David J. Armitage, «Rescued Already? The Significance of yntyn( in Psalm 22,22», Vol. 91 (2010) 335-347
The final word in the Masoretic Text of Ps 22,22, ynitfyni(j, has been understood by many commentators to represent a sudden declaration of rescue received. Others, often believing that such an announcement would represent a shift in the progression of the Psalm of excessive awkwardness, have preferred a variant reading reconstructed from the Septuagint in which such a dramatic transition is absent. Recent proposals regarding the semantics of the qatal form of the Hebrew verb strengthen the case for retaining the MT reading and interpreting it as a precative perfect which reiterates the preceding pleas for deliverance.
341
RESCUED ALREADY ? THE SIGNIFICANCE yntyn[
OF
it instead as a separate exclamation that acts as a bridge between
preceding lament and subsequent praise 29. Thus μymr yerQm is to be
ie n ˆ " i
understood as parallel to hyra yPm, standing by ellipsis in relation to
e ˆ" I
yi[yv/h : “Save me from the mouth of the lion and from the horns of
ne i
the wild ox. You have answered me!†Alternatively the qatal form
here could represent a gnomic perfective use 30. The New American
Standard Bible takes this approach: “Save me from the lion’s
mouth ; from the horns of the wild oxen You answer meâ€. yntyi"ˆ i : n[
could even be taken as future oriented 31, expressing what Waltke
and O’Connor describe as a “perfective of confidence†32 : “Save
me from the mouth of the lion; from the horns of the wild oxen,
you will surely rescue me!â€
A fundamentally different approach is to understand yntyi"ˆ not
i : n[
as an indicative form, but as a precative form which functions as a
plea : “Save me from the mouth of the lion, and from the horns of
the wild ox rescue me!†The very existence of this usage has long
been controversial 33. It has however been followed by some
commentators, and is used in some contemporary translations 34.
Cf H.-J. KRAUS, Psalmen (BKAT 15.1; Neukirchen-Vluyn 61989) I, 322;
29
K. SEYBOLD, Die Psalmen (HAT 15; Tübingen 1996) 95. See also: New
English Translation, New King James Version, Traduction Oecuménique de la
Bible, Revidierte Elberfelder, CEI translation (2008).
See WALTKE – O’CONNOR, Biblical Hebrew Syntax, 488. “Gnomicâ€
30
designates verbs which make assertions without respect to time; this usage
can thus encompass generalized and proverbial statements.
Cf T. LESCOW, “Psalm 22,2-22 und Psalm 88 - Komposition und
31
Dramaturgie â€, ZAW 117 (2005) 219.
WALTKE – O’CONNOR, Biblical Hebrew Syntax, 490.
32
Thus GKC (§ 106n – footnote) unreservedly rejects this usage.
33
I. PROVAN, “Past, Present and Future in Lamentations III 52-66: The Case for
a Precative Perfect Re-Examinedâ€, VT 41 (1991) 164-175, outlines the history
of the debate (164-167). A valuable discussion of this usage is also found in
DAHOOD, Psalms I, 20, who notes, inter alia, that it does occur elsewhere
among the Northwest Semitic languages.
M. BUTTENWIESER, The Psalms, Chronologically Treated (Chicago,
34
IL 1938) 606; DAHOOD, Psalms I, 142; A. WEISER, The Psalms. A Commentary
(London 1971) 218.; J. GOLDINGAY, Psalms 1-41 (Grand Rapids 2006) 335. See
also SIMIAN-YOFRE, Sofferenza dell’uomo, 48. Precative renderings of yntyi"ˆ are
i : n[
found in the New International Version, the JPS Tanakh, the Spanish Reina-
Valera Update (1995), and the French Nouvelle Edition de Geneve (1979). In
German a similar approach is found in the Luther Bibel (although the Revidierte
Lutherbibel opts for a perfect verb).
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