Psalm 89/Notes/Grammar.v. 9.352959
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- Translations disagree on the line division (and thus on the syntax) of this verse. See, for example, the following translations:
- "Who is like you, Lord God of heavenly forces? Mighty Lord, your faithfulness surrounds you!" (CEB; cf. Jerome iuxta Hebr.; Dahood 1968, 308; see v. 9 preferred diagram, though, in addition to reading "Mighty Lord" as a vocative, the preferred diagram sees the question "who is like you" elided in the b-line).
- "O Lord God of hosts, who is as mighty as you, O Lord? Your faithfulness surrounds you" (NRSV, cf. NJPS, NLT, ESV, GNT, ELB, HFA, GNB; so also Peshitta, Targum; see v. 9 alternative 2 diagram).
- "O Lord God of hosts, who is like you? You are powerful, O Lord, and your truth is around you" (LXX, trans. NETS; cf. NIV, LUT, NGÜ, EÜ, ZÜR; so Baethgen 1904, 275; see v. 9 alternative 3 diagram).
- "Lord God of Hosts, who is like you? Your strength and faithfulness, Lord, are all around you" (REB, emending the text to חָסְנְךָ)
- The Masoretic accents suggest the following line division (cf. de Hoop and Sanders 2022, §6.2): יְהוָ֤ה ׀ אֱלֹ֘הֵ֤י צְבָא֗וֹת // מִֽי־כָֽמ֖וֹךָ חֲסִ֥ין ׀ יָ֑הּ // וֶ֝אֱמֽוּנָתְךָ֗ סְבִיבוֹתֶֽיךָ׃. According to this division, we would understand the text as NRSV et al. above. Cf. Exod 15:11—מִֽי־כָמֹ֤כָה בָּֽאֵלִם֙ יְהוָ֔ה מִ֥י כָּמֹ֖כָה נֶאְדָּ֣ר בַּקֹּ֑דֶשׁ.
- The Septuagint preserves a different line division: יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי צְבָאוֹת מִי־כָמוֹךָ // חֲסִין יָהּ וֶאֱמוּנָתְךָ סְבִיבוֹתֶיךָ. The line division of the Septuagint, which probably preserves an ancient Hebrew line division, is a better fit in the poetic context: every other verse in vv. 2-19 is a two-line verse. If we follow the Septuagint's line division, then there are three options for interpreting the syntax.
- We could understand the text similar to how the LXX and the NIV have understood it (with an elided 2ms pronoun): "Who is like you, Lord God Almighty? You, Lord, are mighty, and your faithfulness surrounds you" (NIV).
- We could understand "Yah" (rather than an elided 2ms pronoun) as the subject of the clause: "Yah is mighty, and your faithfulness is all around you." The sudden shift in person within the same line (3rd person "Yah" --> 2nd person "you") is somewhat jarring but not totally unprecedented (see e.g., Gen 49:4c [MT]; Ps 22:9 [MT]).
- We could understand חֲסִין יָהּ as a vocative, "Mighty Yah" (cf. Jerome iuxta Hebr.: fortissime Domine), resulting in a nice AB//AB parallelism for v. 9. It could be that חֲסִין modifies יָהּ as an adjective, or, more likely, it could be that חֲסִין is a substantival adjective ("mighty one") in apposition to יָהּ: "Mighty one, Yah >> "Mighty Yah." For a substantival adjective functioning as a vocative, see e.g., Ps 32:11 (צַדִּיקִים); Ps 33:1 (צַדִּיקִים); Prov 1:22 (פְּתָיִם).