A Woman at Prayer: A Critical Note on Psalm 131:2b

Abstract

(ProQuest Information Learning: denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) In Psalm 131, the speaker initially tries to convince YHWH that he or she has not been arrogant or haughty: the speaker's heart is not lifted up, nor the eyes raised high, nor has he or she been occupied with thoughts too great marvelous for (v. 1). In the next verse, the negative protest changes to a positive one: But I have calmed quieted my soul, a weaned child ... (v. 2).1 Based on this image, the speaker then exhorts the nation to hope in God: O Israel, hope in YHWH, from this time on forevermore (v. 3). The precise translation of v. 2b is a notorious crux. This has more to do with the problematic syntax than with any major textual variant.2 The disputed phrase compares a weaned child with its to the author's soul: In the scholarly discussion, two major emendations have been proposed-one to modify the second occurrence of ..., one to delete the second part of the phrase entirely. According to Sigmund Mowinckel, the second should be changed to ....3 Thus, Hans-Joachim Kraus translates the phrase, a quieted child with its mother, so is quieted (...) my soul within me.4 Other scholars claim that the repetition indicates a scribal error delete the phrase.5 In opposition to both of these suggestions, Gottfried Quell has argued that parallelism in the text is deliberate, thus the phrase (with the two appearances of ...) must be retained.6 The parallelism should also guide the translation such that, since is read with in v. 2b... (as a weaned child with/on its mother), in v. 2b... the term should not be read with (my soul with me is a weaned child), but rather with as it is in the previous cola (like a weaned child with/on me am I [literally, 'is my soul']). On the basis of parallelism with the preceding line, in accordance with the text pointing in the Leningrad Codex, Quell translates the colon as follows: As a weaned child on its mother; As the weaned child on me am I.7 According to Patrick D. Miller, the point of the simile that this translation emphasizes is not just that the author's soul is a weaned child, but rather that it is like a weaned child on/with its mother (emphasis Miller's).8 Quells translation is followed by most recent commentators.9 Significantly, all of the various interpretations named above follow the pointing in the Leningrad Codex with regard to the two appearances of first as (usually understood as a form of the preposition ..., found in poetic contexts translated as something similar to upon),10 then as (usually understood as the preposition ..., with the first common singular suffixed pronoun translated as something similar to upon me).11 The problem with this reading is that, regardless of the poetic examples, is rare in the Hebrew Bible, one expects simply to denote the spatial relationship (so Isa 49:22: your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders (...); 2 Kgs 4:20: and he [i.e., the child] sat on her lap [...] until noon).12 Since is sometimes used in poetic contexts to indicate this spatial relationship, the distinctive pointing is not illegitimate. Yet it could also be argued that the parallel structure of the two lines (with the two occurrences of standing in identical places in both cola of v. 2b) leads one to expect a similar pointing. Regardless of the poetic examples, it does not strain the text to repoint the first occurrence of as (on/with me) in parallel with v. 2b.... This repointing not only makes logical sense in the line, it also renders parallel the two appearances of in v. 2b: Like a weaned child on me (...) its mother, Like the weaned child on me (...) is my soul. If the above emendation of to represents the original pointing, then the pointing of the Leningrad Codex can be explained. …