Psalm 51/Notes/Phrasal.v. 16.710561

The redundant use of אֱלֹהִים as a proper noun followed immediately by אֱלֹהֵי תְּשׁוּעָתִי (where אֱלֹהִים is a common noun) is odd and probably goes back to an original phrase יהוה אֱלֹהֵי תְּשׁוּעָתִי 'YHWH, the God of my salvation' (cf. Ps 88:2). The personal name יהוה was frequently replaced with the more generic proper noun אֱלֹהִים in the so-called Elohistic Psalter (Pss 42–83/89*). The same may also have been the case for the less obvious cases of אֱלֹהִים as a proper noun in Ps 51:3, 12, and 19(twice). Though this Elohistic editing probably does not represent the earliest text of Ps 51, we have not attempted to reconstruct an earlier Yahwistic version of the psalm, since the Elohistic editing is generally considered to have been an early stage in the formation of the Psalter and thus part of the received editorial tradition.