Psalm 92/Notes/Grammar.V. 7.92806

v. 7 – The elision of the object in the first clause has been included in light of the tight parallelism between the two lines. In both cases אֶת־זֹֽאת has been understood as cataphoric, i.e., forward pointing. (Note that the LXX takes the liberty of rendering plural ταῦτα "these things," cf. the Gallican Psalter's haec). For the elision of אֶת־זֹֽאת see Ḥakham's (1979, 181) paraphrase of the verse: איש בער וכסיל לא ידע את זאת ולא יבין את זאת.

The construct dependent בַּ֭עַר has been offered alternatively as an adjective (as the ancient versions). The attestation of this lexeme as a noun is quite well-supported, however, by other texts. See the nominal function of בַּעַר most clearly in Ps. 49.11 (כִּ֤י יִרְאֶ֨ה׀ חֲכָ֘מִ֤ים יָמ֗וּתוּ יַ֤חַד כְּסִ֣יל וָבַ֣עַר יֹאבֵ֑דוּ); quite plausibly in Ps 73.22 (וַאֲנִי־בַ֭עַר) and Prov. 12.1 (אֹהֵ֣ב מ֖וּסָר אֹ֣הֵֽב דָּ֑עַת וְשֹׂנֵ֖א תוֹכַ֣חַת בָּֽעַר). Prov. 30.2 (כִּ֤י בַ֣עַר אָנֹכִ֣י מֵאִ֑ישׁ), however, seems to favor a predicative adjectival reading, while Ps 94:8 draws upon the ptc. בֹּעֲרִ֣ים, rather than, presumably, an available mpl nominal form.

Note that 4Q84 reads איש בער ולא ידע "a man is stupid and/so that he does not know."

GKC (§136a) notes that the primary distinction between proximal and distal ("near" and "far") demonstratives is that the proximal demonstrative “almost always points out a (new) person or thing present, while הוּא (like is, ille, αὐτός, ἐκεῖνος) refers to a person or thing already mentioned or known.” Nevertheless, a clear-cut semantic distinction between proximal and distal demonstratives is elusive, so the boundaries on their respective discourse functions is equally fuzzy in this regard. There is typological evidence, however, for a prototypical anaphoric/cataphoric division between proximal and distal demonstrative, as in "I can’t believe he said that" vs. "I’ll tell you this: it’s going to be tough" (Næss et al. (2020, 7-8)); cf. זֶ֥ה הַדָּבָ֖ר אֲשֶׁ֣ר תַּעֲשׂ֑וּ (2 Chr 23:4; "This is what you will do…"); וְזֶ֥ה אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָא־לָ֖הּ יְהוָ֥ה׀ צִדְקֵֽנוּ (Jer 33:16; "This is what it shall be called: the Lord is our righteousness").