Psalm 6/Verse Excerpts
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
King David has sinned, and YHWH has become angry. YHWH will discipline the king as a father disciplines his son (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14), but David pleads that the discipline not be animated by anger.
| Verse | Hebrew MT | Interlinear gloss | Meaning-based translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| v. 2 | יְֽהוָ֗ה אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ֥ תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי | YHWH, not-in-your-anger correct-me. | YHWH, don't let it be in your anger that you punish me. |
| וְֽאַל־בַּחֲמָתְךָ֥ תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי׃ | and-not-in-your-wrath discipline-me. | Don't let it be in your wrath that you discipline me. |
- The negative particle אל usually modifies the whole clause, but here it functions as a "constituent negative, negating only the prepositional phrase."<refPS>BHRG §41.3.</refPS> "In these passages (Ps. 6:2; 38:2), we may consider that the negative אל does not negate the following verb but the prepositional group."<refPS>Jean-Sébastien Rey "Dislocated Negations": Negative אל Followed by a Non-verbal Constituent in Biblical, Ben Sira and Qumran Hebrew 2018.</refPS>
| Word | POS | Lexical domain | Contextual domain | Definition | Gloss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| יהוה | name | Names of Deities | deity; ► God of Israel who revealed himself to Moses | YHWH | |
| אַף | noun | People > Angry | Body > Temper; Divine | state of extreme displeasure; ≈ often associated with fire and smoke | anger; wrath |
| יכח | verb | Chastise | Music and Dance | action by which humans or deities inflict a penalty on others as retribution for what they have done | to correct; to punish |
| חֵמָה | noun | Angry | Temper; Divine | state in which humans and deities experience excitement ◄ caused by anger | anger; wrath; jealousy |
| יסר | verb | Chastise | Authority; Recompense; Behavior; Human; Temper</span | action by which humans or deities respond to negative behavior of (other) humans by administering some sort of punishment, which may range from a verbal rebuke to physical correction, ► often done with corrective intent, but sometimes also as retribution | to discipline |
The first story is what David prays will not happen.
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This second story is what David hopes will happen.
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