Psalm 89/Notes/Grammar.v. 45.857278

• The form מִטְּהָרוֹ in v. 45 is difficult. (Some mss read מִטֳּהָרוֹ [see Barthélemy 2005, 628]; the Aleppo Codex agrees with Leningrad Codex in reading מִטְּהָרוֹ.) As the Masorah Parva notes ("ל"), the form only occurs here in the Bible. The dagesh in the tet (מִטְּהָרוֹ) makes it look like the initial mem is a min preposition ("from"). Indeed, this is how the Septuagint interpreted it: "you dismissed him from purification (ἀπὸ καθαρισμοῦ)" (trans. NETS). Other ancient versions, however, appear to have read the mem as part of the nominal form and not as a preposition (*מִטְהָר, "purity" or "splendor"). E.g., Jerome (iuxta Hebr.): "you made his cleanness come to an end" (quiescere fecisti munditiam eius) (cf. Symmachus: τὴν καθαρότητα αὐτοῦ; see also the vocalization in the second column of Origen's Hexapla: ματ ἀρω [=מַטְהָרוֹ; so also the Babylonian ms JTS 631]). As Radak explains, "the dagesh in tet (מִטְּהָרוֹ), like the dagesh in qof in מִקְּדָשׁ יְהוָה (see Exod 15:17), is [not a preposition, but is] for the beauty of the reading (ודגש טי״ת מטהרו כדגש קו״ף מקדש י״י לתפארת הקריאה)." Furthermore, the word מִטְהָר/מִטְּהָר does not mean "(ritual) purity" but "the splendor and glory of the kingdom that belonged to him" (Radak, זכותו והוד מלכות שהיה לו; cf. Rashi [זריחתו]). For this meaning of טהר, compare "...as bright (לָטֹהַר) blue as the sky" (Exod 24:10, NIV); "When is the sky seen in its brightness (בטיהריה)?" (B'rakhoth 59a [Aramaic], cited in Jastrow 1926). So most modern translations: "You have brought his splendor to an end" (NJPS, cf. KJV, NIV, ESV, NET, REB, LUT, EÜ, GNB, ZÜR). Other translations emend the text to some form involving the word מַטֵּה ("staff" or "scepter"). E.g., "his glorious scepter" (GNT, perhaps from מַטֵּה הֹדוֹ [see BHS]); "the scepter from his hand" (NRSV, perhaps from מַטֵּה מִיָּדוֹ [so Baethgen 1904, 278–9]). There is no manuscript or versional support for these readings (cf. Barthélemy 2005, 628–31).