Biblical Hebrew Forum

[DrJDPrice AT aol.com]

Mark Eddy:
Your suggestion about the translation of Psa 25:17 is very interesting.  
Obviously some improvement can be made. However, the accents vote against  
understanding ZAROTH as a construct form. Notice that its accent is Munach (a 
 
conjunctive)  along with a Munach on the following word. It is very unusual  
for two 
Munachs to precede Athnach, so if ZAROTH were an absolute form it would  
surely have a disjuctive accent, probably Tiphcha which is the expected 
accent  on 
the second word before Athnach. Thus the first two words should be translated 
 "the troubles of my heart" as most translators do. However, it is possible 
that  the subject of the verb is the understood enemies of the psalmist as 
inferred in  the previous context. With this understanding, the text should 
be 
translated  "They [my enemies] have enlarged [expanded] the troubles of my 
heart." This fits  nicely with the context. Hope this helps.
James D. Price