Psalm 45/Notes/Phrasal.v. 3.115378

v. 3 – The two most plausible readings of the prepositional phrase מִבְּנֵ֬י אָדָ֗ם following "you are attractive" are partitive, i.e., from among mankind, and graduability, which can function on a scale from mere comparison, i.e., more than mankind, to superlative (Staszak 2024, 182), i.e., the most of mankind. The latter, superlative reading, can subsume the partitive interpretation, since it requires the king to belong to the set of "mankind."

1. The comparative reading is found in the LXX (as well as Symmachus and Quinta): ὡραῖος κάλλει παρὰ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ἀνθρώπων "Youthful in beauty you are, beyond the sons of men" (NETS).
2. The superlative reading is found in the CSB: "You are the most handsome of men."

Due to the reduplicative stem of the preceding verb, *יְפֵיפִיתָ* (see the grammar notes), which often communicates intensification of an action, though in this case it is the state of being attractive, the superlative interpretation has been favored.