Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Brian,
     You ask:

>What is the best way to understand Ps 138:2b? Why is there such difference
>in the translations in what appears to be a rather simple construction?

>K.IY-HIG:D.AL.T.F  (AL-K.FL-$IM:K: )IM:RFTEKF

>Ps 138:2B
>NASB - For You have magnified Your word according to all Your name.
>NIV - For You have exalted above all things your name and your word.
>NKJV - For you have magnified Your word above all your name.

Brian, the NIV apparently dropped the maqqeph between "all" and "your
name." The other two translations differ on how to translate (AL- before
"all your name." The NKJV agrees generally with Delitzsch, _Psalms_, in
Commentary on the Old Testament. Delitzsch's idea is that God magnified His
promise to David beyond anything that had previously established His name.
This connotation for "word" as "promise" he gets from David's frequent use
of "great" regarding the Davidic promises of a house and kingdom forever.
Yet  )IM:RFH elsewhere has the sense "word." So I see the NASB as the best
translation. One expects God to magnify His word in accordance with all His
name, but not beyond His name. God is concerned to guard His name.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard
>
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