Psalm 46/Notes/Textual.v. 2b.937782

Reading נִמְצָא as a 1cpl qal yiqtol (i.e., “we find him when [we are] in trouble”) is also viable on syntactic and semantic grounds, yet it has no strong versional support and is not well-represented in modern translations. For this reading, see cf. Targ., whose נשכח seems to take the MT's נמצא as a 1cpl yiqtol (see further Stec [2004: 98, n2], which translates v. 2 as "God is our security and strength; we will readily find help in trouble"; cf. Coverdale Bible of 1535: "In oure troubles and aduersite, we haue founde, that God is oure refuge, oure strength and helpe"). If accepted, this reading would also impact the text structurally and poetically, disrupting the "symmetry" between vv. 2a and 2b (and vv. 8 and 12, in which God is subject and the focus is on his roles and status). Notably, scholars point out that v. 2 could be viewed as an additional refrain in the psalm (cf. vv. 8 and 12).