Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

On 14/08/2003 11:02, Dave Washburn wrote:

> (English 65:1)
> I'm wondering about the word DUMIY.FH, "silence," here as rendered in the MT.  
> The LXX reads PREPEI, "is fitting," which according to BHS and a couple of 
> others works out to a Hebrew DOMIY.FH, but I haven't been able to find much 
> info on this purported word.  I'm wondering whether the idea of silence in 
> praise has merit; one commentary I read said that "silence" and "praise" are 
> mutually exclusive terms but I'm not so sure.  I'm wondering what everyone's 
> thoughts are on this passage: info on the word that supposedly underlies the 
> LXX, whether silence and praise really were mutually exclusive in the mind of 
> the writer of this psalm, and any other thoughts that you folks might have 
> that haven't occurred to me.
>
> One idea that springs to mind as I type is that perhaps the poetic structure 
> of the line led to omitting a conjunction; that is, perhaps the first 3 words 
> might be rendered "to you are [both] silence [and] praise."  But that's just 
> thinking out loud.
>
> Opinions?
>  
I guess the reconstruction is intended as a Qal feminine participle of 
DMH "be like, resemble". The form DOMIY.FH is a regularly attested 
alternative form to the more common paradigm which would yield DOMFH, 
see GKC 75v.

But I don't see any good reason why "silence" shouldn't be read here.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/