344 DAVID ARMITAGE Whilst the Septuagint retroversion of Ps 22,22 creates an effective parallelism with the preceding verse a precative reading of yityi"ˆ also creates a striking effect, in the form of chiastic n : n[ parallelism 43. Thus: Save me - from the mouth of the lion, - and from the horns of the wild oxen rescue me! Given that both the Septuagint and MT readings provide striking poetic effects, stylistic considerations do not assist in choosing between them. III. Septuagint and MT readings in the context of the whole Psalm Various scholars have argued that the MT reading is preferable because, given a past perfect reading (“you have answered me”) it accounts better for the dramatic change in mood which they perceive in the Psalm 44. Either the Psalmist has experienced actual deliverance 45, or has received some clear indication, perhaps in the form of an ‘oracle of rescue’ 46, that such deliverance is now of “skewing”, and notes that it is most often used in address from “God to man ” rather than from “man to God”, for which the similarly skewed “ preceptive imperfect” is sometimes found (p. 91). He has further suggested that precative use of qatal is best understood as a politeness form – A. WARREN-ROTHLIN, “Politeness Strategies in Biblical Hebrew and West African Languages”, Journal of Translation 3 (2007) 67. Cf SIMIAN-YOFRE, Sofferenza dell’uomo, 48; GOLDINGAY, Psalms 1-41, 43 335. W.G.E. WATSON, “Internal Parallelism in Classical Hebrew Verse”, Bib 66 (1985) 372, points out the frequency with which such “internal” chiastic parallelism (which is contained within a single verse) occurs in the Psalms. Cf M. GIRARD, Les Psaumes Redécouvert. De la Structure au Sens 44 (Montréal 21996) I, 428, n. 26, who suggests that the view that the Psalmist still awaits deliverance fails to reckon with “la sérénité et l’explosion d’enthousiasme qui transpirent aux v. 23-32 ”. See R.D. PATTERSON, “Psalm 22: From Trial to Triumph”, JETS 47 45 (2004) 213-233, here 224. Cf also P. AUFFRET, “Tu m’as repondu”, SJOT 12 (1998) 102-129 (here 118), who describes the second part of v. 22 in terms of “ la grâce faite aujourd’hui”. See KRAUS, Psalmen, 329; cf J.H. EATON, Psalms. Introduction and 46 Commentary (Torch Bible Commentaries; London 1967), 74, who postulates “ successive phases of a dramatic ritual”.