Biblica - Vol 91 (2010) Armitage, David J., Rescued Already? The Significance of yntyn( in Psalm 22,22 (2010)

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.