Psalm 92/Notes/Grammar.V. 5.434416

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v. 5 – There is significant variation between the singular and plural interpretation of both פעלך and מעשׂי/ה.

Beginning with פעלך, since it is a pausal form (Revell 2004), it is most plausible that the plural readings have crept in because of the long vowel. See, e.g., the Syr. ܒܥܒ̈ܕܝܟ "your works," as well as the plene yod פעליך in many medieval Hebrew manuscripts (see VTH, 388), including the Babylonian manuscripts Neubauer 2484; BL Or 1477 and JTS 631. The preferred singular is attested in the LXX's ἐν τῷ ποιήματί σου, Jerome's in opere tuo, and TgPs's בעובדך.

On the מעשה/מעשי interchange, the he (and thus singular) is attested in the Syr. ܒܥܒܕ "work", as well as 1Q10, 4Q84, the majority of the attested Babylonian tradition (Berlin QU 680; JTS 611; JTS 631; Neubauer 2484; and BL Or 1477), and a number of other medieval manuscripts (VTH, 388). It could be posited, however, that the yod found in the Tiberian MT is assimilated to the following yod in יָדֶ֣יךָ, such that the diversely-attested and less-expected reading מַעֲשֵׂה has been preferred.

Note also that

  • there is a strong tendency in the tradition to change the singular to plural (see, e.g., 11Q5, which does this systematically throughout the psalter), and
  • the plural מַעֲשֶׂ֣יךָ in v. 6 may also have influenced the reading of the plural here.