Psalm 51/Notes/Verbal.v. 20.129205

The hiphil הֵיטִיבָה is generally understood to refer to the expression of goodness or good disposition by the subject, but could alternatively be treated as a causative or factitive verb inducing a state of goodness or prosperity in the object (cf. NIV "May it please you to prosper Zion"). TLOT (2.488) considers the former to be "formally correct," though emphasizing that "the content seems to have less to do with the deed itself than with the consequence of the deed." Here the goodness and magnanimity of God's well-disposed actions towards Jerusalem seem to be in view. The anticipated consequence of this intervention is the restoration and prosperity of Jerusalem, but the verbal semantics should not be directly construed in this way.