Psalm 78/Notes/Phrasal.v. 9.235459

v. 9 – According to our preferred grammatical interpretation of this verse, the entity-name, בְּֽנֵי־אֶפְרַ֗יִם, are further described as armed with [a bow] and shooters of the bow, both instances of verbal notion-object. (For the elision of "bow" in the first instance, see the grammar notes.) Finally, the בְּֽנֵי־אֶפְרַ֗יִם are said to turn back in (בְּ as a temporal frame) a day of battle, i.e., a day marked by battle (entity-characteristic). Note that the definite reading of the construct phrase בְּי֣וֹם קְרָֽב as "the day of battle" is not licensed by the grammar or the parallel passages of Zech 14:3 and Job 38:23, both of which can be read as general characteristics of the day, rather than a specific battle (notwithstanding the TgPs's interpretive expansion here, which concludes with ביום סידרי קרבא "in the day of the battle lines"). This grammatical construal is not surprising, given that there is no agreement regarding the referent of the battle in question in the literature (though the lexical connections to v. 57 might indicate that the fall of Shiloh is in view).