Psalm 92 Discourse
About the Discourse Layer
Our Discourse layer includes four analyses: macrosyntax, speech act analysis, emotional analysis, and participant analysis. (For more information, click 'Expand' to the right.)
Macrosyntax
The macrosyntax layer rests on the belief that human communicators desire their addressees to receive a coherent picture of their message and will cooperatively provide clues to lead the addressee into a correct understanding. So, in the case of macrosyntax of the Psalms, the psalmist has explicitly left syntactic clues for the reader regarding the discourse structure of the entire psalm. Here we aim to account for the function of these elements, including the identification of conjunctions which either coordinate or subordinate entire clauses (as the analysis of coordinated individual phrases is carried out at the phrase-level semantics layer), vocatives, other discourse markers, direct speech, and clausal word order.
For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Macrosyntax Creator Guidelines.
Speech Act Analysis
The Speech Act layer presents the text in terms of what it does, following the findings of Speech Act Theory. It builds on the recognition that there is more to communication than the exchange of propositions. Speech act analysis is particularly important when communicating cross-culturally, and lack of understanding can lead to serious misunderstandings, since the ways languages and cultures perform speech acts varies widely.
For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Speech Act Analysis Creator Guidelines.
Emotional Analysis
This layer explores the emotional dimension of the biblical text and seeks to uncover the clues within the text itself that are part of the communicative intent of its author. The goal of this analysis is to chart the basic emotional tone and/or progression of the psalm.
For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Emotional Analysis Creator Guidelines.
Participant Analysis
Participant Analysis focuses on the characters in the psalm and asks, “Who are the main participants (or characters) in this psalm, and what are they saying or doing? It is often helpful for understanding literary structure, speaker identification, etc.
For a detailed explanation of our method, see the Participant Analysis Creator Guidelines.
Discourse Visuals for Psalm 92
Macrosyntax
- v. 5 - For the emendation of בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂה* יָדֶ֣יךָ* (MT: בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖י יָדֶ֣יךָ), see the grammar notes.
- v. 11 - For the revocalization of *בְּלֹתִי* (MT: בַּ֝לֹּתִ֗י) and the emendation of *כְּשֶׁמֶן* (MT: בְּשֶׁ֣מֶן), see the exegetical issue.
Notes
Discourse Discontinuities
- vv. 2-4 precede the discourse marker כִּי (v. 5).
- vv. 5-6 are governed by the scope of the discourse marker, כִּי, and continue until the topic shift, אִֽישׁ־בַּ֭עַר (v. 7).
- vv. 7-9 begin with the topic shifted אִֽישׁ־בַּ֭עַר and continue until the next discourse marker, כִּי הִנֵּה (v. 10).
- vv. 10-12 are governed by the scope of the discourse marker, כִּי הִנֵּה, and continue until the topic shift, צַדִּיק (v. 13).
Word Order
- v. 3 – The post-verbal בַּבֹּקֶר חַסְֽדֶּךָ creates symmetry between this construction in the A-line and אֱמוּנָתְךָ בַּלֵּילוֹת in the B-line.
- v. 5 – The fronted בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ provides a tail-head linkage with the final בְּפָעֳלֶךָ of the previous line.
- v. 6 – The fronted מְאֹד provides repetition with the preceding line, but also plausibly serves as scalar focus, in similar manner to the exclamative מַה in the previous line.
- v. 7a – The fronted אִישׁ־בַּעַר functions as a topic shift for the first mention of this participant set in the psalm.
- v. 7b – The fronted כְסִיל provides a quasi-synonym for אִישׁ־בַּעַר in the previous line, and thus a poetic pattern of repetition.
- v. 10b – While it is possible that the fronting of אֹיְבֶיךָ represents the activation of the topic "YHWH's enemies," only explicitly introduced here, they are most likely co-referential with the רְשָׁעִים and כָּל־פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן of v. 8. A firmer explanation, therefore, is the poetic pattern of symmetry caused by this subject-fronting followed by Verb-Subject in the C-line.
- v. 11a – The post-verbal כִּרְאֵים קַרְנִי creates symmetry between this construction in the A-line and the verbless בְּלֹתִי* *כְּ*שֶׁמֶן רַעֲנָֽן* in the B-line, as discussed in the exegetical issue, The Grammar and Meaning of Ps 92:11b.
- v. 12b – The fronting of בַּקָּמִים עָלַי מְרֵעִים provides a tail-head linkage with the similar בְּ PP in the previous line, בְּשׁוּרָי. These are flanked by V-S (body part).
- v. 13a – The fronted צַדִּיק functions as a topic shift for the first explicit mention of this participant set in the psalm (though they are implicitly present in the praising of vv. 2-4 (see poetic structure).
- v. 13a – The secondary fronting in כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח creates repetition between כַּתָּמָר "like a palm tree" in the A-line and כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנוֹן "like a cedar tree in Lebanon" in the B-line, with the ballast variant in the second instance—that is, it contains two words—to maintain balance due to the absence of the topic-shifted צַדִּיק in the second line.
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- צַ֭דִּיק כַּתָּמָ֣ר יִפְרָ֑ח
- כְּאֶ֖רֶז בַּלְּבָנ֣וֹן יִשְׂגֶּֽה
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- It allows for the repetition of the fronted prepositional phrase כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנוֹן in v. 13b and בְּחַצְרוֹת אֱלֹהֵינוּ in v. 14b and thus the line-final verbs יִשְׂגֶּֽה and יַפְרִֽיחוּ, the latter creating an inclusio with v. 13a's יִפְרָח for this poetic section (see poetic structure).
- v. 13b – See previous note.
- v. 14b – The fronting of בְּחַצְרוֹת אֱלֹהֵינוּ provides a tail-head linkage with the similar בְּ PP in the previous line, בְּבֵית יְהוָה.
- v. 15a – The fronting of עוֹד is interpreted as focus fronting: whereas thriving might be expected to die out in old age, against the odds, the righteous still thrive.
- v. 15b – The fronting of דְּשֵׁנִים וְרַֽעֲנַנִּים is interpreted as scalar focus: as indicated by the expansion, "nothing less than," over and against other possibilities of their possible state, as constrained by their "thriving" in the previous line.
- v. 16b – The comment-topic order of יָשָׁר יְהוָה indicates the marked position of יָשָׁר as predicate focus, plausibly as a corrective focus against the presupposition that YHWH may not, in fact, be fair, in light of the apparent prosperity of the wicked (v. 8).
Vocatives
- v. 2 – In standard syntax of prose, if the vocative precedes a subordinate clause, it is said to focus the content of the subordinate clause.[1] Thus, it may be argued that the following infinitive, לְהַגִּיד, is relatively more discourse-prominent than the preceding two (לְהֹדוֹת and לְזַמֵּר). This is also supported by the function of לְהַגִּיד as an inclusio for the entire psalm (see poetic structure).
- v. 5 – The vocative is neither clause-initial nor clause-final in order to allow for the natural (initial) position of the verb after the discourse marker כִּי, and the tail-head linkage of בְּפָעֳלֶךָ and בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ (see the note on constituent order above). The motivation for the tail-head linkage is apparently strong, since this is the only non-line-final vocative if in the psalm (see the poetic feature, YHWH sevenfold).
- v. 6 – The clause-final vocative delimits the line-division and also allows for the poetic poetic of repetition between the verse's two lines (see the note on constituent order above).[2]
- v. 9 – The clause-final vocative concludes this section. Any other position would have drawn focal prominence to the preceding/following constituent, which is not the Information Structural function of the clause, providing, rather, a (localized) topic shift (וְאַתָּה; see the note at v. 9 above) and (unmarked) predicate focus (מָרוֹם לְעֹלָם).
- v. 10 – The clause-final vocative delimits the two lines, the second of which repeats the first with a ballast variant. Cf. the Ugaritic parallel (CTA IV (68) 8-9): ht ibk b'lm ht ibk tmẖṣ ht tṣmt ṣrtk (Now your enemy, O Baal, Now your enemy will you smite, Now will you cut off your adversary).[3]
Speech Act Analysis
Summary Visual
Speech Act Chart
- v. 5 - For the emendation of בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂה* יָדֶ֣יךָ* (MT: בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖י יָדֶ֣יךָ), see the grammar notes.
- v. 11 - For the revocalization of *בְּלֹתִי* (MT: בַּ֝לֹּתִ֗י) and the emendation of *כְּשֶׁמֶן* (MT: בְּשֶׁ֣מֶן), see the exegetical issue.
Emotional Analysis
Summary visual
Emotional Analysis Chart
- v. 5 - For the emendation of בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂה* יָדֶ֣יךָ* (MT: בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖י יָדֶ֣יךָ), see the grammar notes.
- v. 11 - For the revocalization of *בְּלֹתִי* (MT: בַּ֝לֹּתִ֗י) and the emendation of *כְּשֶׁמֶן* (MT: בְּשֶׁ֣מֶן), see the exegetical issue.
Participant analysis
There are 4 participants/characters in Psalm 92:
- Psalmist: someone who has been made to rejoice by YHWH's work (v. 5) and received promises of victory over his enemies (vv. 11-12). Furthermore, he is the relational proprietor of "my rock" (v. 16) and shares in "our God" (v. 14).
- The righteous are explicitly introduced as a class term in the topic shift in v. 13, yet subtly shift to a plural reference from v. 14 onwards. They have also been judged as the addressee from then on, with the intended perlocutionary effect that they will trust in the contents of v. 16: that YHWH is fair and just.
- The enemies are explicitly mentioned as YHWH's enemies in v. 10 and probably also as the psalmist's in v. 12 (though see the lexical notes on שׁוּרָי). In parallel with "evildoers" in v. 10, this is also true of their identification as both "wicked" and "evildoers" in v. 8 and "those rising up against me" in v. 12. Though not identical, the fools mentioned in v. 7 are not aware of their coming downfall, despite their ephemeral prosperity, so are understood to form part of this participant set. As in the case of the righteous above, this participant set is first introduced as a class term in the singular (v. 7), before shifting to plural reference in vv. 8, 10, 12.
Participant Relations Diagram
The relationships among the participants may be abstracted and summarized as follows:
Participant Analysis Table
- v. 5 - For the emendation of בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂה* יָדֶ֣יךָ* (MT: בְּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֖י יָדֶ֣יךָ), see the grammar notes.
- v. 11 - For the revocalization of *בְּלֹתִי* (MT: בַּ֝לֹּתִ֗י) and the emendation of *כְּשֶׁמֶן* (MT: בְּשֶׁ֣מֶן), see the exegetical issue.
Notes
Identity of speaker throughout:
- Apparently due to the lack of explicit author in the superscriptions, a number of traditions hold that Moses is the author of Pss 90-100, from Church Fathers (see, e.g., Jerome's Homily), to representatives of both Rabbinic Judaism (e.g., Rashi on Ps 90:1) and Karaites (e.g., Yefet Ben ʿAli; see Simon 1991, 85). Nevertheless, since it is unspecified we have maintained the neutral "Psalmist."
Bibliography
- Avishur, Yitsḥaḳ. 1994. Studies in Hebrew and Ugaritic Psalms. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
- Kim, Young Bok. 2023. Hebrew Forms of Address: A Sociolinguistic Analysis. Atlanta: SBL Press.
- Miller, Cynthia L. 2010. “Vocative Syntax in Biblical Hebrew Prose and Poetry: A Preliminary Analysis.” Semitic Studies 55, no. 1: 347–64.