Psalm 49/Notes/Grammar.v. 1.207382

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Further, given the subject matter of the psalm (meditation on life and death, and the place of riches in both), some have suggested that על־מות (“on death”) from Ps 48:15 should be part of the superscription of Ps 49:1. Transposed this way and placed after מזמור (“psalm”) in Ps 49:1, v. 1b could read as “a psalm concerning death.” Notably, על־מות in Ps 48:15 is read as "death" in Pesh. (ܡܢ ܡܘܬܐ/"beyond death").[1] Yet, this reading of על־מות in Ps 48 is not straightforward and is often taken as עלמות/"eternally."[2] Such transposition, however, has no versional support and is not represented in modern translations.

  1. Taylor 2020, 187.
  2. E.g., Krinetzki 1960, 73; Dahood 1965, 293; Craigie 2004, 352.