Chapter Nine
Psalm 119 2860 : 355 = 8.05
19 octets of four S-strophes each; 2 L-strophes and 1 S-strophe in Aleph, Zayin and Lamed
The longest poem in the Psalter is also by far the longest alphabetic acrostic in the Bible. Each letter of the alphabet functions eight times as the first letter of a poetic line, resulting in 22 times eight verses. In this way, the acrostic prin ciple creates 22 octets, and we need not spend much thought on the textual units on the level above the strophe; each octet is a stanza. 1 Ps.119 is in princi ple bicolic, so that a few translations have 2 x 22 x 8 = 352 cola. 2 However, since I recognise three tricola, in vv.48, 145 and 176, my own analysis has yielded a different total, i.e., 355 cola. How will this affect the average colon length? The 'octavic' aspect of the song is supported by a numerical aspect. The average number of syllables per stanza in this poem is exactly 130. This can only be calculated after all syllables have been counted. Their total is also determined, and spoiled, by two minor corruptions, and is restored by the correction of these. At the end of v.49, the form yihaltani should be replaced by yihalti, and in v.128a, where the double kol is generally accepted as an accident, only one lamed needs to be deleted in order to obtain an impeccable reading:
D.N. Freedman also uses the term "stanza" for the octets, in PPP pp.73-75, and also in "The Structure ofPsalm 119", his contribution to the Festschrifi for Jacob Milgrom (1995), pp. 725-756. Will Soll speaks of"strophes" in his monograph CBQ MS #23 1991: Psalm 119, Matrix, Form, and Setting. So also Pierre Auffret in chapter XVIII (pp.319-414) of Voyez de vos yeux; a half stanza (four verses, which I call "substanza") he calls un valet. ' Ps. 119 is presented as consistently bicolic in Delitzsch, Dhorme, Van der Ploeg, Noordtzij, Jacquet, and Beaucamp. Another group of translators sees at least one tricolon, i.e., the final v.176: so LV, NEB, JB, NBG, Kittel, Kissane and Auffret (in Voyez de vos yeux, which devotes almost a hundred pages to this Psalm). Soll, pp.155-175, has two tricola, vv.145 and 176. More about the number of cola in the section Numerical aspects.
235 pre-Masoretic syllables; divided by the number of stanzas, 22, this yields an exact 130 per stanza. If we now also divide 2860 by the correct number of cola (355) this yields 8.05 for the average number of syllables per colon. The precision of this Psalm should not be underestimated. Another numer ical aspect that warns us of this is a pair of numbers that takes us straight into the heart of the message. The poem is an intense exploration of the I-you rela tionship between the poet and his God, expressed in an amazing balance be tween references to each character: there are 316 first person singular mor phemes, and exactly the same number of second person singular morphemes. 3 Most stanzas have a consistently binary composition. There are not only two half-verses per line, but in all cases bar six every two verses are combined into an S-strophe, and in many stanzas two S-strophes belong together as a quartet of verses, i.e., half of an octet. These quartets I will call "substanzas". Thus, going from top to bottom the strictly binary composition produces 1-2- 4-8-16 units, in words: one octet consists of two substanzas, four strophes, eight verses and sixteen cola. (I remind the reader of Ps.114, which has the same binary structure.) Because Aleph, Zayin and Lamed each have two L strophes in addition to one S-strophe, the total number of strophes is not 22 x 4, but (3 x 3) + (19 x 4) = 85. Thus, in addition to the opening octet, Zayin and Lamed also deviate from the powerful arrangement of four strophic units per octet. As it happens, they are the seventh and the twelfth stanza; I seriously doubt whether this is a coincidence. The following discussion looks at the internal structure of the octets, and their external = mutual connections. It focuses mainly on the formation of strophes and stanzas. The classical Hebrew poets kept a careful eye on propor tions on every textual level, and it is the interpreter's task to emulate this meticulous care. In Reading Biblical Poetry I have argued that a sound poetics in relation to Hebrew poetry is only possible when a fusion oflanguage and number has been reached. There is a prosodic side to virtually every aspect of sense and meaning, as sense and meaning are controlled and influenced by dimensions and proportions, in all layers of the hierarchy that a text comprises.
To justify these totals and my own counts I provide the number of morphemes per stanza for each character: in the octets Aleph through Taw, the first person singular morphemes (indicating the poet) occur 7-14-12-18-14-17-15-15-15-18-15-12-19-17-18-12-13-9-14-14-13- 15 times; the second person singular morphemes (indicating God) appear 9-15-15-18-20-12-10- 14-13-16-14-13-10-11-14-16-17-13-16-19-12-19 times. There are two cola whose interpretation also affects these totals. In v.82b I take God to be the subject of tnhmny, as everybody else has done so far, and in v.150a I vocalise r~fy as rod:fay, as many authors do, and supported by several MSS, Symmachus, LXX and Jerome (so the BHS apparatus), and also by Peshitta. However, there is a good alternative, which leads to a balanced 315/315 for the I- and you-morphemes: 'mrtk may be read as the subject in v.82b (see n.43 below), and MT rod:fe in v.150a retained. Note that my emendation at the end of v.49 has in any case eliminated one instance of -ni, as mentioned earlier.
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