The Meaning of Ps. 13:3a
Back to Psalm 13
Introduction
Ps. 13:3a introduces the third of four explicit ‘until when’ questions of the Psalm, asking ‘how long' אָשִׁ֪ית עֵצ֡וֹת בְּנַפְשִׁ֗י. Translations differ on how to take עֵצ֡וֹת in this context, since it is not usually paired with ‘grief’ (יָגון) as in the following clause of Ps. 13:3. The use of נֶפֶשׁ for the embodiment of the centre of mental activity is also questioned, since typically Hebrew uses לֵב for such a reference.
A quick survey of some English translations reveals the diversity of interpretations:
- take counsel in my soul (ESV, KJV)
- store up anxious concerns within me (HCSB)
- wrestle with my thoughts (NIV)
- struggle with anguish in my soul (NLT)
- bear pain in my soul (RSV)
Argument Maps
The meaning of אָשִׁ֪ית עֵצ֡וֹת בְּנַפְשִׁ֗י
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[Making plans]: The phrase אָשִׁ֪ית עֵצ֡וֹת בְּנַפְשִׁ֗י refers to the creation of plans.
+ <Ancient Translations>: Neither the Targum nor LXX nor Jerome seem to have a problem with the simple sense of the construction.
+ עד אן אשוי מלכיא בנפשי; ἕως τίνος θήσομαι βουλὰς ἐν ψυχῇ μου; usquequo ponam consilia in anima mea
- [Syriac]: Instead of 'plans', the Peshitta has opted for 'contentiousness' / 'compulsion' (glosses from Craigie 1983 :C:). #dispreferred
+ <Similar Constructions>: The construction שִׁית with בְּ takes a range of other inner-body parts.
Other instances of the construction שִׁית with the preposition בְּ include Ps. 73:28 with מַחְסֶה in the place of עֶצָה from Ps. 13:3a, Pr. 26:24 with מִרְמָה and Job 38:36 with חָכְמָה, while in the place of נֶפֶשׁ we have אֲדֹנַי, קֶרֶב , and טֻחוֹת respectively. Similarly, yet outside the realm of body parts are Ps. 88:7 and Jer. 3:19.
+ <Following clause>: לֵב is unlikely to be used in both 13:3aα and 13:3aβ, so נֶפֶשׁ provides a commonly-cited semantic parallel (cf. among others, Dt. 4:29, Josh. 22:5, 1 Sam. 2:35). In Ezek. 36:5 the prototypical semantics of emotion/intellect is reversed in the case of לֵב and נֶפֶשׁ.
<_ [Specific Body Part]: לֵב would be more natural for mental activity, so emotional effect is more probable here. #dispreferred
<נְפְשׁ also as intellectual activity>: "as seat of desire, will, feelings and emotion, also of intellect" (DCH: ":D:").
+ <Context>: Such a mental process can be a painful process, so seems to fit the context.
<_ [Parallelism]: 'making plans' does not fit with the semantic parallelism of 'grief' in the following line. #dispreferred
Proposed textual emendation
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[Textual emendation]: The word עֵצוֹת is preferably read as plural 'sorrows' עַצָּבוֹת or singular 'sorrow' עַצֶבֶת. Supported by Briggs 1906 and suggested in both DCH and HALOT. #dispreferred
- <waw read as bet>: Reading עֵצוֹת as in Masoretic tradition if originally עַצֶּבֶת only requires reading the bet as a waw in the consonantal text. #dispreferred
<_ [Orthography]: The letters ב and ו are rarely confused
- <Omission of bet>: Reading עֵצוֹת as in Masoretic tradition if originally עַצָּבוֹת only requires the omission of the bet. #dispreferred
<_ [Orthography]: There is no text-internal evidence for skipping a consonant mid-word
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[Text as in Masoretic tradition]: The word עֵצוֹת is preferably not emended to either עַצָּבוֹת or עַצֶבֶת.
+ <Shorter reading>: Scribes were more likely to insert the ב if plural עַצָּבוֹת is preferred over עֵצוֹת, rather than delete it.
+ <More difficult reading>: Scribes were more likely to emend to a more understandable word in the context (here, עַצָּבוֹת or עַצֶּבֶת) than emending to a word more difficult to interpret (here, עֵצוֹת).
+ <Poetic feature>: The insertion of ב or preference of ב over ו would lose the א–שׁ–ת / ע–צ–ת alliteration.
Conclusion
Maintaining the understanding of the literal sense of אָשִׁ֪ית עֵצ֡וֹת בְּנַפְשִׁ֗י as 'making plans' is recommended, perhaps favouring such a gloss over ‘counsels’ to make transparent the semantic frame of the psalmist’s repeated mental consideration of what to do about his perilous situation. Delitzsch’s judgment that the ‘day’ adverbial in the parallel clause implies ‘night’ in our current phrase places in sharper focus the typical process of mental agony through sleepless nights.
The Peshitta is a minority rendering of עֵצ֡וֹת as ‘contentiousness’, yet the textual emendations necessary for the MT are unlikely, and the other ancient translations seem to have no problem with a literal rending of the phrase in question. Although לֵב may be a more likely candidate for mental exercises and thoughts, the construction of שִׁית and בְּ concern a number of other inner-body terms. Finally, although it could be argued that ‘counsel’ does not fit the parallelism of ‘grief’ in the next line, the agonising over thought after thought can indeed prove a painful process.
The literal understanding of the phrase sheds light on the continual and ongoing process of David’s state of suffering, complementing the four-fold repetition of ‘how long?’
Research
Translations
Ancient
- LXX: ἕως τίνος θήσομαι βουλὰς ἐν ψυχῇ μου
- Chrysostem and possibly Symmachus: τάξω γνώμη
- Jerome: usquequo ponam consilia in anima mea
- Targum: עד אן אשוי מלכיא בנפשי
- Syriac: ܥܕܡܐ ܠܐܡܬܝ ܬܣܝܡ ܬܟܪܝܬܐ ܒܢܦܫܝ
Secondary Literature
Most commentators understand the phrase to refer to the act of creating plan after plan to resolve the situation:
Rabbi David Kimchi (ca. 1160- ca. 1235)
עד אנה אשית עד אנה אצטרך להשית עצות בנפשי איך אמלט מהצרה שאני בה?
John Calvin 1571
"We know that men in adversity give way to discontent, and look around them, first to one quarter, and then to another, in search of remedies. Especially, upon seeing that they are destitute of all resources, they torment themselves greatly, and are distracted by a multitude of thoughts; and in great dangers, anxiety and fear compel them to change their purposes from time to time, when they do not find any plan upon which they can fix with certainty. David, therefore, complains, that while thinking of different methods of obtaining relief, and deliberating with himself now in one way, and now in another, he is exhausted to no purpose with the multitude of suggestions which pass through his mind; and by joining to this complaint the sorrow which he felt daily, he points out the source of this disquietude."
Hengstenberg 1863-64
“We have here very strikingly portrayed the mental condition of a man who harasses himself in helpless embarrassment, seeking for counsel, falling sometimes upon this, sometimes upon that plan, and then giving them all up again in utter despondency, because he sees them to be all unavailing. This disquiet, which arises in us whenever the Lord turns away His face from us in trouble, the sufferer considers as his greatest evil.”
Perowne 1870-71: 172
“This strikingly describes the helpless embarrassment of the sufferer. Plan after plan suggests itself, is resolved upon, and then abandoned in despondency as utterly unavailing.”
Delitzsch 1883: 252-253
“To put or set up devices, plans, schemes in his soul, viz. as to how he may be able to escape from this agonising condition, is equivalent to: to make the soul the place, the laboratory of such projects (cf. Prov. xxvi. 24); one such עֶצָה pursues the other in his soul, because he recognises the vanity of the one after the other as soon as they occur to his mind… By night he devises plan after plan, each one as vain as the other; by day, or all the day, when he sees his distress with open eyes, sorrow (יָגוֹן) is in his heart, the precipitate, as it were, of the night, and a direct reflexion of his helpless and hopeless condition.”
Kirkpatrick 1897: 64
“devising one plan after another in vain.” (Kirkpatrick 1897: 64)
VanGemeren 2006
“The psalmist is disturbed within himself. He searches his thoughts as to what has happened.”
Alonso-Schökel 1992: 257
“Durante la inacción de Dios, el hombre pasa el tiempo haciendo y desechando planes. Uno desbanca a otros y todos resultan inútiles. Nosotros decimos; «no hay que darle vueltas», nps indica aquí la interioridad, en paralelo con Ibb: el orante se vuelve testigo explícito de su vida interior, de la que es actor y observador; el «corazón» retornará al final.
Some opt for textual emendation:
Briggs 1906: 102
“אָשִׁית] c. בְּנַפְשִׁי, α, λ. and difficult. MT. is an erroneous interp. connected with use of עֵצוֹת, wh. is not suited to context, or the ordinary use of נפשׁ:, often the seat of emotions and passions, seldom of mental states; v. BDB. Although this text is so ancient and universal as to be in most Vrss., yet it is better after & with Dy., Gr., Che., Bu., Du., to rd. עַצָּבוֹת: hurts, griefs (v. 16.4, 147.3)> or sg« עַצֶבֶת as more suited to נפשׁ and context. Then rd. vb. as juss. — יָגִין] n.(m.) grief, sorrow”
Craigie 1983
While Craigie follows Driver’s explanation of עֶצָה as ‘pain’:
“it leaves the unusual combination of counsels (intellectual activity) with soul (here implying the seat of the emotions)… The simplest and most satisfactory solution is to retain and translate “pain” (literally, “pains”), a possible sense of the term for which Driver has made a plausible argument (WO 1 [1947–52] 410, cited by Anderson, Psalms 1, 129; cf. NEB)”
References
13:3 Approved