The Metrical Structure of Psalm 137

Abstract

T verse has been a subject for lively discussion among scholars for at least two centuries. Yet in spite of the length of time that the topic has been under intensive study, no generally accepted solution has emerged. (A brief survey of previous research into the topic offered by Stuart.)1 Among the different approaches to the problem, the one that seems most productive of insights that of scholars, such as Haupt, Albright, Cross, Freedman, and others, who have proposed that biblical verse syllable counting. Disagreements among these scholars concern details of the syllable counting algorithm as well as the principles of textual interpretation, in particular, such matters as whether the ?gwad mobile counted in establishing the meter, whether segholate nouns are to be counted as disyllabic or monosyllabic, etc. The following analysis of Psalm 137 provides evidence both for a specific syllable counting algorithm, which differs from any previously proposed, as well as for particular principles of textual interpretation that mostly adhere closely to the Masoretic tradition. Questions of textual interpretation that have no metrical consequences, such as, for example, the reading of 't as 'et or 'att are, of course, not dealt with here. The system proposed here not necessarily valid for all or any other part of OT verse. A stronger assertion would require a much more extensive investigation than attempted in this article, but based on the analysis below there can be little doubt that this proposal holds true for Psalm 137; that is, the poet who wrote this psalm read the text and counted syllables in essentially the way presented. The starting point for the present investigation Freedman's study of Psalm 137.2 Freedman points out that the poem's pattern is at once