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

Chapter 5: Concatenation in Psalms 3-83) The exact phrase שַ‏ בִ‏ ים אֹמְ‏ שִ‏ ים (“many are saying”) is found in 3:3 and4:7, both times introducing the words of the psalmist’s enemies. Theseare the only two occurrences of שַ‏ בִ‏ ים אֹמְ‏ שִ‏ ים in the Hebrew Bible. 994) The verbs שָ‏ כַ‏ ב (“lie down”) and יָשֵ‏ ן (“sleep”) are joined by theconjunction ו to form a hendiadys שכב וישן (“to lie down and sleep”) in 1Kings 19:5, Psalm 3:6 and 4:9. 1005) The verbs “call” שָ‏ א)‏ ‏(רָ‏ and “answer” נָ‏ ה)‏ ‏(ףָ‏ occur together in 3:5 and 4:2.These verbs appear in the same verse 15 times in the Psalter and afurther 33 times in remainder of the Hebrew Bible.(“but וְ‏ אַ‏ ָ ה יְהוָ‏ ה (“for you, O Lord”, 4:9) closely resembles כִ‏ י־אַ‏ ָ ה יְהוָ‏ ה 6)you, O Lord”, 3:4). The second person masculine singular pronoun99 The two terms occur consecutively five more times in the Old Testament (1 Sam 14:19, Isa2:3, Jer 13:6, Mic 4:2 and 11). In all five instances שַ‏ ב is the last word of a clause, modifying anoun, and אָ‏ מַ‏ ש is the first word of the next clause. Only in Psalms 3 and 4 are the two termscollocated within a single clause, with “many” as the subject and “saying” the predicate.100 The only other time that the two words are used in the same verse is in Job 3:13, wherethey occur in parallel poetic lines.186