Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>]

At 09:02 PM 9/30/2006, you wrote:
> I'm a lurker since the mid '90's, a retired mailman with no more than a
> reading knowledge of BH, but I'm wondering if anyone who has read the
> following article could comment on its merits and/or problems:
> JBL VOLUME 123, No. 4 Winter 2004, pp 637­648
> "Psalm 22:17: Circling around the Problem Again"
> KRISTIN M. SWENSON
> It's available for SBL members at:
> http://www.sbl-site.org/publications/publications_journals_jbl.aspx?
> Url for specific article (after login) at:
> http://www.sbl-site.org/Publications/JBL/JBL1234.pdf
> Here is a snippet of the article (hope including this quote is ok) which
> follows a brief introduction:
> "An important criterion for any interpretation is that it make sense, a
> point that David Kimhchi stressed in the twelfth century and that Brent
> Strawn echoed in the twenty-first. I propose another solution to the problem
> of Ps 22:17, a reading that accepts the consonantal text of the MT but
> simply divides the verse differently. The result is a sensible text that
> fits with the structure of its greater context, is in agreement with the
> dominant imagery (portrayed in metaphor and simile), and sustains the
> prevalent tone of this first part of Ps 22. Following a brief review first
> of earlier proposals that were complicated by the association of Ps 22 with
> Jesus¹ crucifixion, and then of the several recent attempts to solve the
> problem of Ps 22:17, I proffer my interpretation. I explain both why my
> reading seems to be a good one and how it addresses the problems of similar
> interpretations."
> She ultimately arrives at this translation:
> "Dogs surround me, a pack of wicked ones.
> Like a lion, they circumscribe [HIQ.IPU.NI (sic?)] my hands and feet."
> Apologies if this approach/article has already been discussed and I missed
> it.


That is similar to my approach. I translate it as follows:

"Dogs surround me; the wicked congregation 
encircles me like a lion (at) my hands and feet."

Here the clause 'like a lion' is an adverbial 
clause refering to how they are encircling the 
subject. The analogy of the wicked congregation 
to dogs, a theme seen earlier, is continued in this verse.

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