Psalm 42:6-11 – Questioning God (Part 2)

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 10 May 2020

Introduction

v.6 My God, my soul is getting depressed over me, therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan and the Hermon-ranges, from Mount Mitzar.

v.7 Deep-waters are calling out to deep-waters according to the sound of your water-channels. All your breakers and your waves went over on me.

v.8 Daily Yahweh commands His lovingkindness, and nightly His song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.

v.9 I will say to God my rock-mountain, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go gloomily into the oppression of the enemy?

v.10 With a wrecking-ball to my bones my oppressors mock me while they say to me all the day, ‘Where is your god?’”

42:11 My soul, why are you depressing yourself and why are you moaning over me? Develop hope towards God, because I shall praise Him again – even my God – [for] salvations before my face.



Psalm 42 – Side-by side comparison of versionsA

LXX (Ps.41)

Brenton (LXX)

DRB (Vulgate)

KJV

NAW

Masoretic Txt

1 Εἰς τὸ τέλος· εἰς σύνεσιν τοῖς υἱοῖς Κορε.
2 Ὃν τρόπον ἐπιποθεῖB ἡ ἔλαφοςC ἐπὶ τὰς πηγὰςD τῶν ὑδάτων, οὕτως ἐπιποθεῖ ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς σέ, ὁ θεός.

1 For the end, [a Psalm] for instruction, for the sons of Core. As the hart earnestly desires the fountains of water, so my soul earnestly longs for thee, O God.

1 Unto the end, understanding for the sons of Core.
2 As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.

1 To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

1 For the con­certmaster, a thought-pro­vo­king one by the sons of Korah: Like a deer pants over bod­ies of water, so my soul pants for You, God.

1 לַמְנַצֵּחַ מַשְׂכִּיל לִבְנֵי־קֹרַח׃
2
כְּאַיָּלE תַּעֲרֹג עַל־אֲפִיקֵיF־מָיִם כֵּן נַפְשִׁי תַעֲרֹג אֵלֶיךָ אֱלֹהִיםG׃

3 ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν X τὸν ζῶντα· πότε ἥξω καὶ ὀφθήσομαι τῷ προσώπῳ τοῦ θεοῦ;

2 My soul has thirsted for the living God: when shall I come and appear before X X God?

3 My soul hath thirsted after the strongH living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?

2 My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

2 My soul was thirsty for God, for the Living God: “When can I go and be seen before the face of God?”

3 צָמְאָה נַפְשִׁי לֵאלֹהִים לְאֵל חָי מָתַי אָבוֹא וְאֵרָאֶהI פְּנֵי אֱלֹהִים׃

4 ἐγενήθη μοι τὰ δάκρυά μου ἄρτος ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαί μοι καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεός σου;

3 My tears have been bread to me day and night, while they daily said to me, Where is thy God?

4 My tears have been my bread day and night, whilst it is said to me daily: Where is thy God?

3 My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

3 My tears were a daily and night­ly meal to me while they were saying to me all the day, “Where is your God?”

4 הָיְתָה־לִּי דִמְעָתִי לֶחֶם יוֹמָם וָלָיְלָה בֶּאֱמֹרJ אֵלַי כָּל־הַיּוֹם אַיֵּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ׃

5 ταῦτα ἐμνήσθηνK καὶ ἐξέχεα ἐπ᾿L ἐμὲ τὴν ψυχήν μου, ὅτι διελεύσομαι ἐν [τόπῳ] σκηνῆς θαυμαστῆςM ἕως τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν φωνῇ ἀγαλλιάσεωςN καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως ἤχουO ἑορτάζοντοςP.

4 I remembered these things, and poured out my soul in me, for I will go to the place of thy won­drous taber­nacle, even to the house of God, with a voice of exulta­tion and thanks­giving [and of the] sound of those who keep festival.

5 These things I remembered, and poured out my soul in me: for I shall go over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God: With the voice of joy and praise; the noise of one feasting.

4 When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, [with] a multitude that kept holyday.

4 It is these things I will re­member while I spill my soul out on my­self: that I would pass through with the throng; I would lead them to the house of God with the sound of singing and thanks­giving - a multitude cele­brat­ing the feast.

5 אֵלֶּה אֶזְכְּרָהQ וְאֶשְׁפְּכָה עָלַיR נַפְשִׁי כִּי אֶעֱבֹר בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם עַד־בֵּית אֱלֹהִים בְּקוֹל־רִנָּה וְתוֹדָה הָמוֹן חוֹגֵג׃

6 ἵνα τί περίλυποςS εἶ, ψυχή, καὶ [ἵναT] τί συνταράσσειςU X με; ἔλπισονV ἐπὶ τὸν θεόν, ὅτι X ἐξομολογήσομαι αὐτῷ· σωτήριον τοῦ προσώπου μουW

5 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; [he is the] salvation of my countenance.

6 Why art thou sad, O my soul? and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my countenance,

5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the helpX of his countenance.

5 My soul, why are you depres­sing yourself and moaning over me? Develop hope towards God, because I shall praise Him again before His face [for] salvations.

6מַה־תִּשְׁתּוֹחֲחִיX נַפְשִׁי וַתֶּהֱמִי עָלָי הוֹחִילִי לֵאלֹהִים כִּי־עוֹד אוֹדֶנּוּ יְשׁוּעוֹת פָּנָיו׃

7 ὁ θεός μου. πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἡ ψυχή μου ἐταράχθηY· διὰ τοῦτο μνησθήσομαί σου ἐκ γῆς Ιορδάνου καὶ Ερμωνιιμ, ἀπὸ ὄρους μικροῦZ.

6 O my God, my soul has been troubled within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Ermonites, from the little hill.

7 And my God. My soul is troubled within my self: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan and Hermoniim, from the little hill.

6 O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

6 My God, my soul is getting depressed over me, therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan and the Hermon-ranges, from Mount Mitzar.

7 אֱלֹהַי עָלַי נַפְשִׁי תִשְׁתּוֹחָח עַל־כֵּן אֶזְכָּרְךָAA מֵאֶרֶץ יַרְדֵּןBB וְחֶרְמוֹנִיםCC מֵהַר מִצְעָר׃

8 ἄβυσσος ἄβυσσον ἐπικαλεῖται εἰς φωνὴν τῶν καταρρακτῶνDD σου, πάντες οἱ μετεωρισμοίEE σου καὶ τὰ κύματά σου ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ διῆλθον.

7 Deep calls to deep at the voice of thy cataracts: all thy billows and thy waves have gone over me.

8 Deep calleth on deep, at the noise of thy flood-gates. All thy heights and thy billows have passed over me.

7 Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

7 Deep-waters are calling out to deep-waters according to the sound of your water-channels. All your breakers and your waves went over on me.

8תְּהוֹם־אֶל־תְּהוֹם קוֹרֵא לְקוֹל FFצִנּוֹרֶיךָ כָּל־מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ עָלַי עָבָרוּ׃

9 ἡμέρας ἐντελεῖται κύριος τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ, καὶ νυκτὸς δηλωσαιGG παρ᾿ ἐμοί, προσευχὴ τῷ θεῷ τῆς ζωῆς μου.

8 [By] day the Lord will command his mercy, and manifest by night: with me is prayer to the God of my life.

9 [In] the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy; and a canticle to him in the night. With me is prayer to the God of my life.

8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness [in] the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and [my] prayer unto the God of my life.

8 Daily Yahweh commands His lovingkindness, and nightly His song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.

9 יוֹמָם יְצַוֶּה יְהוָה חַסְדּוֹ וּבַלַּיְלָה שִׁירֹהHH עִמִּי תְּפִלָּה לְאֵל חַיָּי׃

10 ἐρῶ τῷ θεῷ ἈντιλήμπτωρII μου εἶ· διὰ τί μου ἐπελάθου; ἵνα τί σκυθρωπάζων πορεύομαι ἐν τῷ ἐκθλίβειν τὸν ἐχθρόν [μουJJ];

9 I will say to God, Thou art my helper; why hast thou forgotten me? wherefore do I go sad of countenance, while the enemy oppresses [me]?

10 I will say to God: Thou art my support. Why hast thou forgotten me? and why go I mourning, whilst [my] enemy afflicteth [me]?

9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

9 I will say to God my rock-mountain, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go gloomily into the oppression of the enemy?

10 אוֹמְרָהKK לְאֵל סַלְעִי לָמָה שְׁכַחְתָּנִי לָמָּה־קֹדֵר אֵלֵךְLL בְּלַחַץ אוֹיֵב׃

11 ἐν τῷ καταθλάσ­[θ]αιMM τὰ ὀστᾶ μου ὠνείδισάν με οἱ θλίβοντέςNN με ἐν τῷ λέγειν αὐτούς μοι καθ᾿ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν Ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ θεός σου;

10 While my bones were breaking, they that afflicted me reproached me; while they said to me daily, Where is thy God?

11 Whilst my bones are broken, my enemies who trouble me have reproached me; Whilst they say to me day be day: Where is thy God?

10 As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

10 With a wrecking-ball to my bones my oppressors mock me while they say to me all the day, ‘Where is your god?’”

11 בְּרֶצַחOO בְּעַצְמוֹתַי חֵרְפוּנִי צוֹרְרָי בְּאָמְרָם אֵלַי כָּל־הַיּוֹם אַיֵּה אֱלֹהֶיךָ׃

12 ἵνα τί περίλυποςPP εἶ, ψυχή, καὶ ἵνα τί συνταράσσειςQQ με; ἔλπισον ἐπὶ τὸν θεόν, ὅτι ἐξομολογήσομαι X αὐτῷ· σωτηρία τοῦ προσώπου μου XRR ὁ θεός μου.

11 Wherefore art thou very sad, O my soul? and wherefore dost thou trouble me? hope in God; for I will give thanks to him; [he is] the health of my countenance, and my God.

12) Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why dost thou disquiet me? Hope thou in God, for I will still give praise to him: the salvation of my counten­ance, and my God.

11 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

11 My soul, why are you depressing yourself and why are you moaning over me? Develop hope towards God, because I shall praise Him again – even my God – [for] salvations before my face.

12מַה־תִּשְׁתּוֹחֲחִי נַפְשִׁי וּמַה־תֶּהֱמִי עָלָי הוֹחִילִי לֵאלֹהִים כִּי־עוֹד אוֹדֶנּוּ יְשׁוּעֹת פָּנַי וֵאלֹהָיSS׃



1 John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

2 Canticles 4:8 also seems to use this mountain poetically to connote being outside of homeland.

3 "Whatever the LORD pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places." (NKJV)

4 Ex. 15:2-8, Job 38:16, 41:32, Ps. 106:9, Isa. 51:10, Jonah 2:6

5 Gen. 49:25, Deut. 8:7, Ps. 78:15, Eze. 31:4

6 By Dr. Shaw in his Travels, quoted by Alexander in his edition of Calvin’s Commentaries, and by Plumer in his Studies in the Psalms

7 Delitzsch weighed in in favor of the latter.

8 He went on to quote Dickson: “Although the Lord, for a time, shall neither remove the outward affliction nor inwardly give comfort, yet faith will sustain itself by the covenant, and lay its whole weight upon it.”

AMy original chart includes the NASB and NIV, but their copyright restrictions have forced me to remove them from the publicly-available edition of this chart. I have included the ESV in footnotes when it employs a word not already used by the KJV, NASB, or NIV. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different from all the other translations, I underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a word which is in the Hebrew text, I insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between the various editions and versions when there are more than two different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea Scroll containing any part of Psalm 42:6-43:5 is 11Q(8)PsD, which contain fragments of 43:1-3, highlighted in purple.

B Α= πεπρασιασμενος (“having rushed”?), Σ= σπευδει (“hurries”), Ε=πρασιασθη (“beds down”)

C Α=αυλων (“pipes”?), Ε=πεδιον (“plain”/”ground”)

D Aq= εκχουσεις (“outpouring”), Σ = διεξοδους (“exit”)

EKeil & Delitzsch commented that the masculine stag "... is construed with a feminine predicate in order to indicate the stag (hind) as an image of the soul" (the gender of which is feminine). Calvin’s commentary editor, James Anderson, on the other hand, contended that it was the female “hart” that was meant, but the gender of the deer isn’t terribly important. Joel 1:20 is the only other instance of the ensuing verb in the Hebrew Bible. Commentators debate whether its root meaning is a gasping sound (Anderson, Plumer, KJV) or whether its root meaning is to desire or to reach out (Delitzsch, LXX). Surely the opening verb of the next verse is intended to be a synonym, so that helps narrow down the meaning.

FThe basic meaning of this word has to do with holding together, containing, being connected. “Streams” does connote confluence, but I thought that the word “body” communicates more in English the idea of a contiguous mass of water.

G Two manuscripts plus the Syriac and the Targums read YHWH instead of elohim, but it refers to the same person.

H Jerome must have misinterpreted אל (God of) as “strength” (א’ל).

IThe MT pointing indicates this to be Niphal Imperfect (lit. “be seen”), and the LXX interprets it that way. The consonants would remain the same if it were Qal, however, and the Syriac and Targums interpreted it actively, as the NIV did.

JThe second half of this verse is repeated verbatim in the second half of v.11 except that in v.11, a 3rd person plural pro­nomial suffix is added to this word (“their saying”). The BHS cites manuscripts and the Syriac version reconciling the two verses with this addition in v.4.

K Σ=αναπολων

L Augustine made much of the upward direction of επι/עָלַ as in prayer directed upward to God, but that seems forced.

MΑ= εν συσκιω προβιβαζων αυτους (“in a crowd? as they advance” = MT), Σ= εις την σκηνην, διαβασταχθησομαι (“into the tabernacle, I was being lead through”?) Both comport with the MT rather than the LXX & the Vulgate. The LXX seems to have read אדדם (“I lead them”) as אדרם (“wonderful ones”). These two letters can be difficult to distinguish in handwritten manuscripts. How I wish a little more of the Dead Sea Scrolls had been preserved to settle the question!

N cf. synonymns from Aquila (αινεσεως… ευχαριστιας) & Symmachus (ευφημιας… πανηγυριζοντων)

OThe Hebrew word chamon can be interpreted as the sound of a crowd (as the LXX interpretation went) or as the crowd itself, as English translators of the MT went, as did Aquila (οχλου) & Symmachus (πληθους).

PThe Vaticanus and Sinaiticus pluralized this participle, but it doesn’t change the meaning because the singular already refers to a plurality of persons.

QVerb tenses in Hebrew are not as precise in time as English. According to Plumer, the verbs in this verse are interpreted as future by Venema, Marloratus, Hengstenberg and Alexander, they are interpreted as past by the Syriac, Arabic, Septuagint, Vulgate and Ethiopic, and in the present by Calvin, church of England, Vatablus, Piscator, Amesius, Ainsworth, Fabritius, Mudge, Green, Waterland, Edwards, Jebb, Horsley, Fry and Tholuck. I prefer the future to bring out the optative sense of the cohortative (“The cohortative lays stress on the determination underlying the action, and the personal interest in it.” ~Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar)
"[T]he cohortatives affirm that he yields himself up most thoroughly to this bittersweet remembrance and to this free outward expression of his pain" ~Delitzsch
Note that the only other place the cohortative he is found with a first person imperfect form of this verb is Psalm 77 (vs. 4, 7, & 12), where Asaph speaks. When God speaks using the same verb (Lev. 26:42; Isa. 43:25; Jer. 31:34), the cohortative never appears.
The demonstrative pronoun which is the object of this verb is in the emphatic position, first in the sentence. Delitzsch explained that it “points forwards... [to] the
כִּי ... which follows opens up the expansion of this word. The futures, as expressing the object of the remembrance, state what was a habit in the time past.”

R "עָלַי used here and further on instead of בִּי or בְּקִרְבִּי... distinguishing between the ego and the soul..."~Delitzsch

S cf. Α=κατακυπτεις (“stoop down”) & Σ=κατακαμπτη (“bend down”)

TThe LXX and Syriac versions have a second interrogative in v.11 where it is absent in the Hebrew text of this verse, but it doesn’t change the meaning because it can be supplied by ellipsis.

U Αq=οχλαζεις (“mob”), Σ=θορυβη (“make an uproar”)

V Αq & Sym=αναμεινον (“stay fixed upon”)

WSince at least the first century AD (and probably longer), scholars have debated whether it should be “my presence” or “His presence” in this verse and in the last verse of this psalm. Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotian, and more read, as the MT, autou “him,” in this verse, and “my” in v.11/12 and in 43:5. On the other hand, there are several Hebrew manu­scripts – as well as the Syriac version – which support the LXX “my” here (thus the NIV), and there are Hebrew manuscripts and ancient Coptic, Aramaic, and Greek versions which read “him” in v.11/12. Since the word “and” and the word “his” in Hebrew are spelled the same, and since early manuscripts had no spaces between words, one part of the explanation for this variant is that different translators divided the words in different places. At any rate, both statements are true, and it doesn’t change the theology presented either way. And, for what it’s worth, no Dead Sea Scroll has been discovered with this verse visible for comparison.

XThis verb is only used in these psalms of the sons of Korah - Ps. 42-44. BDB defined it as “sink down,” Holladay as “melt away,” and Delitzsch as “to sit down upon the ground like a mourner, and to bend one's self downwards,” I’m not sure where James Ward got “buckled over deep down” for lyrics to his musical setting of this psalm, but it also seems fitting. “In both verses [5 & 6] the form is reflexive, q. d.. My soul casts itself down.” ~Plumer

Y Α=κατακυψει (“stoop down”), Σ=κατατηκεται (“put down”), Ε=ταπεινουται (“be low”)

Z The LXX translated the word mitzar (“small”), whereas the English versions transliterate it as a proper noun.

AA Some manuscripts and versions (including the Coptic and Sinaiticus) add the word “LORD” or “God,” but this merely clarifies the identity of the person referred to as “you.”
עַל־כֵּן means 'therefore,' and the relationship of reason and consequence is reversed... this thinking upon God does not appear as the cause but as the consequence of pain.” ~Delitzsch

BB The phrase “land of Jordan” does not occur anywhere else in the Bible. “Land” is usually associated with a people or a king, not with the river. Furthermore, “Jordan” almost never appears without the definite article as it appears here in Hebrew; the only exceptions are here and the Israelite rendezvous point “in the plains of Moab over Jordan Jericho” mentioned several times in the book of Numbers (Num. 26:3, 63; 31:12; 33:48, 50; 35:1; 36:13), and one other poetic reference in Job 40:23 to Leviathan being unafraid of the river. Likewise, the plural form of “Hermon” here occurs nowhere else in the Bible.

CC "Perhaps David also has purposely made use of the plural number on account of the fear by which he was forced frequently to change his place of abode, and wander hither and thither." ~J. Calvin
“The original word is plural of Hermon — Hermonim. The word in this form occurs no where else. It pretty certainly designates not a people, but a range of mountains, the Hermons, because there were several high points in the range to which this name was given, as we say the Alps, Alleghenies... If a large mountainous region is designated... then we have the reason given for David's remembering God, viz. his remoteness from the sanctuary and his perils in that wild district.” ~Plumer
The plural may refer to [Mt. Hermon’s] three peaks.” ~Cohen
“...two summits..” ~John Wilson,
Lands of the Bible
"חֶרְמֹונִים is an amplificative plural: the Hermon, as a peak soaring far above all lower summits... [T]he plural serves to denote the whole range of the Antilebanon extending to the south-east, and accordingly to designate the east Jordanic country…”~Delitzsch

DD Σ=...απηντα απο ηχου την κρουνων σου “Deep has met deep from the sound of your buffetings” diff. from MT and LXX.

EE cf. synonym in Σ=καταιγιδες

FF 2 Sam. 5:8 is the only other use of this word in the O.T., referring to a tunnel built to channel water in to Jerusalem.

GGAlexandrian edition of the LXX and Symmachus’ version read ᾠδὴ (“a song”) instead here, which is more like the MT Ketib. Aquila concurred with ασμα (“happy-songs”). Interestingly, the Vulgate seems to have followed the MT Qere here.

HH Hapex legomenon. Masorite scribes thought this should be spelled שִׁירוֹ, although this too has difficulties because nowhere else in scripture is there a song from God called “His song.” As best I can tell, this represents a shift in spelling over centuries from representing both the masculine and feminine third person singular pronoun with a he suffix to the current differentiation in spelling between the masculine (vav suffix) and feminine (he suffix), so it makes no difference in meaning, but this was done to avoid the misunderstanding that happened in the Greek translations, some of which missed the 3ms suffix (“a song” rather than “his song”) and others of which misunderstood it as a verb (“show” - perhaps assumed to be from שׁרה - to set free/wide-open”). Delitzsch sought to remove the difficulty my making it a feminine pronomial suffix referring forward to the feminine word “prayer,” and that also seems plausible.

II Aquila & Symmachus read petra, as the M.T.

JJ Symmachus and Eusebius supported the M.T. by omitting the “my” at the end of the verse.

KK Hapex legomenon. Should the cohortative he be interpreted as directive together with the lamed preposition which follows? Or hortitory and thus future tense? Or is it just euphonic to avoid the juxtaposition of the two liquid phonemes resh and lamed?

LL cf. Psalm 38:7b כָּל־הַיּוֹם קֹדֵר הִלָּכְתִּי

MMThis is Rahlf’s reading. cf. Vaticanus καταθλάσθαι and Theodotian:συνθλασθαι (both passive instead of active). Aquila used the synonym φονευσαι (“slaughtering” - active infinitive), and Symmachus σφαγην (“slaughter” -noun, which is the M.T. form).

NNThe LXX translation of this word “afflictors” and Aquila’s translation ενδεσμουντες (those who imprison”) seem closer to the MT “those who put pressure” than the translations of Symmachus (εναντιοι= “those in opposition”) and the NAS (“adversaries”) and NIV (“foes”).

OO Delitzsch commented on the first letter of this verse that, “In some MSS we find the reading כְּרֶצַח instead of בְּרֶצַח; the בְּ is here really synonymous with the כְּ, it is the Beth essentiae (vid., Ps. 35:2): ‘after the manner of...’” The KJV, NAS, and ESV followed in that tradition. I, on the other hand, don’t see why the author couldn’t have used the comparative preposition coph if that’s what he meant, so I went for the more common instrumental meaning of the beth preposition “with,” which is also what the LXX did. The NIV chose to drop it out.

PP Αq=κατακυπτεις (as v.6), Σ=κατατηκη (unlike v.6)

QQ Αq=LXX (unlike v.6), Σ=θορυβη (like v.6)

RR See endnote “W”

SS Differences in each version and edition between v.5/6 and this verse are underlined.

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