Smith DTh Thesis (final).pdf - South African Theological Seminary

Chapter 4: Analysis of Psalms 3-84.3.4 Structural analysisThe structure of Psalm 5 is simple and clear. 46 The psalm consists of fivestrophes. The focus of the strophes alternates between the righteous(strophes 1, 3 and 5) and the wicked (strophes 2 and 4). The two strophesdealing with the wicked are marked with conjunction “for” י)‏ ‏,כִ‏ vv. 5 and 10),while the two about the righteous stand in contrast to them, being marked withwaw disjunctive (translated “but” in vv. 8 and 12). Terrien’s (2003:104; cf.Craigie 1998; Wilson 2002) outline captures the structure nicely:I. The Moaning of the Poet vv. 2-4II. The Abhorrence of Fools vv. 5-7III. The Love of God vv. 8-9IV. The Punishment of Fools vv. 10-11V. The Rejoicing of the Poet vv. 12-13The chiastic structure emerges naturally from the content of the psalm itself; itseems to be inherent in the psalm, rather than imposed upon it. The structure46 Based on his logoprosodic analysis of Psalm 5, Christensen (2005c) proposes a differentunderstanding of the structure. He finds seven strophes divided into three cantos, namely, (1)5:1-5, (2) 5:6-10 and (3) 5:11-13.124