The Division of Psalm 10:15

Back to Psalm 10

Introduction

The traditional Hebrew text of Psalm 10:15 reads as follows: שְׁ֭בֹר זְר֣וֹעַ רָשָׁ֑ע וָ֝רָ֗ע תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ־רִשְׁע֥וֹ בַל־תִּמְצָֽא׃

There are two issues that contribute to the difficulty of this verse and the differences among translations.

• How is the verse divided?
  • Is the main division after רָשָׁ֑ע 'wicked (one)'.
    • E.g., 'Break thou the arm of the wicked; And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none' (ASV, cf. KJV, LEB, NIV, DELUT, ELBBK, HFA, TKW, BCC1923, LSG, RVR95, Peshitta).
  • Is the main division after וָ֝רָ֗ע 'and evil (one)' so that רָשָׁ֑ע וָ֝רָ֗ע form a compound (and co-referential) head noun to which זְר֣וֹעַ 'arm' is in construct?
    • E.g., 'Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none' (ESV, cf. CEB, HCSB, NASB1995, NET, NLT, NGU2011, SCH2000, BDS, DHH94I, LBLA, NTV, NVI, LXX, Jerome, Targum).

• The outcome of the previous issue will effect this one: who or what is the subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ?
  • Is it the רֶשַׁע in רִשְׁע֥וֹ?
    • E.g., ζητηθήσεται ἡ ἁμαρτία αὐτοῦ 'his sin shall be sought out' (LXX, cf. Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotian)
  • Is it the Lord?
    • E.g., 'And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none' (ASV cf., ESV, CEB, HCSB, KJV, LEB, NASB1995, NET, NIV, NLT, DELUT, ELBBK, HFA, NGU2011, TKW, BDS, LSG, DHH94I, LBLA, NTV, NVI, RVR95, Jerome).
  • Is it either רָשָׁ֑ע 'the wicked (one)' or וָ֝רָ֗ע 'the evil (one)'?
    • E.g., יִתְבְּעוּן רִשְׁעַתְהוֹן 'they will seek their wickedness' (Targum).
  • Is it the זְר֣וֹעַ 'arm'?
    • E.g., ܘܕܒܝ݁ܫܐ ܬܬܒ݂ܥܐ ܚܛܝ݂ܬܗ݂ 'and that of the evil one—its sin will be sought out' (Peshitta).

Argument Map(s)

Division of the Verse

As can be seen above, the translations are divided on this issue.

After רָשָׁ֑ע

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[After רָשָׁ֑ע]: The main division of the verse comes after the word רָשָׁ֑ע. #dispreferred 
 + <Masoretic Accents>: The athnach reflects the main break of the verse here. #dispreferred
 - <Pausal Form>: The pausal form רָע suggests that the break should be after ורע  (Revell 2015, 106 :M:)
 - <Waw with Qamets>: Two items connected by a waw with qamets are typically closely joined together (JM §104d)
  + E.g. ‏תֹּ֫הוּ וָבֹ֔הוּ‎ Gn 1.2; always ‏לֶ֫חֶם וָמַיִם‎ and ‏לֶחֶם וָמָ֑יִם‎; ‏יוֹם וָלַ֫יְלָה‎ Gn 8.22; ‏זָהב וָכֶ֫סֶף‎ Ex 25.3; ‏כֹּה וָכֹ֔ה‎ Ex 2.12; ‏אִישׁ־וָ֑אִישׁ Est 1.8.

After וָ֝רָ֗ע

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[After וָ֝רָ֗ע]: The words רָשָׁ֑ע וָ֝רָ֗ע must be read together, and so the main division comes after וָ֝רָ֗ע.
 + <Pausal Form>: The pausal form רָע suggests that the break should be after ורע  (Revell 2015, 106 :M:)
 - <Masoretic Accents>: The accents reflect a break after רָשָׁ֑ע because of the athnach. #dispreferred
  <_ <Anqituiy of the Pausal Forms>: The tradition reflected by the pausal forms genearly seem much older than that reflected by the accents (Revell 2015 :A:).
   +> <Pausal Form>
 + <Waw with Qamets>: Two items connected by a waw with qamets are typically closely joined together (JM §104d)
  + The strong vocalisation is particularly frequent when two analogous words are closely associated and form a group, e.g. ‏תֹּ֫הוּ וָבֹ֔הוּ‎ Gn 1.2; always ‏לֶ֫חֶם וָמַיִם‎ and ‏לֶחֶם וָמָ֑יִם‎; ‏יוֹם וָלַ֫יְלָה‎ Gn 8.22; ‏זָהב וָכֶ֫סֶף‎ Ex 25.3; ‏כֹּה וָכֹ֔ה‎ Ex 2.12; ‏אִישׁ־וָ֑אִישׁ Est 1.8.
 + <Early Witnesses>: LXX certainly supports this division; it seems that the revisers support it as well.
  +[LXX]: E.g., LXX: σύντριψον τὸν βραχίονα τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ (9:36=10:15)

Who or what is the Subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ?

רִשְׁע֥וֹ

Interestingly all of the Greek witnesses construe רִשְׁע֥וֹ as the subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ.

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[רִשְׁע֥וֹ]: The subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ 'may you/it seek' is רִשְׁע֥וֹ 'its/his wickedness' (cf. Aquila, Symmachus) #dispreferred
 - <Gender>: רֶשׁע is masculine, whereas תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ, if analysed as third person, is feminine (see Hupfeld 1888, 171 :C:).
 - <Revocalisation>: The reading requires revocalising תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ as a passive (see Ross 2011, 318 :C:) . There are no vocalised mansucripts, to our knowledge, that witness to such an oral tradition.

YHWH

Virtually every modern translation (and Jerome) construe YHWH as the subject of תִּדְרוֹשׁ.

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[YHWH]: YHWH is the subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ, which is in the second person ("you will seek"). #dispreferred
 + <Second Person>: YHWH is the subject of all the instances of a second-person address in the Psalm (see Hupfeld 1888, 170 :C:) including the previous imperative in this verse שְׁבֹר,. #dispreferred
 - <Unlikely Scenario>: It would be uncharacteristic for the Psalmist to claim that God does not have the ability to do something (Ehrlich 1909, 22 :C:).
 <_ <Incoherent>: To 'seek but not find' (v. 15b) something implies that it was already destroyed. It makes no sense for God to perform these actions after that has already happened (See Hupfeld 1888, 171 :C:).
  - <דרש as 'to call to account' or 'to punish'>: 'Punishing' until the semantic patient is not found is more coherent than seeking something that's not there (so Delitzsch 1883, 233 :C:). #dispreferred
   <_ <Problem still there>: ‘Even according to this interpretation the correlation between seeking and finding still subsists; for in דרשׁ (synon. פקד) the punishment is conceived of as a visitation...’ (Delitzsch 1883, 233).
  - <בל as Emphatic Particle>: The word בל can function 'to emphasise the affirmative', so that the contradiction of God looking for something after it is already gone is resolved (Craigie 1983, 123 :C:). #dispreferred
   + [בל as Emphatic Particle]: E.g., Ps. 16:2; ; Prov. 19:23 (HALOT :L:).#dispreferred
   - <Speculative>: This function is contentious and all alleged examples have other explanations (Muraoka 1985, 126–127 :M:).
  - <Change of Subject at תמצא>: The subject of the מצ׳׳א verb is the wicked person, viz., 'seek out his iniquity so that he is no more to be found' (Baethgen 1904, 29 :C:). #dispreferred
   + <ֵEmendation in light of Aquila and Symmachus>: The revisions of Aquila and Symmachus reflect the reading בל יִמָּצֵא 'he will not be found'.  #dispreferred
    + ἐκζητηθήσεται ἡ ἀσέβεια αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ εὑρεθῆ αὐτός His wickedness will be sought out, but he will not be found.
    <_ <Faulty Retroversion>: The subject in Symmachus and Aquila's revision is actually 'wickedness' (=Heb רֶשׁע). Fields wrongly retroverted Syro-Hexapla's ܪܘܫܥܐ 'wickedness' (masculine) as ἡ ἀσέβεια 'wickedness' (feminine), while Syro-Hexapla's ܢܫܬܟܚ ܗܘ 'he/it will be found' was correctly retroverted to εὑρεθῇ αὐτός 'he/it will be found'. This creates the misleading impression in the Greek that the subject of εὑρεθῇ is not ἡ ἀσέβεια when in fact it should be.

רָשָׁ֑ע and/or וָ֝רָ֗ע

The Targum takes either רָשָׁ֑ע 'wicked (one)', רָע 'evil (one)' or both as the subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ.

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[רָשָׁ֑ע and/or וָ֝רָ֗ע]: Either רָשָׁ֑ע 'wicked (one)', רָע 'evil (one)' or both is the subject of תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ. #dispreferred
 - <Gender>: Both words are masculine whereas תִּֽדְרוֹשׁ, if analysed as third person, is feminine.

זְר֣וֹעַ

The Peshitta seems to take זְר֣וֹעַ as the subject of תִּדְרוֹשׁ.

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[זְר֣וֹעַ]: The word זְר֣וֹעַ 'arm' is the subject of תִּדְרוֹשׁ (see Ehrlich 1905, 22 :C:; Muraoka 1985, 127n.53 :M:; Ibn Ezra :C:).
 + <Agreement>: The word זְר֣וֹעַ is feminine and agrees with the verb תדרושׁ in gender and number.
 + <Subject of תמצא>: The verb מצא (v. 15bβ) often appears with יד ('hand') as the subject to denote success or the endeavour to succeed, and זְרוֹעַ ("arm") is similar in meaning to יד ("hand").
  +  Lev 12:8; 25:28; Judg 9:33; 1 Sam. 10:7; 23:17; 25:8; Isa 10:10, 14; Psa 21:9; Job 31:25; Ecc 9:10. 

Conclusion

The main division of Psalm 10:15 should come after the word רָע. This division is supported by the LXX and by the reading tradition reflected by the pausal forms. Two pausal forms (called 'terminal markers' by Revell) are present here: the vocalisation of רע with qamets (רָע) instead of patach (רַע) as well as the waw with qamets (וָרָע) instead of with the expected shewa (e.g., וְרַ֣ע; Prov. 24:18). These work synergistically: The waw with qamets typically binds the two items it is joining closely together—a natural consequence of a prosodic break after רע. The masoetic accents suggest a break after רשע, but the tradition reflected by the vocalisation has been demonstrated to be older.

The subject of תִּדְרוֹשׁ is זְרוֹעַ 'arm'. If the verb is analysed as third person, then this is the only word in the clause that agrees with it in gender. Furthermore the verb מצא (v. 15bβ) often appears with יד ('hand') as the subject to denote success or the endeavour to succeed, and זְרוֹעַ ("arm") is similar in meaning to יד ("hand"). On the other hand, if the verb is analysed as second person, then it is natural to take YHWH as the subject. This creates a logical problem, however, since in the final clause YHWH is depicted searching for something that he knows is not there (presumably because he vanquished it). This problem cannot be surmounted by reading בל in the next clause as an assertive particle, since this is a dubious function of that word. Nor can Aquila and Symmachus afford an emendation since the extant (Syriac) evidence actually suggests that they construed רֶשַע as the subject of both תדרוש and תמצא. Against this suggestion is, again, the problem of agreement. רֶשַׁע is masculine whereas a third-person reading of the verbs (which would have to be revocalised as passives) demands a feminine subject.

For these reasons, we have translated the verse, Break the arm of the wicked and evil (one). May it (the arm) seek his (the wicked and evil one's) wickedness, but not find it.

Research

Translations

Ancient

LXX

σύντριψον τὸν βραχίονα τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ καὶ πονηροῦ, ζητηθήσεται ἡ ἁμαρτία αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρεθῇ δἰ αὐτήν·

'Crush the arm of the sinner and evildoer; his sin shall be sought out, and he shall no more be found on account of it.'

Aquila and Symmachus

ἐκζητηθήσεται ἡ ἀσέβεια αὐτοῦ, ἵνα μὴ εὑρεθῆ αὐτός

His wickedness will be sought out, but he/it? will not be found.

Theodotian

ἐκζητηθήτω ἡ ἀσέβεια αὐτοῦ ἱνα μὴ εὑρεθῇ

May his wickedness be sought out, but not be found.

Jerome

contere brachium impii et maligni quaeres impietatem eius et non invenies

Break the arm of the wicked and evil (one); you will search out his impiety but you will not find it.

Syriac

ܬܒ݂ܪ ܕܪܥܗ ܕܚܛܝܐ ܘܕܒܝ݁ܫܐ ܬܬܒ݂ܥܐ ܚܛܝ݂ܬܗ݂ ܘܠܐ ܬܫܬܟܚ.

Break the arm of the sinner! And that of the evil one—its sin will be sought but not be found.

Targum

תְּבַר אֶדְרָעֵיהוֹן דְרַשִׁיעֵי וּבִישֵׁי יִתְבְּעוּן רִשְׁעַתְהוֹן לָא יִשְׁכְּחוּ.

Break the wicked one's and the evil one's arms, they will seek their wickedness, they will not find it.

Modern

English

• ASV: Break thou the arm of the wicked; And as for the evil man, seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
• ESV: Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none.
• CEB: Break the arms of those who are wicked and evil. Seek out their wickedness until there’s no more to find.
• HCSB: Break the arm of the wicked and evil person; call his wickedness into account until nothing remains of it.
• KJV: Break thou the arm of the wicked And the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.
• LEB: Break the arm of the wicked, and as for the evil man— seek out his wickedness until you find none.
• NASB1995: Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none.
• NET: Break the arm of the wicked and evil man! Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, which he thought you would not discover.
• NIV: Break the arm of the wicked man; call the evildoer to account for his wickedness that would not otherwise be found out.
• NLT: Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed.

German

• DELUT: Zerbrich den Arm des Gottlosen und suche heim das Böse, so wird man sein gottlos Wesen nimmer finden
• ELBBK: Zerbrich den Arm des Gottlosen; und der Böse – suche seine Gottlosigkeit, bis dass du sie nicht mehr findest!
• HFA: Zerbrich die Macht der Gottlosen! Bestrafe sie für ihre Bosheit, damit sie nicht weiter Unheil anrichten!
• NGU2011: Zerbrich die Macht dieser gottlosen und boshaften Menschen, zieh sie zur Rechenschaft dafür, dass sie sich dir widersetzen! Keiner von ihnen soll mehr zu finden sein!
• SCH2000: Zerbrich den Arm des Gottlosen und des Bösen, suche seine Gottlosigkeit heim, bis du nichts mehr von ihm findest!
• TKW: Zerbrich den Arm des Gottlosen! Und der Böse - ahnde seinen Frevel! Solltest du ihn nicht finden?

French

• BCC1923: Brise le bras du méchant; l'impie, - si tu cherches son crime, ne le trouveras-tu pas?
• BDS: Abats la force du méchant, ce criminel ! Et fais-le rendre compte ╵du mal qu’il a commis ╵pour qu’il n’en reste plus de trace.
• LSG: Brise le bras du méchant, Punis ses iniquités, et qu’il disparaisse à tes yeux!
• PDV2017: Détruis le pouvoir de l’homme mauvais, du méchant ! Alors tu pourras chercher le mal qu’il a fait, tu ne trouveras plus rien.

Spanish

• DHH94I: ¡Rómpeles el brazo a los malvados! ¡Pídeles cuentas de su maldad hasta que no quede nada pendiente!
• LBLA: Quiebra tú el brazo del impío y del malvado; persigue su maldad hasta que desaparezca.
• NTV: ¡Quiébrale los brazos a esta gente malvada y perversa! Persíguelos hasta destruir al último de ellos.
• NVI: ¡Rómpeles el brazo al malvado y al impío! ¡Pídeles cuentas de su maldad hasta que desaparezca!
• RVR95: ¡Rompe el brazo del inicuo y castiga la maldad del malo hasta que no halles ninguna!

References

10:15 Approved