98 Th. Booij mischief’, are prominent here, as well as in vv. 5-6. The 3rd person plural suffixes refer to them, while they are also the subject of w[mvw in v. 6b. a. In v. 4, [r rbd is sometimes understood as ‘evil word’. Elsewhere, however, it always means ‘evil thing’, ‘something evil’ (6). That meaning fits in here. b. The second stich in v. 4 is generally translated as ‘to practise wicked works’, ‘to busy myself with wicked deeds’, or the like. With this rendering, however, the relationship between verses 3 and 4 is not quite clear. Moreover, it may be asked why the text, instead of [v'r, twOlli[} or tw[v;r @[, has [v'r,B] twOlli[}. I think hll[ (hlyl[) as used in our text, along with a few other forms, is wrongly derived from I ll[ (7). In Deut 22,14 it is said of a man who wants to separate from the woman he just married, µyrbd tlyl[ hl µcw (see also v. 17). In that text µyc with l] stands for ‘direct at, bring over (someone)’ (cf. Exod 8,8) (8), and µyrbd tloyl[ must mean ‘fabrications of things’ (9). Hitpa‘el ll[th with B] is used as ‘divert oneself with’, ‘make sport of’ (10). The noun µyliWl[}T', which in Isa 3,4 may be taken in the abstract sense of ‘frivolity’ (11), has been translated as ‘mockeries’ (ejmpaivgmata) by the Septuagint in Isa 66,4. ‘Mockeries’ fits in there if µhyll[t is understood by analogy with the parallel term µtrwgm (‘their fears’): the text then successively mentions ‘the things they mock’ and ‘the things they fear’ (12). The ll[ from which hlyl[ in Deut 22,14, µylwl[t in Isa 3,4; 66,4, and hitpa‘el ll[th may be derived seems to be a denominative of ll;w[ or llew[ (‘child’), indicating notions such as play, fiction, fun, mockery. If in Ps 141,4 twll[ is taken as ‘fabrications, pretexts’, then llw[th can scarcely mean other than ‘think up (frivolously), devise’ (13). The reflexive form suggests the notion ‘for oneself’, ‘in oneself’ (14), which agrees with ybl, ‘my heart’, in the first stich; for it is in the heart that malicious plots are cunningly thought out (see e.g. Ps 64,7; 140,3; Prov 6,14; 24,2). c. In the third stich the manner of expression is remarkable. Outside our text ˆwaAyl[p, ‘workers of mischief’, does not occur as attribute of a preceding noun. The broader form seems to have been chosen deliberately. It is generally assumed that µyvya is a synonym of µyvna, ‘men’. I think it rather agrees with vyaAynb (15), a term which in Ps 49,3 apparently, in view of the (6) Deut 23,10; Ps 64,6; Qoh 8,3.5. See also 1 Sam 2,23; 2 Kgs 17,11. (7) BROWN–DRIVER–BRIGGS, 759-760; HALAT, 788, 789, 1628. (8) In v. 17 µyv (without hl) can be understood as ‘put forward’; cf. Gen 43,31. (9) In Mishnaic Hebrew hlyl[ is used in a similar meaning (‘fabrication, scheme’). See J. LEVY, Neuhebräisches und chaldäisches Wörterbuch über die Talmudim und Midraschim (Leipzig 1876-1889) III, 654. (10) Exod 10,2; Num 22,29; Judg 19,25; 1 Sam 6,6; 31,4; Jer 38,19; 1 Chr 10,4. (11) Cf. W. GESENIUS – E. KAUTZSCH, Hebräische Grammatik (Leipzig 281909) § 124d; P. JOÜON – T. MURAOKA, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Roma 1991) § 136g. (12) Cf. also e.g. wjfbm (‘his trust’ = ‘the one in whom he trusts’) in Ps 40,5; g[l (‘a derision’ = ‘a people to deride’) in Ps 44,14. In Isa 66,4 ‘they’ are the unfaithful (see vv. 5.24), committing abominations (vv. 3.17); ‘the things they mock’ are the signs of YHWH’s glory (vv. 5.19); ‘the things they fear’ are the works by which he will repay his enemies (see vv. 6.14-17.24). (13) For the transitive use of the reflexive form see GESENIUS-KAUTZSCH, § 117w; JOÜON-MURAOKA, § 125c. (14) Cf. the reflexive forms in Exod 32,3; 33,6; Num 6,19; Josh 9,12; 1 Sam 18,4; Isa 14,2; 52,2. See GESENIUS–KAUTZSCH, § 54f. (15) So F. DELITZSCH, Die Psalmen (BC; Leipzig 41883) 847.