pronoun "you" (אַתָּה) is fronted for exclusive focus: "you (and you alone)." The adjectival phrase "alone" (לְבָדָד) further clarifies the exclusivity of YHWH's agency.
  • The adverbial phrase לָבֶטַח is fronted, perhaps to correspond to the word order in v. 6b or perhaps to allow the verb תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי to occur at the end of the clause/line/poem. Delaying the verb תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי until the last word of this long clause creates tension that resolves with a strong sense of closure once the verb is finally read/heard. As the last word of v. 9, תּוֹשִׁיבֵנִי also forms an inclusio with the first word of the verse, בְּשָׁלוֹם (notice the similar sounds b + sh), thus strengthening the sense of closure.

• v. 3 - The vocative "mortal humans" is clause-initial to identify the addressee.
• v. 7 - The vocative "YHWH" is clause-final, perhaps by default, or by attraction to the 2ms suffix on פָּנֶיךָ.
• v. 9 - The vocative "YHWH" is after the subject "you" (אַתָּה) since the latter is in marked focus.

• vv. 3, 5 - Selah (vv. 3, 5) does not indicate strong discourse boundaries in this psalm, as it does, for example, in the previous psalm (Ps 3). It does, however subdivide the second main section of the psalm, the address to mortal humans, into three parts (see Poetic Structure).

There are no notes on conjunctions for this psalm.