Psalm 64:7–8

Footnotes

1. 17 The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7–10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1–6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See §111.w.
2. 18 The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.
3. 19 The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the . Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. , ).
4. 20 The reads literally, “and they caused him to stumble, upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (’al) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִׁילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשׁוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ’aley léshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַׁל (kashal) elsewhere. It is likely that the is corrupt, but a satisfying emendation has not yet been proposed.
5. 21 The Hitpolel verbal form is probably from the root נוּד (nud; see נוד), which is attested elsewhere in the Hitpolel stem, not the root נָדַד (nadad, as proposed by 622 I נָדַד), which does not occur elsewhere in this stem.