Psalm 6 Grammar

Psalm Overview

• Grammar
• Semantics
• Story behind the Psalm
• Discourse
• Poetics

Overview

For the most part, the grammar of this Psalm is fairly straightforward. There are some difficulties, however, in v. 2 and v. 4. These are discussed in the notes below.

Grammatical Diagram

For legend, click "Expand" to the right

Grammatical Term	Definition	Diagram	Example
Clausal Additions
Subject	The subject performs the action of the active verb or receives the action of a passive verb. With intransitive verbs	Indicated at the beginning of the main clausal line, and followed by a vertical line that crosses over the main clause line (separating the subject from the predicate).
Direct Object	Object that receives the direct action of a (transitive) verb	Indicate with a vertical line up from main clausal line
Predicate adjective/ Subject complement	A word used with a linking verb (ex. "to be"), renaming or restating the subject. Can be a whole prepositional phrase.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line. It can be on a stand if it is an embedded clause.
Object Complement	Word following a direct object to state what it has become.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line.
Infinitives	Can be subject, adverbial, or an infinitive construct.	Indicate with double vertical lines that cross the main clausal line. If used adverbially (ie. an embedded clause), place on a stand.
Participles	A verbal noun/adjective that can be used in three positions: (1) substantival; (2) attributive; (3) predicative.	Indicate with a round vertical line. Substantival participles are placed on a stand (they are embedded). Attributive participles are placed with a rounded line underneath what is modified.
Modifiers
Adjectives	A word modifying a noun to indicate quality, quantity, extent, or differentiating something from something else.	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Adverbs	A word that modifies a verb, adverb, adjective, prepositional phrase, clause, or sentence to express a relation (ex. manner, quality, or time).	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Construct relationships	Construction can express many different relationships between two (or more) nouns. English grammarians call this construction a ‘Construct’ (our term) or ‘Genitive’ phrase; Hebrew grammarians call it smīḵūt (סְמִיכוּת).	Indicate with a stair-step down from the modified word/clause/phrase.
Prepositional phrases	A phrase that consists of a preposition and its object and has adjectival or adverbial value	Indicate with a slanted vertical line connecting to a new clause.
Connectives	(1) Coordinating conjunctions join together words or word groups of equal grammatical rank (2) Subordinating conjunctions join a main clause and a clause which does not form a complete sentence by itself.	Indicate with a dashed line down from a vertical line marker.
Embedded clause	A clause inside another clause which can include substantival participles, adverbial infinitives, and prepositional phrases.	Indicate using stilts.
Particles
Subordinating particle	Indicates a dependent clause.	Indicate with a dashed line down from the antecedent to the pronoun.
Apposition	A word that is functioning as an explanatory equivalent as another in the sentence	Place on a line apart from the diagram but next to the word it is the equivalent of with an equal sign in between.
Vocative	Indicating a person being addressed (usually with a 2nd person verb)	Place on a line apart from the diagram next to the '()' indicating the gapped subject an equal sign in between.

Master Diagram

v. 1

v. 2

Notes

אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ֥ תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי // וְֽאַל־בַּחֲמָתְךָ֥ תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי

The word order of these clauses is unusual. Usually, the negative particle אל immediately precedes the verb. Here, however, a prepositional phrase (בְּאַפְּךָ֥ // בַּחֲמָתְךָ֥) stands between the negative particle and the verb. This has led some to argue that the negative particle modifies the prepositional phrase instead of the verb.

For example, Miller-Naudé and Naudé distinguish between "sentential negation" (where the negative particle modifies/negates the whole sentence) and "constituent negation" (where the negative particle modifies/negates a constituent in the sentence [e.g. a prepositional phrase]). They argue that “in Biblical Hebrew, these two kinds of scope are determined by word order. Sentential negation routinely involves the negative marker at the beginning of the sentence with the verb immediately following (this is also the most prominent pattern cross-linguistically, see Dahl 1979). Contrastively, in constituent negation the negative marker immediately precedes the nonverbal constituent that is in its scope.” According to this view, the negative particles in Psalm 6 would modify only the prepositional phrases and not the entire clauses.

Jean-Sébastien Rey comes to a similar conclusion in his study on "Negative אל Followed by a Non-verbal Constituent." With regard to Psalm 6, he notes that "both prepositional groups… should have been placed after the verb… However, in these passages, we may consider that the negative אל does not negate the following verb but the prepositional group and that the verb היה is implied: יהוה אל (יהי) באפך תוכיחני ‘O Lord, you can rebuke me but not in your anger.'"

A better explanation for the unusual word order is not grammatical - it is not clear that a negative adverb can modify a prepositional phrase - but pragmatic. In terms of grammar, the entire clause is negated ("do not discipline me in anger"). But in terms of pragmatics, by fronting the prepositional phrase, the psalmist makes clear that it is not discipline per-se that he rejects, but discipline that is animated by anger. In English, we might translate this effect by means of intonation ("do not discipline me in your anger") or by a cleft construction ("do not let it be in your anger that you discipline me").

v. 3

v. 4

Notes

The difficulties in v. 4 are (1) determining whether or not the clauses in this verse are coordinate with the previous subordinate clause (i.e. does the כי conjunction govern these clauses as well?) and (2) determining what both of the waws in these clauses connect.

The waw in v. 4a (ונפשי) may coordinate with the previous clause (v. 3b), so that v. 4a is governed by כי. This is suggested by the semantic and syntactic similarity between v. 3b and v. 4a. However, the verse division, the word order (fronting of ונפשי), and the fact that ונפשי elsewhere indicates the start of a new syntactic unit (cf. Ps. 35:9; similar to waw plus personal pronoun [cf. Ps. 5:8]) suggest otherwise. Instead, the waw in v. 4a may coordinate with 2a, indicating that vv. 2-3 is a unit with internal binding. The repetition of semantic content, rather than suggesting the coordination of v. 3b and v. 4a, is exploited for rhetorical effect. With the new topic (ונפשי) comes an expectation of some new information: "And as for my soul..." But this expectation is subverted when the previous line is repeated nearly verbatim (only the situation is intensified [מאד]). Despite the new topic, the discourse goes nowhere (but down!) and leaves the reader (along with the psalmist) asking, "how long?" (v. 4b).

The waw in v. 4b (ואתה) probably coordinates with the clause in v. 4a. "The pronoun ָ["you"] forcefully contrasts with ["my soul"] in the preceding line (v. 3a), as the two protagonists, divine and human, are syntactically placed into prominent opposition."

It is also worth noting that v. 4b is a sentence fragment which, in the context, is highly marked. The grammar is as disrupted as the whole experience.

vv. 5-6

v. 7

v. 8

vv. 9-10

v. 11

Full diagram (vv. 1-11)