Psalm 111 Story Behind

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About the Story Behind Layer

The Story Behind the Psalm shows how each part of the psalm fits together into a single coherent whole. Whereas most semantic analysis focuses on discrete parts of a text such as the meaning of a word or phrase, Story Behind the Psalm considers the meaning of larger units of discourse, including the entire psalm.

The goal of this layer is to reconstruct and visualise a mental representation of the text as the earliest hearers/readers might have conceptualised it. We start by identifying the propositional content of each clause in the psalm, and then we identify relevant assumptions implied by each of the propositions. During this process, we also identify and analyse metaphorical language (“imagery”). Finally, we try to see how all of the propositions and assumptions fit together to form a coherent mental representation. The main tool we use for structuring the propositions and assumptions is a story triangle, which visualises the rise and fall of tension within a semantic unit. Although story triangles are traditionally used to analyse stories in the literary sense of the word, we use them at this layer to analyse “stories” in the cognitive sense of the word—i.e., a story as a sequence of propositions and assumptions that has tension.

  Story Behind Explainer

Summary Triangle

The story triangle below summarises the story of the whole psalm. We use the same colour scheme as in Participant Analysis. The star icon along the edge of the story-triangle indicates the point of the story in which the psalm itself (as a speech event) takes place. We also include a theme at the bottom of the story. The theme is the main message conveyed by the story-behind.

  Legend

Story Triangles legend
Propositional content (verse number) Propositional content, the base meaning of the clause, is indicated by bold black text. The verse number immediately follows the correlating proposition in black text inside parentheses.
Common-ground assumption Common-ground assumptions[1] are indicated by gray text.
Local-ground assumption Local-ground assumptions[2] are indicated by dark blue text.
Playground assumption Playground assumptions[3] are indicated by light blue text.
Story Behind legend - star 1.jpg
 The point of the story at which the psalm takes place (as a speech event) is indicated by a gray star.
Story Behind legend - star 2.jpg
 If applicable, the point of the story at which the psalm BEGINS to take place (as a speech event) is indicated with a light gray star. A gray arrow will travel from this star to the point at which the psalm ends, indicated by the darker gray star.
Story Behind legend - repeat.jpg
 A story that repeats is indicated by a circular arrow. This indicates a sequence of either habitual or iterative events.
Story Behind legend - red x.jpg
 A story or event that does not happen or the psalmist does not wish to happen is indicated with a red X over the story triangle.
Story Behind legend - arrow.jpg
 Connections between propositions and/or assumptions are indicated by black arrows with small text indicating how the ideas are connected.
Note: In the Summary triangle, highlight color scheme follows the colors of participant analysis.

Story Behind legend - sample triangle.jpg

Psalm 111 - Story overview.jpg

Background ideas

Following are the common-ground assumptionsCommon-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/Ancient Near Eastern background. which are the most helpful for making sense of the psalm.

  • YHWH made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants, promising to give them the land of Canaan (Gen. 12; 15; 17; cf. Ps. 105:8–11).
  • Because of his covenant with Abraham, YHWH redeemed his people from Egypt and brought them into the promised land (cf. Ex. 2:24; 6:2–8).
  • YHWH's great deeds and wonderful acts are associated especially with the Exodus story. In the Exodus story, YHWH redeems his people (Ex. 1–15), provides them with food in the desert (Ex. 16), and gives them the law (Ex. 19ff).
  • YHWH settled his people in the land so that they would keep his commandments (cf. Ps. 105:44–45).
  • The people did not keep YHWH's commands, and so YHWH removed them from the land (cf. Ps. 106).
  • Because of his covenant with Abraham, YHWH promised to rescue his people from exile and from the sin that caused the exile, just as he had rescued them from Egypt. He also promised to give them a king, and to give them the nations as their inheritance (cf. Isa. 40–66; Zech. 9–14; Pss. 2; 110; etc.)

Background situation

The background situation is the series of events leading up to the time in which the psalm is spoken. These are taken from the story triangle – whatever lies to the left of the star icon. Psalm 111 - Story background.jpg

Expanded Paraphrase

The expanded paraphrase seeks to capture the implicit information within the text and make it explicit for readers today. It is based on the CBC translation and uses italic text to provide the most salient background information, presuppositions, entailments, and inferences.

  Legend

Expanded paraphrase legend
Close but Clear (CBC) translation The CBC, our close but clear translation of the Hebrew, is represented in bold text.
Assumptions Assumptions which provide background information, presuppositions, entailments, and inferences are represented in italics.
This resource is forthcoming.

Story Triangles

(Click diagram to enlarge)

Psalm 111 - story behind.jpg


Assumptions Table

(Click diagram to enlarge)

Psalm 111 - assumptions table.jpg

There are currently no Imagery Tables available for this psalm.


Bibliography

Allen, Leslie. 1983. Psalms 101-150. WBC 21. Waco: Word Books.
Auffret, Pierre. 1997. “Grandes sont les œuvres de YHWH: Etude structurelle du Psaume 111.” JNES 56 (3): 183–96.
Baethgen, Friedrich. 1904. Die Psalmen. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht.
Brettler, Marc Zvi. 2009. “The Riddle of Psalm 111.” Pages 62–73 in Scriptural Exegesis. Edited by Deborah A. Green and Laura S. Lieber. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dahood, Mitchell J. 1970. Psalms III, 101-150. AB 17A. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Ehrlich, Arnold B. 1905. Die Psalmen; neu übersetzt und erklärt. Berlin: Poppelauer.
Fokkelman, J.P. 2003. Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible: At the Interface of Prosody and Structural Analysis (Vol 3: The Remaining 65 Psalms). Studia Semitica Neerlandica. Assen: Van Gorcum.
Gesenius, W. Donner, H. Rüterswörden, U. Renz, J. Meyer, R., eds. 2013. Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament. 18. Auflage Gesamtausgabe. Berlin: Springer.
Gordon, Amnon. 1982. “The Development of the Participle in Biblical, Mishnaic, and Modern Hebrew.” Afroasiatic Linguistics 8 (3): 121–179.
Hensley, Adam D. 2018. Covenant Relationships and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter. Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies, volume 666. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark.
Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar, and Erich Zenger. 2011. Psalms 3: A Commentary on Psalms 101-150. Hermeneia. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress.
Hupfeld, Hermann. 1871. Die Psalmen. Vol. 4. Gotha: F.A. Perthes.
Hurvitz, Avi. 2016. A Concise Lexicon of Late Biblical Hebrew: Linguistic Innovations in the Writings of the Second Temple Period. Leiden: Brill.
Jastrow, Marcus. 1926. Dictionary of Targumim, Talmud and Midrashic Literature. New York: Verlag Choreb.
Jenni, Ernst. 1992. Die hebräischen Präpositionen Band 1: Die Präposition Beth. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.
________. 2000. Die Hebräischen Präpositionen Band 3: Die Präposition Lamed. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.
Kiel, Jonathan M. 2022. “A New Thematic Structure for Psalm 111.” Page 107–128 in Like Nails Firmly Fixed (Qoh 12:11): Essays on the Text and Language of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, Presented to Peter J. Gentry on the Occasion of His Retirement. Edited by Phillip S. Marshall, John D. Meade, and Jonathan M. Kiel. Leuven: Peeters.
Kohler, Ludwig. 1954. Hebrew Man. New York: Abingdon Press.
Lugt, Pieter van der. 2013. Cantos and Strophes in Biblical Hebrew Poetry III: Psalms 90–150 and Psalm 1. Vol. 3. Oudtestamentische Studiën 63. Leiden: Brill.
Niccacci, Alviero. 2006. “The Biblical Hebrew Verbal System in Poetry.” Page 247–68 in Biblical Hebrew in Its Northwest Semitic Setting: Typological and Historical Perspectives. Edited by Steven E. Fassberg and Avi Hurvitz. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press.
Notarius, Tania. 2010. “The Active Predicative Participle in Archaic and Classical Biblical Poetry.” ANES 47: 241–69.
Radak. Radak on Psalms.
Robertson, O. Palmer. 2015. “The Strategic Placement of the ‘Hallelu-Yah’ Psalms within the Psalter.” JETS 58 (2): 165–68.
Scoralick, Ruth. 1997. “Psalm 111 : Bauplan und Gedankengang.” Biblica 78 (2): 190–205.
Weber, Beat. 2003. “Zu Kolometrie Und Strophischer Struktur von Psalm 111.” Biblische Notizen 118: 62–67.


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Common-ground assumptions include information shared by the speaker and hearers. In our analysis, we mainly use this category for Biblical/ANE background - beliefs and practices that were widespread at this time and place. This is the background information necessary for understanding propositions that do not readily make sense to those who are so far removed from the culture in which the proposition was originally expressed.
  2. ↑ Local-ground assumptions are those propositions which are necessarily true if the text is true. They include both presuppositions and entailments. Presuppositions are those implicit propositions which are assumed to be true by an explicit proposition. Entailments are those propositions which are necessarily true if a proposition is true.
  3. ↑ Whereas local-ground assumptions are inferences which are necessarily true if the text is true, play-ground assumptions are those inferences which might be true if the text is true.