Psalm 89/Notes/Grammar.v. 10.207897

• The form שׂוֹא is unique in the Bible. Most interpreters understand it to be an infinitive construct from the common verb נשׂא ("rise"): "when its waves rise, you still them" (ESV; cf. KJV, NIV) >> "When its waves surge, you calm them" (NET). Elsewhere, however, the infinitive construct of נשׂא is usually שֵׂאת and sometimes נְשֹׂא, but never שׂוֹא (cf. GKC 76b). Furthermore, the qal of נשׂא is usually transitive ("to lift something"), whereas here it is intransitive or reflexive ("to be lifted, to lift themselves;" cf. Rashi: "= בהנשא גליו"; Ibn Ezra and Radak: "=בהתרומם;" Targum: מִתְנַטְלִין גַלוֹי) (though for examples of intransitive נשׂא qal, see e.g., Ps 24:9b; Nah 1:5). For these reasons, some interpreters emend בְּשׂוֹא ("at the rising") to בִּשְׁאֹן ("at the roaring," BHS, HALOT; so NEB; cf. the phrase שְׁאֹון גַּלֵּיהֶם in Ps 65:8; see also Isa 17:12; Jer 51:55). It is possible that the Septuagint supports this reading (בִּשְׁאֹן). The Septuagint uses the noun σάλος, which refers to the "surge" or "rolling swell of the sea" (Liddell, Scott, Jones, et al., 1996, 1582): "and the surge of its waves you calm" (LXX, trans. NETS). It is also possible, however, that the Septuagint is giving a dynamic equivalent of בְּשׂוֹא (so also Symmachus, Jerome [iuxta Hebr.]). In either case—whether the waves are "rising" or "roaring"—there is little difference in meaning.