Psalm 9 Grammar

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Grammatical Diagram

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Grammatical Term	Definition	Diagram	Example
Clausal Additions
Subject	The subject performs the action of the active verb or receives the action of a passive verb. With intransitive verbs	Indicated at the beginning of the main clausal line, and followed by a vertical line that crosses over the main clause line (separating the subject from the predicate).
Direct Object	Object that receives the direct action of a (transitive) verb	Indicate with a vertical line up from main clausal line
Predicate adjective/ Subject complement	A word used with a linking verb (ex. "to be"), renaming or restating the subject. Can be a whole prepositional phrase.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line. It can be on a stand if it is an embedded clause.
Object Complement	Word following a direct object to state what it has become.	Indicate with a vertical slanted line up from the main clausal line.
Infinitives	Can be subject, adverbial, or an infinitive construct.	Indicate with double vertical lines that cross the main clausal line. If used adverbially (ie. an embedded clause), place on a stand.
Participles	A verbal noun/adjective that can be used in three positions: (1) substantival; (2) attributive; (3) predicative.	Indicate with a round vertical line. Substantival participles are placed on a stand (they are embedded). Attributive participles are placed with a rounded line underneath what is modified.
Modifiers
Adjectives	A word modifying a noun to indicate quality, quantity, extent, or differentiating something from something else.	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Adverbs	A word that modifies a verb, adverb, adjective, prepositional phrase, clause, or sentence to express a relation (ex. manner, quality, or time).	Indicate with a slanted line down from what is modified.
Construct relationships	Construction can express many different relationships between two (or more) nouns. English grammarians call this construction a ‘Construct’ (our term) or ‘Genitive’ phrase; Hebrew grammarians call it smīḵūt (סְמִיכוּת).	Indicate with a stair-step down from the modified word/clause/phrase.
Prepositional phrases	A phrase that consists of a preposition and its object and has adjectival or adverbial value	Indicate with a slanted vertical line connecting to a new clause.
Connectives	(1) Coordinating conjunctions join together words or word groups of equal grammatical rank (2) Subordinating conjunctions join a main clause and a clause which does not form a complete sentence by itself.	Indicate with a dashed line down from a vertical line marker.
Embedded clause	A clause inside another clause which can include substantival participles, adverbial infinitives, and prepositional phrases.	Indicate using stilts.
Particles
Subordinating particle	Indicates a dependent clause.	Indicate with a dashed line down from the antecedent to the pronoun.
Apposition	A word that is functioning as an explanatory equivalent as another in the sentence	Place on a line apart from the diagram but next to the word it is the equivalent of with an equal sign in between.
Vocative	Indicating a person being addressed (usually with a 2nd person verb)	Place on a line apart from the diagram next to the '()' indicating the gapped subject an equal sign in between.

Master Diagram

v. 1

• The meaning of the Hebrew term in this superscription–– עַלְמוּת ’almut––is uncertain. Some manuscripts divide the term into two words--עַל מוּת, ’al mut, (“according to the death [of the son]”), and this reading is reflected in the grammatical diagram (cf. Symmachus and Jerome). Based on an analogy with Ps 46:1, some have proposed that the text of Ps 9:1 is corrupt and should instead read al-alamoth as in Psalm 46:1 עַֽל־עֲלָמ֥וֹת שִֽׁיר׃ "by female voices" or “accompaniment at a high pitch”; this is indicated in blue on the diagram. There is no clearly preferable option, but regardless, the term or phrase is likely a musical direction of some kind .

v. 2

• This substantive from the root פלא occurs several times with this verb ספר (Ju 6:13; Ps 9:2; 26:7; 75:2; 78:4; 96:3; 1Chr 16:24), and more with related vbs. of speaking or recalling .

v. 3

• The verb וְאֶעֶלְצָה appears only in poetry, and is typically synonymous with שמח (as here).
• It may be appropriate to translate these two verbs as one idea (=hendiadys), e.g. the Good News Translation : "I will sing with joy because of you." See. Hab 1:15; Zeph 3:14, and Ps 67:5.

v. 4

• The words SHUB + AHOR are here taken to mean ‘to turn backwards’, i.e. to retreat. See also Ps 44:11; 56:10; Lam 1:8. NLT: "My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared."

v. 5

• The LXX interprets the phrase שוֹפט צדק as a vocative, as shown in red here. We prefer, with many modern translations, to take this phrase as an adverbial accusative modifying ישב since שׁוֹפֵט is without the definite article.
• We have preferred to analyse the substantives שׁוֹפט and צדק as being in a construct relationship since this is the most straightforward way to take them. Any other reading would need justification.
• ‘The word for cause is a legal term, meaning a claim in court, a legal case. The line may be rendered “you upheld my right and my cause” (nab, niv) or “you have given fair judgement in my favour” (njb). frcl is better: “You have done the right thing for me, you have given me justice.” In some languages it is necessary to recast the process of judging in terms of two events in which the second is a consequence of the first; for example, “you have judged me and found me innocent” or “you have judged my case and found that I was right”‘..

v. 6

v. 7

• Many suggestions have been made about the grammar and interpretation of this verse have been made. For a detailed discussion about the reasons for our decisions, see exegetical issue page ‘The Grammar and Meaning of Psalm 9:7’.

v. 8

v. 9

v. 10

• On both contextual and morphological grounds, it is best to analyse בַּצָרָה as the preposition בְּ + the noun צָרָה ‘distress’. We have analysed the grammatical relationship between the phrase בצרה and the noun עתות as a construct, where an entire phrase stands in the slot normally reserved for the second member of the construct (the absolute noun).
  • If בצרה is analysed as a noun, this obviously has the added effect of changing the semantics. But a problem also exists here. The only supposed instance of a noun בַצָּרָה occurs in Jeremiah 14:1 אֲשֶׁ֨ר הָיָ֤ה דְבַר־יְהוָה֙ אֶֽל־יִרְמְיָ֔הוּ עַל־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַבַּצָּרֽוֹת ‘That which was the Word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, regarding the droughts/needs’, where (1) the word is clearly inflected like a noun and (2) in light of what comes after, very probably refers to droughts. The two forms (בַּצָּרָה and בַּצָּרוֹת) also appear to exist in a paradigmatic relationship, as do, for example חַטָּאה/חַטָּאת (<*ḥaṭṭaʾ-(a)t) and חַטָּאוֹת
  • Later in Jeremiah 17, however, the singular form of בַּצָרוֹת appears; in v. 8 we find וּבִשְׁנַ֤ת בַּצֹּ֨רֶת֙ לֹ֣א יִדְאָ֔ג ‘and in the year of drought it (the tree) is not anxious.’ The noun pattern here is appropriate concrete substantives (cf. כַפֹּרֶת ‘cover’ and the related כֻּתֹּנֶת ‘tunic’) and has the expected plural form בָּצָּרוֹת (cf. כֻּתֳּנֹת ‘tunics’ [Ex. 28:40]). Thus, it probably makes more sense to see the forms בצֹרֶת and בצרוֹת in Jeremiah 17 as related to each other and, indeed, referring to something concrete—‘a drought’.
  • Finally, analysing בַּצָרָה as a noun in its other occurences is suspect. In the clause בַּצָּרָ֥ה קָרָ֗אתָ (Psa 81:8), it is clearly modifying the verb: ‘In distress you called out’. Here, in Psalm 9:10 וִ֘יהִ֤י יְהוָ֣ה מִשְׂגָּ֣ב לַדָּ֑ךְ מִ֝שְׂגָּ֗ב לְעִתּ֥וֹת בַּצָּרָֽה, a ‘stronghold’/‘fortress’ would not be a conceptually appropriate solution to ‘need’ or a ‘drought’. It is best, therefore, to analyze בַּצָּרָה as a preposition ב + the (definite) noun צָרָה ‘distress’.

v. 11

v. 12

v. 13

v. 14

v. 15

v. 16

v. 17

v. 18

v. 19

v. 20

v. 21