Psalm 70 Macrosyntax
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Psalm 70/Macrosyntax
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Psalm 70
Macrosyntax
Macrosyntax Diagram
| Macrosyntax legend | |
|---|---|
| Vocatives | Vocatives are indicated by purple text. |
| Discourse marker | Discourse markers (such as כִּי, הִנֵּה, לָכֵן) are indicated by orange text. |
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The scope governed by the discourse marker is indicated by a dashed orange bracket connecting the discourse marker to its scope. |
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The preceding discourse grounding the discourse marker is indicated by a solid orange bracket encompassing the relevant clauses. |
| Subordinating conjunction | The subordinating conjunction is indicated by teal text. |
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Subordination is indicated by a solid teal bracket connecting the subordinating conjunction with the clause to which it is subordinate. |
| Coordinating conjunction | The coordinating conjunction is indicated by blue text. |
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Coordination is indicated by a solid blue line connecting the coordinating clauses. |
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Coordination without an explicit conjunction is indicated by a dashed blue line connecting the coordinated clauses. |
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Marked topic is indicated by a black dashed rounded rectangle around the marked words. |
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The scope of the activated topic is indicated by a black dashed bracket encompassing the relevant clauses. |
| Marked focus or thetic sentence | Marked focus (if one constituent) or thetic sentences[1] are indicated by bold text. |
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Frame setters[2] are indicated by a solid gray rounded rectangle around the marked words. |
| [blank line] | Discourse discontinuity is indicated by a blank line. |
| [indentation] | Syntactic subordination is indicated by indentation. |
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Direct speech is indicated by a solid black rectangle surrounding all relevant clauses. |
| (text to elucidate the meaning of the macrosyntactic structures) | Within the CBC, any text elucidating the meaning of macrosyntax is indicated in gray text inside parentheses. |
If an emendation or revocalization is preferred, that emendation or revocalization will be marked in the Hebrew text of all the visuals.
| Emendations/Revocalizations legend | |
|---|---|
| *Emended text* | Emended text, text in which the consonants differ from the consonants of the Masoretic text, is indicated by blue asterisks on either side of the emendation. |
| *Revocalized text* | Revocalized text, text in which only the vowels differ from the vowels of the Masoretic text, is indicated by purple asterisks on either side of the revocalization. |
(Click diagram to enlarge)
- v. 2. The tight line-binding brought about by the repetition of the vocative, the constituent order, and the backwards gappings (see the notes on vocatives and constituent order) create schematic satisfaction before the discourse continues into a new unit.[3]
- v. 6. The waw and independent pronoun "But I" (וַאֲנִ֤י) create a strong topic shift, indicating a discourse discontinuity between vv. 3–5 and v. 6.
- v. 2b. The position of לְעֶזְרָ֥תִי, following the vocative and preceding the imperative, repeats the pattern established in the previous line. Along with the backwards-gapped imperative, these lines are significantly bound and cognitive closure achieved before the discourse moves on.
- v. 6c. The verbless clause "You are my help and my deliverer" is either predicational with the comment preceding the topic, or specificational, in which case, עֶזְרִ֣י וּמְפַלְטִ֣י provide the topic and the comment is the specification that "it is you." Under the first reading (predicational), the information packaging would involve [You are]top [my help and my deliverer]comment, with the comment fronted for particular selective focus; under the second reading (specificational), the information packaging would involve [You are]comment the one who is [my help and my deliverer]topic. In light of the fronting of עֶזְרִ֣י וּמְפַלְטִ֣י, we find the latter more plausible.[4]
- The vocative "God" (אֱלֹהִ֥ים) in v. 2a signals the beginning of a conversational turn (as the beginning of the psalm) and grabs the addressee's attention, which is common when accompanied by urgent imperatives, as in the present instance.[5]
- The vocative YHWH (יְ֝הוָ֗ה) in v. 2b repeats the pattern of the preceding line (see above). The syntax also involves backward-gapping (see the grammar note), further binding the syntax and semantics of the entire verse.
- The vocative "God" (אֱלֹהִ֪ים) in v. 6b signals the beginning of a conversational turn (moving from the topic shift of "But I") and grabs the addressee's attention, which is common when accompanied by urgent imperatives, as in the present instance.[6]
- The vocative YHWH (יְ֝הוָ֗ה) in v. 6d both repeats the pattern of the preceding vocative (see above) and precedes the urgent request that concludes the psalm.
- Notice, also, that the line-initial position of all four vocatives of the psalm significantly contributes to the psalm's poetic macrostructure.
(There are no notes on discourse markers for this psalm.)
- The only subordination present in Psalm 70 is implied by the quoted speech in both vv. 4 and 5.
- The weyiqtol וְיֹאמְר֣וּ in v. 5b coordinates its clause with the preceding clause in v. 5a.
- The waw on "But I" (וַאֲנִ֤י) provides a strong topic shift and therefore coordinates (and contrasts) the content of v. 6 with the reality of those discussed in v. 5.
- ↑ When the entire utterance is new/unexpected, it is a thetic sentence (often called "sentence focus"). See our Creator Guidelines for more information on topic and focus.
- ↑ Frame setters are any orientational constituent – typically, but not limited to, spatio-temporal adverbials – function to "limit the applicability of the main predication to a certain restricted domain" and "indicate the general type of information that can be given" in the clause nucleus (Krifka & Musan 2012: 31-32). In previous scholarship, they have been referred to as contextualizing constituents (see, e.g., Buth (1994), “Contextualizing Constituents as Topic, Non-Sequential Background and Dramatic Pause: Hebrew and Aramaic evidence,” in E. Engberg-Pedersen, L. Falster Jakobsen and L. Schack Rasmussen (eds.) Function and expression in Functional Grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 215-231; Buth (2023), “Functional Grammar and the Pragmatics of Information Structure for Biblical Languages,” in W. A. Ross & E. Robar (eds.) Linguistic Theory and the Biblical Text. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 67-116), but this has been conflated with the function of topic. In brief: sentence topics, belonging to the clause nucleus, are the entity or event about which the clause provides a new predication; frame setters do not belong in the clause nucleus and rather provide a contextual orientation by which to understand the following clause.
- ↑ For further, see Atkinson 2025.
- ↑ See, e.g., NFC: Mon aide et ma sécurité, c'est toi.
- ↑ Kim 2022, 213–217.
- ↑ Kim 2022, 213–217.