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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] psalm 45:6
  • Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 15:05:49 -0500

Reinhard G. Lehmann wrote:


Kenneth: Why is Psalm 45:6 always translated "Your arrows are sharp, peoples below You fall, they (the arrows) are in the heart of the king's enemies"?

Why isn't it translated, "Your arrows are sharp, peoples are below You, they (the arrows ) will fall into the heart of the king's enemies" ?


good question! Following the massoretic accentuation, there is no other choice than the traditional rendering.

But I made a quick look in my own notes on Ps 45, and as a matter of fact I also proposed your rendering in a seminary I hold two years ago.
Indeed it seems possible to say so:

"Was deine Rechte betrifft: deine Pfeile sind geschärft
(nämlich:) Völker sind unter dir,
sie (die Pfeile) fallen ins Herz der Feinde des Königs."

The remaining problem is: do arrows really fall (NPL)? they rather do sink (NXT) into one's flesh (Ps 38:3).


HH: I think we should follow the accents, viewing the second half of the first line as an interjection:

Ps. 45:6: Your arrows are sharp (peoples fall under you!) in the heart of the king's enemies.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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