Psalm 88/Notes/Grammar.V. 19.99421
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- v. 19b מְיֻדָּעַי מֵחֹשֶׁךְ The preferred reading is based on a revocalisation of the text which matches both LXX and Jerome. This reading suggests a parallelism between 19a and 19b, with the verb implied in 19b, and מֵחֹשֶׁךְ parallel to מִמֶּנִּי, to get: You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me, (and you have caused) my acquaintances (to shun) distress (which is my condition)." "Darkness" can figuratively be used for "distress" as can be seen in passages such as Ps 18:29. The reason for this reading to have been chosen as the preferred one is that, in addition to requiring no emendation, it results in an elegant parallelism and unproblematic grammar. An alternative reading takes מַחְשָׁךְ as an adverbial indicating directionality ("you pushed my acquaintances into darkness"), but that reading is not viable grammatically and contextually. For the full argumentation, see exegetical issue on v. 19b.
- v. 19b alt #1 The explicit MT version, represented by ESV, lit. "My acquaintances are darkness" involves no emendation, but is a hard reading. Some understand it as "My acquaintances have become darkness," i.e. "I cannot see my acquaintances anymore". The problem with this reading is that מַחְשָׁךְ means "a dark place" and not "darkness".
- v. 19b alt #2 This alternative reading takes מַחְשָׁךְ as an adverbial locative ("my acquaintances are in darkness"), but that reading is not viable grammatically and contextually.
- v. 19b alt #3 Many modern translations read this line as "darkness is my closest friend." This requires changing the plural possessive suffix into a singular one through a simple revocalization. Dahood 1968, 307 reads this line in the same way, but with no revocalisation, explaining מידעי as pluralis majestatis, which seems less likely for an entity of unauthoritative nature such as a friend. Additionally, a different word order would have been expected in this case (see exegetical issue The Text and Meaning of Ps. 88:19b).
- v. 19b alt #4 This reading is suggested by Rashi and some manuscripts, and assumes a שֹ instead of a שׁ so as to get a different noun derived from the root חשֹך "spare." The translation should be "My acquaintances are withheld (from me)." This reading is not represented by any modern translation and is less preferred because it abolishes the reading with the root חשׁך, which is a repeated root across the psalm with a poetic significance. It could, however, be an intentional pun playing on the equivocal reading of the ש letter; cf. analysis of Ps. 5, where a similar ambiguity arises in the very last word of the psalm.
- v. 19b alt #5 This reading involves an anacoluthon: it starts with a continuation of the parallelism initiated in the previous line, which is then immediately interrupted, switching into an exclamatory fragment מַחְשָׁךְ: "[you caused] my acquaintances [to stay away from me]... darkness!". This strong and plausible reading is suggested by some exegetes. For the full argumentation, see exegetical issue on v. 19b.
- v. 19b alt #6 This reading follows Vulgate's "abstulisti" assuming, along the same lines of alternative #4, the root חשֹך, to get the translation "You have withheld my acquaintances (from me)". In addition to the reasons against alt #4, which apply here as well, this reading is not preferred as it involves an emendation of the text.