Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Psalm 133 - and its grammar

This is an odd presentation of Psalm 133. It happened sort of by accident. Green is for grammar.
A song of the steps of David
See how fine and how pleasing it is that brothers live as one
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת לְדָוִד
הִנֵּה מַה טּוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים
שֶׁבֶת אַחִים גַּם יָחַד
like the finest oil on the head
dribbling on the beard
the beard of Aaron
dribbling to the mouth of his clothes
כַּשֶּׁמֶן הַטּוֹב עַל הָרֹאשׁ יֹרֵד
עַל הַזָּקָן זְקַן אַהֲרֹן
שֶׁיֹּרֵד עַל פִּי מִדּוֹתָיו
like the dew of Hermon
dribbling on the mountains of Zion
for there יְהוָה constituted the blessing
life for ever
כְּטַל חֶרְמוֹן
שֶׁיֹּרֵד עַל הַרְרֵי צִיּוֹן
כִּי שָׁם צִוָּה יְהוָה אֶת הַבְּרָכָה
חַיִּים עַד הָעוֹלָם


שִׁיר
A song of
construct
הַמַּעֲלוֹת
the steps
feminine plural
לְדָוִד
of David
proper name, David with preposition
הִנֵּה מַה טּוֹב
See how good
adverb - no agreement in gender or number
וּמַה נָּעִים
and how pleasant
adverb - again no agreement in gender or number
שֶׁבֶת
to live
infinitive in construct, weak root ישב
אַחִים גַּם יָחַד
brothers as one
masculine plural
כַּשֶּׁמֶן
as oil
- is this construct?
הַטּוֹב
the good

עַל הָרֹאשׁ
on the head
definite head - almost like English generic definite!
יֹרֵד עַל הַזָּקָן
running down on the beard
yored - the sound of brooks running - or singing! like shir which this psalm is, definite beard
זְקַן אַהֲרֹן
the beard of Aaron
specific priestly beard
שֶׁיֹּרֵד
that is running
the grammatical use of shin
עַל פִּי
to the mouth of
construct
מִדּוֹתָיו
his clothes
plural with possessive pronoun third person masculine singular
כְּטַל חֶרְמוֹן
as dew of Hermon
construct
שֶׁיֹּרֵד
that is running
repetition
עַל הַרְרֵי
to the mountains of
construct plural
צִיּוֹן
Zion

כִּי שָׁם
for there

צִוָּה
commanded
third person piel (this verb is always piel - intensive) singular.
You can't see the piel from the consonants alone. So was the piel made up later than the written texts?
יְהוָה
the LORD

אֶת הַבְּרָכָה
+ the blessing
a definite blessing
חַיִּים
life
life - plural!
עַד הָעוֹלָם
to the age
another definite age - life to eternity

2 comments:

Gary said...

How fine is this post!

I don't have any comments to make, other than to let you know someone read it.

I think I'll follow you and brush up on my Hebrew. Thanks for posting!

Bob MacDonald said...

Gary - you are a great encouragement - thanks

Do brush up on your Hebrew - I have seldom had so much fun as in the close reading of the text that Hebrew imposes on me.