Edit ExegeticalNote: Psalm 4/Notes/Phrasal.v. 3.842759

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* Many interpreters have understood the phrase '''mortal humans''' (בְּנֵי אִישׁ, lit.: "sons of a man") as a reference to "men of rank." HALOT, for example, glosses the phrase as "distinguished people," the CSB has "exalted ones," and the GWT has "important people" (cf. NAB, REB; Radak: "the great ones of Israel [גדולי ישראל] who were with Absalom"). The main evidence for this view is in Pss 49:3 and 62:10, where "men of high degree (בְּנֵי אִישׁ) are contrasted with those of no rank (בְּנֵי אָדָם)" (Dahood 1965, 23). But in Pss 49:3 and 62:10 the phrase "exalted ones" (בְּנֵי אִישׁ) is paired and contrasted with the phrase "common ones" (בְּנֵי אָדָם). In Ps 4, however, there is no contrast to "common ones." Instead, the usage in Ps 4:3 is more similar to the usage of the phrase in Lam 3:33, where the same phrase "sons of man" (בְּנֵי אִישׁ) stands on its own and "refers to people or mankind in general" (Reyburn 1992, 90), with a focus on their frail humanness and mortality: "For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people (בְּנֵי אִישׁ)" (Lam 3:33). The word אִישׁ by itself is often used in this sense (see DCH). E.g., Num 23:19—"God is not human (אִישׁ), that he should lie, not a human being (בֶן־אָדָם), that he should change his mind" (NIV). It seems likely, therefore, that the psalmist identifies those to whom he speaks as "mortal as distinct from God" (DCH; so Spieckerman 2023, 123). The NEB accurately translates the phrase as "mortal men."

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