The Text and Grammar of Ps 22:30

Back to Psalm 22

Introduction

Ps. 22:30 in the MT reads:

אָכְל֬וּ וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוּ֨וּ ׀ כָּֽל־דִּשְׁנֵי־אֶ֗רֶץ

לְפָנָ֣יו יִ֭כְרְעוּ כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר

וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃.

There are a number of issues in this verse which affect its interpretation.

• The text of v. 30a (אַךְ לֹא vs אָכְלוּ)
• The text of v. 30cα (נַפְשִׁי vs נַפְשׁוֹ)
• The text of v. 30cβ (לוֹ vs לֹא)
• The syntactic function of waw in v. 30b (explicative waw, conditional protasis, disjunctive waw)

Argument Maps

The text of v. 30a

אַךְ לֹא

Almost the same consonants that read אָכְלוּ in the MT could be interpreted as two words, אַךְ לֹא: as in the RSV's Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down.

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[אַךְ לוֹ]: The consonants אכלו should be read as אַךְ לוֹ, 'surely to him' (RSV, NAB, TEV, BJ, NJB, SPCL). #dispreferred
 + <Parallel structure>: The preposition לוֹ balances with לְפָנָיו in the B line (Krahlmakov 1969: 390 :A:); the A line has only one verb and four prosodic words, just like the B line. #dispreferred
 - <Textual support>: No Hebrew manuscripts or ancient versions reflect such a reading.
   + [Ancient versions]: LXX: ἔφαγον καὶ; Peshitta: ܢܐܟܠܘܢ ܘ; Jerome: comederunt et; Targum: סְעוּדוּ וּ.
 - <Second waw>: The reading 'Surely to him bow down' doesn't account for the second waw of the MT (on וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ).
 - <Not homophonous>: The reading אָךְ לֹא with final 'o' vowel does not account for the phonetic nature of the MT's אָכְלוּ, with final 'u' vowel.

אָכְלוּ

The MT was correct to consider אָכְלוּ as one word: the 3mpl qaṭal form of אכ׳׳ל, they have eaten.

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[אָכְלוּ]: The consonants אכלו should be read as אָכְלוּ, the 3mpl qaṭal of אכ׳׳ל (Barthélemy 2005: 134 :M:).
 + <Textual support>: The verb אָכְלוּ is supported by all the major versions and Hebrew manuscripts.
  + [Ancient versions]: LXX: ἔφαγον; Peshitta: ܢܐܟܠܘܢ; Jerome: comederunt; Targum: סְעוּדוּ; MT: אָכְלוּ.
 + <Discourse context>: The activity of eating has already been mentioned in the Psalm (v. 27) and attributed to the poor; here the counterbalance of the wealthy eating is offered.

The Text of v. 30c

The primary difficulties in this verse, however, involve the final clause, וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃: namely, the pronominal suffix on נֶפֶשׁ (that is, as either first person, by which the psalmist would be referring unambiguously to himself, or third person, referring to a previous discourse participant) and whether to read the negator לֹא or the lamed preposition with the same suffix, לוֹ (if the negator, referring to not having saved someone's life, or if the lamed, referring to saving his life for his sake, i.e. for the sake of the agent of the verb חִיָּה, YHWH). These possibilities are illustrated by the ancient versions:

• καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ (LXX)
• ܢܦܫܝ ܠܗܘ ܚܝܐ (Peshitta)
• et anima eius ipsi vivet (Jerome)
• וּנְפַשׁ רַשִׁיעָא לָא יְחַיֵי: (Targum)

The arguments for each reading are considered below.

נַפְשִׁי

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[נַפְשִׁי]: The pronominal suffix on נֶפֶשׁ is 1cs (Alonso-Schökel 1992: 381 :C:; Bar 2009: 172 :A:). #dispreferred
 + <Textual support>: The LXX, Peshitta and two Kennicott manuscripts have first person singular suffixes. #dispreferred
  + [Textual support]: LXX: ἡ ψυχή μου; Peshitta: ܢܦܫܝ; Kennicott 235(?), 373: נפשי. #dispreferred
 - <Immediate discourse context>: The individual "I" is absent from the global perspective of the entire section of vv. 28-32 (Lyons 2015: 640 :A:)
  - <Larger discourse context>: The psalmist is contrasting his deliverance (v. 22b-26) with those who don't enjoy the same end to their suffering. #dispreferred

נַפְשׁוֹ

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[נַפְשׁוֹ]: The pronominal suffix on נֶפֶשׁ is the 3ms (Wilson 2002 :C:; Craigie 2004 :C:; Goldingay 2006 :C:; Tanner 2014 :C:).
 + <Textual support>: The MT, Jerome and Theodotion have a 3ms pronominal suffix; the Targum and Symmachus' syntax indicate the same.
  + [Textual support]: MT: וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ; Jerome: anima eius; Theodotion: ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ; Targum: וּנְפַשׁ רַשִׁיעָא; Symmachus: οὗ ἡ ψυχὴ.
 _ <Antecedent unclear>: It is not clear who the נֶפֶשׁ would belong to. #dispreferred
  - <Previous discourse participants>: Both God and the psalmist have been extensively active throughout the psalm and could provide anaphoric sense. 
   _ <Discourse position>: Theologically, it is unlikely that God's life has not been preserved, while the psalmist has not been an active participant since v. 26. #dispreferred
  - <Syntactic continuity>: The referent of נַפְשׁוֹ most naturally points to כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר.
   - <Number shift>: The grammatical number of כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר is plural, whereas נַפְשׁוֹ is singular. #dispreferred
    <_ <Distributive third person>: The third singular provides a distributive reading of the same entity as the preceding phrase, כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר, headed by the distributive quantifier כֹּל (Rashi, Andersen 1974: 45).
     + [Distributive third person]: Gen. 41:12b, וַיִּפְתָּר־לָ֖נוּ אֶת־חֲלֹמֹתֵ֑ינוּ '''אִ֥ישׁ כַּחֲלֹמ֖וֹ פָּתָֽר'''׃; Ex. 1:1, וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב '''אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ''' בָּֽאוּ׃; Mic. 2:9a, נְשֵׁ֤י עַמִּי֙ תְּגָ֣רְשׁ֔וּן מִבֵּ֖ית תַּֽעֲנֻגֶ֑יהָ; cf. Ex. 12:4, 16:16, 16:18, 28:21.

לוֹ

The phoneme lō could would be pronounced by both לוֹ and לֹא. First we consider the possibility of the preposition lamed with a 3ms suffix, for him.

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[לוֹ]: The second word of the clause, וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃, should be read לוֹ (Alonso-Schökel 1992: 381 :C:; Bar 2009: 172 :A:). #dispreferred
 + <Textual support>: The LXX, Peshitta, Jerome and Kennicott 328 read the preposition ל with 3ms pronominal suffix. #dispreferred
  + [Textual support]: LXX: αὐτῷ; Peshitta: ܠܗܘ; Jerome: ipsi; Kennicott 328: לו. #dispreferred
 - <Theological emendation>: The change from the negator לֹא to the prepositional phrase לוֹ seems to involve a 'pietistic motivation' (Barthélemy 2005: 139 :M:), in that, a scribe has emended a difficult text to say something positive about the psalmist's spiritual survival, that he will live for God's name and purposes.
 - <Co-text>: It is unclear what וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לוֹ חִיָּֽה׃ would mean, immediately following the constituent כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר and preceding זֶ֥רַע יַֽעַבְדֶ֑נּוּ.

לֹא

The MT, however, reads לֹא as the negator, not.

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[לֹא]: The second word of the clause, וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃, should be read לֹא.
 + <Textual support>: The Targum and MT read the negator.
  + [Textual support]: Targum: לָא; MT: לֹא.
 + <Co-text>: The reading וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹא חִיָּֽה׃ naturally follows כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר ("all who go down to the dust") as an explicative extension of what it means to "go down to the dust" (i.e., to be mortal).

The Syntactic Function of waw in v. 30c

A final issue is the syntax of the waw introducing the וְנַפשׁוֹ clause. The most likely options seem to be an explicative waw, a conditional protasis continued into v. 31, or a simple conjunction. These differ in scope. The explicative waw reading elaborates on the previous constituent mentioned, כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר, while the head of the conditional protasis is the supposed apodosis in v. 31a and the simple conjunction requires identification of the agent of חִיָּה as either God or the psalmist and the 3ms suffix on נַפְשׁוֹ as the psalmist himself.

Explicative waw

Explicative waws provide a clarifying elaboration on the preceding entity or event and can be glossed as "That is, ..." Something similar is read by the NIV: All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him - those who cannot keep themselves alive.

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[Explicative waw]: The waw introducing וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ should be understood as an explicative waw.
 + <Semantic movement>: An explicative waw best fits the semantic relationship between the constituent כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר and the clause וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃.
 + <Common function of waw>: The explicative waw is a commonly attested function of waw, both for appositional noun phrases and verb phrases (Baker 1980 :A:, 2013 :A:; IBHS §30.2.4 :G:; Wilton 1994 :A:).
  + [Common function of waw]: לֹא־יִקַּ֥ח אִ֖ישׁ אֶת־אֵ֣שֶׁת אָבִ֑יו וְלֹ֥א יְגַלֶּ֖ה כְּנַ֥ף אָבִֽיו׃ (Deut. 23:1), וְהֶ֨בֶל הֵבִ֥יא גַם־ה֛וּא מִבְּכֹר֥וֹת צֹאנ֖וֹ וּמֵֽחֶלְבֵהֶ֑ן וַיִּ֣שַׁע יְהוָ֔ה אֶל־הֶ֖בֶל וְאֶל־מִנְחָתֽוֹ׃ (Gen. 4:4), וְלִפְנֵ֨י אֶלְעָזָ֤ר הַכֹּהֵן֙ יַעֲמֹ֔ד וְשָׁ֥אַל ל֛וֹ בְּמִשְׁפַּ֥ט הָאוּרִ֖ים לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֑ה עַל־פִּ֨יו יֵצְא֜וּ וְעַל־פִּ֣יו יָבֹ֗אוּ ה֛וּא וְכָל־בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֥ל אִתּ֖וֹ וְכָל־הָעֵדָֽה׃ (Num. 27:21), among others.
 _ <The Masoretic accents>: The major accent division in this verse is the atnakh on עָפָ֑ר, so between the atnakh and the sof pasuq at the end of the verse, we only have the clause וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃. This seems to be too prosodically significant for a simple explicative phrase elaboration only on the constituent כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר. #dispreferred

Conditional protasis

Connecting this clause as a conditional protasis to an apodosis in the following verse would read as Lipinski's (1969) suggestion: «Et (si) son âme ne vit plus, la postérité Le servira» (And if his soul no longer lives, posterity will serve him), and similar to both Cantera-Iglesias, Y para aquél que ya no viva, le servirá su descendencia (and for he who no longer lives, his descendants will serve him) and Craigie's (2004) proposed rendering: "And he who did not keep his life - his descendants shall serve him."

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[Conditional protasis]: The waw introducing וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ should be understood as introducing a conditional protasis with זֶ֥רַע יַֽעַבְדֶ֑נּוּ as the apodosis (Lipinski 1969: 161 :A: ≈ Craigie 2004). #dispreferred
 + <Syntax>: In the absence of אִם or כִי, clause-initial waw fits the syntax of a conditional protasis (Joüon §167a, BHRG §40.23.3.2e-f). #dispreferred
  - <Conditional syntax>: In the absence of אִם or כִי, one would expect a waw on both clauses or neither (Joüon §167b, BHRG §40.23.3.2f). If there is only one waw, it is much more naturally placed on the apodosis rather than the protasis (Joüon §176).
   + [Conditional syntax]: וַיֹּ֣אמֶר יְהוָ֔ה אִם־אֶמְצָ֥א בִסְדֹ֛ם חֲמִשִּׁ֥ים צַדִּיקִ֖ם בְּת֣וֹךְ הָעִ֑יר וְנָשָׂ֥אתִי לְכָל־הַמָּק֖וֹם בַּעֲבוּרָֽם׃ (Gen. 18:26), וַנֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל־אֲדֹנִ֔י לֹא־יוּכַ֥ל הַנַּ֖עַר לַעֲזֹ֣ב אֶת־אָבִ֑יו וְעָזַ֥ב אֶת־אָבִ֖יו וָמֵֽת׃ (Gen. 44:22), וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ דָּוִ֑ד אִ֚ם עָבַ֣רְתָּ אִתִּ֔י וְהָיִ֥תָ עָלַ֖י לְמַשָּֽׂא׃ (2 Sam. 15:22); cf. Gen. 24:8; 41:32; Num. 30:15; Judg. 4:20; 1 Sam. 1:11; 20:6, 1 Kgs. 3:14).
 + <Text division>: וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ belongs to v. 31 rather than 30c. #dispreferred
  + [Codex Sinaiticus]: The clause is on the same line as 31a in Codex Sinaiticus (καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ, καὶ τὸ σπέρμα μου δουλεύσει αὐτῷ). #dispreferred
   _ [Codex Vaticanus]: It is read as its own line in Codex Vaticanus (Vat.gr.1209; = Rahlfs). 
  - <The MT>: It is unlikely that a protasis and apodosis (between v. 30c and v 31a) would be separated by sof pasuq (a strong indication of division) in the MT.
   - <Other examples>: This very phenomenon happens in other Psalms, e.g., 95:7-8. #dispreferred
    + [Psalm 95:7c-8a]: הַ֝יּ֗וֹם אִֽם־בְּקֹל֥וֹ תִשְׁמָֽעוּ׃ אַל־תַּקְשׁ֣וּ לְ֭בַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָ֑ה. #dispreferred
  + <Semantic movement>: The relationship between וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ and זֶ֥רַע יַֽעַבְדֶ֑נּוּ fit the semantic profile of a conditional. #dispreferred
   - <Concessive clause>: An unreal concessive clause would be more natural (as in "Even though"), given the inevitability of mortality expressed in the phrase וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃. In this case a concessive conjunction כִי would be expected.
    - <Discourse>: The psalm indicates that David will recover (vv. 22-26), but not everyone who suffers is promised the same outcome (Craigie 2004), so their hope is in the possibility that their posterity will still serve YHWH. #dispreferred
     _ <Co-text>: Reading the discourse as highlighting the inevitability of death but hope in a future seed for the worshipper necessitates a singular reading of נַפְשׁוֹ and does not help in identifying the suffix's antecedent.

Disjunctive waw

The final syntactic option offered is to read the waw beginning the clause וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ as a simple coordinate conjunction, as the KJV's All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. However, the semantic co-text seems to advocate for an adversative or concessive sense, but / though. Besides a generic absolute negation, as the KJV, the two discourse participants who are possible candidates for the agent of חִיָּה and/or the antecedent of נַפְשׁוֹ are the psalmist himself and God. With the negator לֹא, we find it unlikely that the text would say God's life is not preserved, so with נַפְשׁוֹ referring to the psalmist's life, we will consider the possibilities of the agent of חִיָּה as co-referential with the other 3ms suffixes in the surrounding co-text, i.e., God, or as the psalmist himself.

God as agent of הִיָּה

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[Disjunctive waw]: The ''waw'' beginning the clause וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ should be understood as an adversative or concessive conjunction, ''but'' / ''though'', the agent of חִיָּה the Lord and the suffix on נַפְשׁוֹ referring to the psalmist.
 - <Participant analysis>: The Psalmist is not active in the discourse since v. 26, so is an unlikely candidate as referent of נַפְשׁוֹ. #dispreferred
  _ <Textual variants on נְפְשׁ>: The dispreferred reading of נַפְשִׁי present in the LXX and Peshitta do not have a problem with a reintroduction of the psalmist.
  - <Abrupt participant shifts and multiple 3ms suffixes>: There are other abrupt participant shifts and differing referential 3ms suffixes in the psalm.
   + [Abrupt participant shifts and multiple 3ms suffixes]: 22.18, אֲסַפֵּ֥ר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑י הֵ֥מָּה יַ֝בִּ֗יטוּ יִרְאוּ־בִֽי; 22.25, לֹֽא־בָזָ֨ה וְלֹ֪א שִׁקַּ֡ץ עֱנ֬וּת עָנִ֗י וְלֹא־הִסְתִּ֣יר פָּנָ֣יו מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וּֽבְשַׁוְּע֖וֹ אֵלָ֣יו שָׁמֵֽעַ; cf. vv.31-32.
  - <3ms referents>: There is no other singular entity introduced in the discourse from v.27ff, so the only other candidate is YHWH, who cannot die. 
   + <Canonical context>: YHWH is described as he "who was able to save him from death" (Heb. 5.7 ESV), while David is known to have died and "God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne" (Acts 2.30 ESV; cf. זרע in Ps. 22.31). On the other hand, YHWH appointed the suffering Servant's death (Isa. 53.4, 6, 10), yet he would see his offspring and prolong his days (Isa. 53.10b; יִרְאֶ֥ה זֶ֖רַע יַאֲרִ֣יךְ יָמִ֑ים).
    + <Surrounding co-text>: This reading elucidates the following clause, in which the psalmist's seed, after the psalmist's death, serves YHWH (cf. Isa. 53.10b).
 + <The verb חיה in the Psalter>: The agent of piel חיה throughout the Psalter is YHWH (or YHWH's word, 119.50).
 + <The verb חיה in the Hebrew Bible>: The agent of piel is a different discourse participant than the undergoer in all cases in the Hebrew Bible except Ezek. 13.18 and 18.27.
  + [The verb חיה in the Hebrew Bible]: See Gen 7.3, 12.12; 19.34; Ex. 1.17, 1.18, 1.22, 22.17; Num. 31.15; Deut. 6.24, 20.16, 32.39; Josh. 9.15; Judg. 21.14; 1 Sam. 2.6, 27.9, 27.11; 2 Sam. 12.3; 1 Kgs. 18.5, 20.31; 2 Kgs. 7.4; Isa. 7.21; Jer. 49.11; Ezek. 3.18, 13.19; Hos. 6.2; Hab. 3.2; Ps. 30.4, 33.19, 41.3, 71.20, 80.19, 85.7, 119.25, 119.37, 119.40, 119.50, 119.88, 119.93, 119.107, 119.149, 119.154, 119.156, 119.159; Job 33.4, 36.6; Ecc. 7.12; Neh. 3.34, 9.6; 1 Chron. 11.8.
 + <Simplest reading of waw>: This reading makes the simplest use of the conjunction ''waw''.

The psalmist as agent of הִיָּה

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[Disjunctive waw]: The ''waw'' beginning the clause וְ֝נַפְשׁ֗וֹ לֹ֣א חִיָּֽה׃ should be understood as an adversative or concessive conjunction, ''but'' / ''though'', while both the agent of חִיָּה and the antecedent of the suffix on נַפְשׁוֹ refer to the psalmist. #dispreferred
 - <Participant analysis>: The Psalmist is not active in the discourse since v. 26, so is an unlikely candidate as referent of נַפְשׁוֹ. #dispreferred
  _ <Textual variants on נְפְשׁ>: The dispreferred reading of נַפְשִׁי present in the LXX and Peshitta do not have a problem with a reintroduction of the psalmist.
  - <Abrupt participant shifts and multiple 3ms suffixes>: There are other abrupt participant shifts and differing referential 3ms suffixes in the psalm.
   + [Abrupt participant shifts and multiple 3ms suffixes]: 22.18, אֲסַפֵּ֥ר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑י הֵ֥מָּה יַ֝בִּ֗יטוּ יִרְאוּ־בִֽי; 22.25, לֹֽא־בָזָ֨ה וְלֹ֪א שִׁקַּ֡ץ עֱנ֬וּת עָנִ֗י וְלֹא־הִסְתִּ֣יר פָּנָ֣יו מִמֶּ֑נּוּ וּֽבְשַׁוְּע֖וֹ אֵלָ֣יו שָׁמֵֽעַ; cf. vv.31-32.
  - <Co-text of Psalm 24>: There is no indication of David being able to preserve his own life from his period of suffering (vv. 10-12, 20-22). 
   + <Canonical context>: YHWH is described as he "who was able to save him from death" (Heb. 5.7 ESV), while David is known to have died and "God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne" (Acts 2.30 ESV; cf. זרע in Ps. 22.31).
    + <Surrounding co-text>: This reading elucidates the following clause, in which the psalmist's seed, after the psalmist's death, serves YHWH.
 - <The verb חיה in the Psalter>: The agent of piel חיה throughout the Psalter is YHWH (or YHWH's word, 119.50).
 - <The verb חיה in the Hebrew Bible>: The agent of piel is a different discourse participant than the undergoer in all cases in the Hebrew Bible except Ezek. 13.18 and 18.27.
  + [The verb חיה in the Hebrew Bible]: See Gen 7.3, 12.12; 19.34; Ex. 1.17, 1.18, 1.22, 22.17; Num. 31.15; Deut. 6.24, 20.16, 32.39; Josh. 9.15; Judg. 21.14; 1 Sam. 2.6, 27.9, 27.11; 2 Sam. 12.3; 1 Kgs. 18.5, 20.31; 2 Kgs. 7.4; Isa. 7.21; Jer. 49.11; Ezek. 3.18, 13.19; Hos. 6.2; Hab. 3.2; Ps. 30.4, 33.19, 41.3, 71.20, 80.19, 85.7, 119.25, 119.37, 119.40, 119.50, 119.88, 119.93, 119.107, 119.149, 119.154, 119.156, 119.159; Job 33.4, 36.6; Ecc. 7.12; Neh. 3.34, 9.6; 1 Chron. 11.8.
 + <Simplest reading of waw>: This reading makes the simplest use of the conjunction ''waw''.

Conclusion

Despite the variation offered by the LXX (and others like it), the MT is preferred as speaking of those suffering and not recovering. Of the two possible syntactic results, the explicative waw is preferred. In other words, it elaborates upon the meaning of the previous clause, כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר, [this is to say that] he will not have preserved his life. This is a significant elaboration as it provides a contrast to the psalmist's situation in the psalm, whose life God did preserve (v. 22b). The 3ms suffix on נַפְשׁוֹ is to be understand with distributive sense (Rashi; Andersen 1974: 45; most similarly to Micah 2.9), since כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר is plural in number, so can be adequately rendered by a plural in translation according to its sense, rather than grammatical encoding. Along with the negator לֹא, a translation similar to the following is proposed: [that is] he hasn't preserved their life.

Research

Ancient Translations

• ἔφαγον καὶ προσεκύνησαν πάντες οἱ πίονες τῆς γῆς, ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ προπεσοῦνται πάντες οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν γῆν. καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ (LXX)
• ܢܐܟܠܘܢ ܘܢܣܓܕܘܢ ܩܕܡ ܡܪܝܐ ܟܠܗܘܢ ܟܦܢ̈ܝܗܿ ܕܐܪܥܐ܂ ܘܩܕܡܘܗܝ ܢܒܪܟܘܢ ܟܠ ܢܚ̈ܬܝ ܥܦܪܐܿ ܢܦܫܝ ܠܗܘ ܚܝܐ (Peshitta)

• comederunt et adoraverunt omnes pingues terrae ante faciem eius curvabunt genu universi qui descendunt in pulverum, et anima eius ipsi vivet (Jerome)

• סְעוּדוּ וּסְגִידוּ כָּל דְהִינֵי אַרְעָא קֳדָמוֹי יְגַחְנוּן כָּל נָחְתִין בֵּי קְבוּרְתָּא וּנְפַשׁ רַשִׁיעָא לָא יְחַיֵי: (Targum)

• οὗ ἡ ψυχὴ ζήσει (Symmachus)
• καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ζῇ (Theodotion)

Modern Translations

English

• All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him - those who cannot keep themselves alive. (NIV)
• All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, even the one who could not keep himself alive. (ESV ≈ NASB, CSB
• Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down; before hum shall bow all who go down to the dust, and he who cannot keep himself alive. (RSV ≈ ISV, NET)
• All those in full vigor shall eat and prostrate themselves; all those at death's door, whose spirits flag, shall bend the knee before Him. (JPS)
• All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. (KJV)

German

• Ihn allein werden anbeten alle Großen auf Erden; vor ihm werden die Knie beugen alle, / die zum Staube hinabfuhren und ihr Leben nicht konnten erhalten. (Luther 2017)
• Auch die Großen dieser Erde müssen vor ihm niederfallen, sie, die immer mehr als genug zu essen hatten. Ja, vor ihm werden einmal alle Menschen ihre Knie beugen, alle Sterblichen, denen das Leben zwischen den Fingern zerrinnt. (HFA)
• Die Großen der Erde werden ein Festmahl halten und sich anbetend vor dem HERRN niederwerfen. Auch alle, die in den Staub des Todes sinken, werden von ihm niederfallen, alle, die keine Kraft mehr zum Leben haben. (NGÜ ≈ GNB, ZÜR)
• Es aßen und warfen nieder alle Mächtigen der Erde. Alle, die in den Staub gesunken sind, sollen vor ihm sich beugen. Und wer sein Leben nicht bewahrt hat (EÜ ≈ ELB)

French

• Tous les grands de la terre mangeront et se prosterneront; devant lui s’inclineront tous ceux qui retournent à la poussière, ceux qui ne peuvent pas conserver leur vie. (SG21)
• Tous les heureux de la terre ont mangé: les voici prosternés! Devant sa face, se courbent tous les moribonds: il ne les a pas laissé vivre (TOB)
• Tous les puissants de la terre mangeront et se prosterneront aussi; devant lui plieront tous ceux qui descendent dans la poussière, ceux qui ne peuvent conserver leur vie. (NBS, NVSR)
• Tous les grands de la terre ╵mangeront et l’adoreront, et ceux qui s’en vont vers la tombe, ceux dont la vie décline, ╵se prosterneront devant lui. (BDS)
• Ceux qui sont pleins de vie mangent et l’adorent. Tous ceux qui vont mourir, ceux qui ne peuvent rester en vie, se mettront à genoux devant lui. (PDV)
• Ceux qui sont pleins de vie mangent et se prosternent devant lui. Et devant lui aussi s'agenouillent tous ceux qui descendent dans la poussière, ceux qui ne peuvent se maintenir en vie. (NFC)

Spanish

• Los que comieron y engordaron en la tierra se postrarán ante Él, los que bajan al polvo se postrarán ante Él, los que no pueden conservar viva su alma. (BTX4ª)
• Todos los grandes de la tierra comerán y adorarán; se postrarán ante Él todos los que descienden al polvo, aun aquel que no puede conservar viva su alma. (LBLA)
• Ciertamente ante él[ se postrarán todos los ricos de la tierra. Se doblegarán ante él todos los que descienden al polvo, los que no pueden conservar la vida a su propia alma. (RVA2015)
• Ante él solo se postrarán todos los poderosos de la tierra, ante él se doblarán cuantos bajan al polvo. Y para aquél que ya no viva, le servirá su descendencia (Cantera-Iglesias)

Lexica & Commentators

• To be read as נֶפֶשׁ לֹא חַיָּה (HALOT)
• Suggested emendation from "חִיָּה he has kept alive to חַיָּה alive" (DCH)
• אכלו וישתחוו כל דשני ארץ. הרי זה מקרא מסורס אכלו ענוים כל דשני ארץ וישתחוו לה' בהלל והודאה על הטובה, דשני ארץ טוב חלב הארץ כל זה יראו אפסי הארץ וישובו אל ה': (They shall eat all the best of the earth and prostrate themselves Lit. they shall eat and prostrate themselves all the best of the earth. This is a transposed verse. The humble shall eat all the best of the earth and prostrate themselves to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving for the good. דשני means the good, the fat of the earth. [People at] all the ends of the earth will see all this and return to the Lord). לפניו יכרעו. אז כל מתי הרשעים מתוך גיהנם ולא ירחם עליהם לחיות את נפשם מגיהנם: (before Him shall...kneel Then all the dead of nations [will kneel] from Gehinnom but He will not have mercy upon them to revive their souls from Gehinnom). ונפשו. של כל אחד ואחד: (his soul [The soul] of each one). לא חיה. לא יחיה, רבותינו דרשו מן המקרא הזה שהמתים לפני מיתתם בשעת נטילת נשמה רואין פני שכינה: (He will not quicken Lit. He did not quicken. Our Sages (Mid. Ps. 22:32) derived from this verse that the dead, before their death, at the time their soul is taken, see the countenance of the Shechinah) (Rashi)
• וטעם: ונפשו לא חיה – על דרך: בנות צעדה עלי שור, כי אחד מהם לא יוכל לחיות נפשו וזה רמז כי תאבד נפשם בעולם הזה הפך הענוים, שכתוב בהם: יחי לבבכם לעד (Ibn Ezra)
• The middle colon then returns to the weak, here described as "those who are going down to the dirt." Elsewhere such expressions refer not to humanity as a whole in its mortality but to a particular group of people who are run danger of death at the moment, as the suppliant was (vf. v. 15) and the weak regularly are (cf. 28:1; 88:4[5]; 115:17; 143:7). The third colon confirms that. It is not likely that the bowing and kneeling refer to something that happens in Sheol; at least, such an idea does not come elsewhere in the OT. Rather, all these groups come to bow to Yhwh because of what they see or hear of the suppliant, which encourages them to believe that their slide down to death could be halted. Yhwh's setting the suppliant on the way to deathly dirt (v. 15) was not the end of Yhwh's acts in this person's life, and that pattern can also apply to other people who still seem on the way to death but can find new encouragement and bow down to Yhwh" (Goldingay 2006)
• The last three verses are very problematic textually, and any exact translation is tentative. What is clear here is that all will praise God because of this, and all of God's acts go even beyond the nations that one can see in the present. Both the healthy and the robust ones will praise along with those nearing the grave (v. 29[30]), and beyond all of them, the story will grow and go on to new generations, to those yet unborn... The MT has napšô ("his life force"). The suffixes for 3ms and 3mpl are easily confused, and the plural "they" more clearly fits the context and is the only change actually needed in this verse. (Tanner 2014) [This morphological observation is inaccurate, but illustrates the desire for reading the possessor of נֶפֶשׁ as the collective constituent כָּל־יוֹרְדֵ֣י עָפָ֑ר].
• Indeed, all those about to sleep in the earth shall bow down to him; all those about to descend to the dust shall bend down to him. And he who did not keep his life - his descendants shall serve him. (Craigie 2004)
• In an intentional contrast that constitutes a sort of megrims with the "poor" in 22:26a[27a], the psalmist introduces the "rich of the earth," who both eat like the poor and worship like the families of the earth in 22:27b[28b]. These linkages draw the whole passage together into a literary unity. The purpose is to indicate that all humanity - Israelite or non-Israelite, rich or poor - will acknowledge the rulership of Yahweh and bow to it. The latter part of verse 29[30] makes this dependence clear. As in Ecclesiastes 3:18-21; 9:1-6, "all who go down to the dust... who cannot keep themselves alive" (Ps. 22:29[30]) refers to all humanity, who are ultimately absolutely dependent on Yahweh for the very breath that sustains life. (Wilson 2002)
• Among the worshiping community the psalmist sees "the rich" (i.e., the prosperous) people and nations and all the dying ("all who go down to the dust," cf. 28:1; 30:3, 9; 88:4; 143:7)... The participial phrase "all who go down" denotes those who are fainthearted, sickly, dying, and filled with anguish, even as the psalmist once lay "in the dust of death" (v. 15; cf. 30:3). Both the well-fed and poor people will join in the worship of God. (VanGemeren 2007)
• wnpšw l' ḥyh: supliendo un relativo: «el que no puede conservar la vida» (cf. Ez 13,18; 18,27; 1 Re 20,31) Ros Del Phil Briggs. Corrigen con varias versiones antiguas en napšî lô ḩāya mi alma vivirá para él LXX, Jerón anima eius ipsi vivet Baethgen. Aisnga a l' valor aseverativo Airoldo. Toma la frase como prótasis condicional con apódosis en 31a... wnpšw l' ḥyh: Con otros autores corrijo leyendo sufijo de primera persona npšy y dativum commmodi lô, sujeto el Señor: (Dios) mantiene/renueve mi vida para sí, se guarda mi vida. El orante, que se ha visto a un paso de la muerte, cuenta con vivir gracias a Dios y para Dios; así se coloca entre la generación de los que murieron y la generación de los que han de nacer. Su vida salvada es también un centro temporal. Con esta explicación no desaparecen todas las dificultades de un texto que parece haber sufrido en su transmisión. (Alonso-Schökel 1992: 369, 381)
• Les vss 30 à 32 peuvent se traduire: "(30) Auront-ils mangé et se seront-ils prosternés, tous les hommes prospères de la terre; que devant lui s'inclineront tous ceux qui descendent à la poussière et celui qui ne sauvera pas son âme. (31) Une postérité lui offrira un culte; il sera fait mention du Seigneur pour cette génération. (32) On viendra es on annoncera sa justice au peuple qui sera engendré: ce qu'il a réalisé." Comme le montre le vs 29, il s'agit des nations prospères et des nations qui périclitent. Les unes comme les autres rendront un culte au Seigneur et ce culte se transmettra aux générations futures (Barthélemy 2005: 139).

References

22:30 Approved