Although this verse involves larger issues of participant analysis and discourse coherence (which are addressed here), this exegetical focuses only on the syntax of the verse. This verse has been subject to many interpretations throughout the years. Screnock (forthcoming) estimates that, when all the syntactic possibilities are taken into account, "by [his] calculations there are up to 50 interpretive options."
Nevertheless, modern translations tend to reflect one of three major interpretations:
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation (RSV)[2]
Because you took the LORD — my refuge, the Most High — as your haven (JPS 1985)[3]
If you say, "The LORD is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling (NIV)[4]
Argument Maps[]
Two clauses with backwards gapping[]
Some interpreters claim that the verse consists of two clauses and that the verb you put/made (שַׂמְתָּ) in the second clause (v. 9b) has been backwards-gapped in the first clause (v. 9a). This view is reflected in the RSV's translation: "Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation."
One clause[]
Some modern translations understand v. 9 as one main clause with either (1) a number of appositive entities, or (2) appositives plus an embedded relative clause. The JPS translation reflects the first of these options: "Because you took the LORD — my refuge, the Most High — as your haven". The ESV reflects the second of these options: "Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge.[5]
Two clauses: verbless clause (v. 9a) and resultative construction (v. 9b) (preferred)[]
Some interpreters claim that the verse consists of a verbless clause in v. 9a followed by a resultative construction with the verb שִׂים (to make X [into] Y) in v. 9b. Such an interpretation is reflected in the NIV: "If you say, "The LORD is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling."
Agent in v. 9b[]
If this interpretation of the syntax is correct and v. 9 consists of a verbless clause followed by a resultative clause, the next question is: 'who is the "you" of v. 9b'? Is it the speaker of v. 9a (i.e. the king) who has made the Most High his dwelling? Or is it God, who has made 'the highest place' his dwelling?
King as the subject of v. 9b (preferred)[]
According to this interpretation, the subject of the second clause would be the speaker of the direct speech of the previous clause (i.e. the king), as reflected by the NIV: "If you say, "The LORD is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling."
YHWH as the subject of v. 9b[]
According to this interpretation, the subject of the second clause is YHWH: You say, "You, YHWH, are my refuge. You have put your dwelling in the most high place." This interpretation is represented by some of the ancient translations (e.g., Symmachus, Peshitta, and Targum Psalms) and requires the quoted speech of v. 9a to continue into v. 9b.
Conclusion[]
Verse 9 probably consists of two clauses: a verbless clause ('“YHWH, you are my refuge”', v. 9a) followed by a resultative שִׂים construction ('You have made the Most High your home', v. 9b). The first of these clauses (v. 9a) is quoted speech, and the speaker of this clause is the same speaker as in v. 2 (the one who 'says to YHWH: “You are my refuge and fortress, my God, in whom I trust”'). This interpretation best accounts for the poetic line division and the parallels between vv. 1-2 and v. 9. In our CBC translation, we have rendered the verse as, For [you say]: “YHWH, you are my refuge.” You have made the Most High your home.
"Solomon answered, and this is what he said: "Because you, O Lord, are my refuge, in the most high dwelling place you have set the house of your Shekinah."[15]
Stec, David M. 2004. The Targum of Psalms: Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Taylor, Richard A. in Bali, Joseph & George Kiraz [eds.]. 2020. The Psalms According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press
Walter, D. M (ed.). 1980. The Old Testament in Syriac: According to the Peshiṭta Version. Leiden: Brill.
Modern[]
Verb you put elided in the first clause[]
Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation (RSV ≈ GNT)[16]
Ya que has hecho del Señor tu refugio, del Altísimo tu lugar de protección (DHH)
Denn der HERR ist deine Zuversicht, der Höchste ist deine Zuflucht. (Luther 2017)
My refuge as apposition or relative clause[]
Because you took the LORD — my refuge, the Most High — as your haven (JPS 1985)
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge - (ESV ≈ CSB, NET)
Porque al SEÑOR, que es mi refugio, al Altísimo, has puesto como tu morada (RVA 2015)
Por cuanto has puesto a YHVH, que es mi refugio, A Elyon, por habitación tuya (BTX 4ª)
Two clauses: a verbless clause (v. 9a) and causative construction (9b)[]
If you say, "The LORD is my refuge," and you make the Most High your dwelling (NIV ≈ NLT)
Poiché tu hai detto: «O Eterno, tu sei il mio rifugio», e hai fatto dell'Altissimo il tuo riparo (LND = NR2006)
«Oui, tu es mon refuge, Eternel!» Tu fais du Très-Haut ta retraite? (SG21)
Car tu es mon abri, Seigneur! – Tu fais du Très-Haut ton refuge (NBS ≈ TOB)
Oui, tu es mon refuge ô Eternel! Si toi, tu fais ╵du Très-Haut ton abri... (BDS ≈ PDV, NFC)
Du aber darfst sagen: »Beim Herrn bin ich geborgen!« Ja, bei Gott, dem Höchsten, hast due Heimat gefunden" (HFA ≈ NGÜ, ELB, GNB)
Ja du, HERR, bist meine Zuflucht. Den Höchsten hast du deinem Schutz gemacht (EÜ ≈ ZÜR)
Secondary Literature[]
Articles[]
Caquot, A. 1958. "Le Psaume XCI." Pages 21-37 in Semitica VIII.
Monographs[]
Bratcher, R.G. & Reyburn, W. D. 1991. A Handbook on Psalms. New York, NY: UBS.
Van der Lugt, Pieter. 2014. Cantos and Strophes in Biblical Hebrew Poetry III: Psalms 90-150 and Psalm 1. Leiden: Brill.
Vreugdenhil, Gerrit C. 2020. Psalm 91 and Demonic Menace. Leiden: Brill.
↑Although the RSV elides the verb you have made in the second line, the MT actually includes the verb only in the second line. This interpretation thus understand the verb שַׂמתָּ as backwards-gapped, i.e., only present in the second clause but syntactically necessary also in the first clause to complete its sense.
↑The JPS and similar translations understand both my refuge and the Most High as belonging to a list of nouns in apposition (or relative clauses, cf. the ESV: Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place - the Most High, who is my refuge). This results in the whole verse as one clause.
↑The NIV, among others, read the verse as two clauses: the first as a verbless clause in quoted speech and the second as a resultative clause with the verb שִׂים (to make X [into] Y). For this interpretation, the NIV has supplied the "If you say" before the verbless clause. As interpretations differ regarding v. 9's connection to the rest of the psalm, and particularly the line-initial כִּי, more discussion on this issue can be found here. Within this third and final syntactic configuration, the resultative clause in v. 9b could be understood to have either the psalmist's recipient as the grammatical subject (as the NIV), or YHWH himself. This will be discussed after exploring the three majority positions of the syntax of the entire verse.
↑Alternatively, my refuge could be understood as part of a compound vocative so that the resulting main clause would contain the action of YHWH: Because you, YHWH, my refuge, have put your dwelling in the most high place. This is probably reflected in Symmachus (see Translations), and possibly the LXX (though both NETS and the LES render 91:9a as a verbless clause). However, no modern translations understand the text this way.
↑ With the subtle change of τὸν ὕψιστον - which could be read as the proper name Most High, or adverbially - to the feminine adjective ὑψίστην, in agreement with τὴν οἵκησίν, Symmachus leaves no doubt how he understands the placement of the dwelling, and that the agent is undoubtedly YHWH.
↑Taylor 2020:381. Such a translation is, however, questionable in light of the conjunction ܕ introducing Ps. 91:9b. The conjunction ܕ typical introduces a relative clause, modifying a second person referent after a vocative (Nöldeke 1904:§350), as found in Ps. 91:9a. A preferable translation of the Syriac would be: "For you, O Lord, are my confidence, [you] who have placed your dwelling in the height." (Only in Or. Ms. 58 [9a1, Florence] is ܕܒܡܪܘܡܐ read as ܘܒܡܪܘܡܐ, "and you have placed." Walter notes, "Excluding from consideration those unique variants which involve the use of the conjunction, and the numerous omissions of short phrases, where a decision can be made, a majority of variants unique to 9a1 are closer to the Masoretic text than the alternative readings" [1980:xx]. Walter's comment makes evident the tendency of 9a1's scribe to add the conjunction, ܘ, though here, the variant does not come closer to the Masoretic text, since the MT of 91:9b is asyndetic.) In any case, although it is also probably true of Taylor's rendering, the relative clause allows no ambiguity for the agent of the second clause as, still, YHWH.