Why should not the Hebrew text be read without emendation or changing the
meaning of the verb by reading ZaROTH as the subject, LBaBiY as the object,
and HiRCHiYBU in the normal hiphil sense "enlarge"?
But, Mark, the question is: which "Hebrew Text"?
Have you not noticed that the crit. app in BHS provides an
alternative, without the waw?
Don't forget that you are dealing with what was originally a
consonantal text ( see the UBS Handbook note below )
The note to v.17 in Dahood [ Psalms. Anchor Bible 3 vols. New York:
Doubleday, 1970.] begins:
>> An uncertain version <<
Bratcher, R. G., & Reyburn, W. D. (1991). A translator's handbook on
the book of Psalms. Helps for translators (Page 252). New York:
United Bible Societies states:
>> In verse 17 _Relieve_ translates a verb meaning to enlarge, make
room for (see 4.1b and comments). The Masoretic text is the perfect
tense third plural form of the verb, ?they are enlarged? (see rsv
footnote; spcl and njv translate this form, ?My deep distress
increases?); tev, rsv, and most others read the Hebrew text as the
imperative second singular ;Relieve; and join the final letter of the
word, the waw, to the following verb (where it becomes 'and'), with
no change in the Hebrew consonantal text.* The Masoretic text makes
sense, and translators may prefer to follow it.<<
There is also the matter of your understanding of a Hebrew idiom. If
you check Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M., & Stamm, J.
J. (1999, c1994-1996). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament.
you will see that >> to make wide << did not necessarily have the
same 21st century U.S and European meaning of "enlarge" ( as you
choose to translate it )
but that as HAL notes:
>> to make wide (meaning to lighten the needs of) my heart Ps 25 17. <<
This is made clear in the commentary of Malbim [ born 1809; died 1879
-- thereby taking him outside the realm of "modern translations" ]
when he notes:
>> At first, my heart [i.e. my desires and horizons] was constricted
by a lust for the pleasures of this world. But now, affliction has
rid me of these frivolous cares and the interests of my heart have
spread into greater things <<
As for the use of the past tense of the verb, the medieval
commentator, Radak, noted on the same verb in Ps. 4:2:
>> David's use of the past tense is another demonstration of his
shakeable faith. Even while he prayed for assistance, he was so
confident of Hashern's response that he considered it like an already
accomplished fact.<<
[ both rabbinic comments taken from Feur, Avrohom Chaim, trans.
Tehillim: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from
Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic Sources. vol. 1 New York: Mesorah
Publishers, 1987.
This I find to be an invaluable source when reading the Psalms in Herbrew,