The Beginning of YHWH's Speech in Ps 95

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Introduction

The Masoretic Text of Ps 95:7c–9 reads as follows:[1]

הַ֝יּ֗וֹם אִֽם־בְּקֹל֥וֹ תִשְׁמָֽעוּ׃ 
אַל־תַּקְשׁ֣וּ לְ֭בַבְכֶם כִּמְרִיבָ֑ה 
כְּי֥וֹם מַ֝סָּ֗ה בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃
אֲשֶׁ֣ר נִ֭סּוּנִי אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֑ם
בְּ֝חָנ֗וּנִי גַּם־רָא֥וּ פָעֳלִֽי׃

By v. 9, it is clear that YHWH is the speaker. The point at which YHWH's speech begins, however, is not clear.[2] Consider, for example, the following translations of vv. 7c–9, each of which begins the quotation at a different point:

  • (7c) "If today you hear my voice (8) do not harden your heart, as in Meribah, as in the day of Massah, in the desert. (9) There your fathers tempted me; they put me to the test, although they saw my works..." (RVC)[3]
  • (7c) Today, if only you would obey him. (8) He says, “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness, (9) where your ancestors challenged my authority, and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work..." (NET)
  • (7c) Today, if you will hear His voice, (8) Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah in the wilderness, (9) “When your fathers put Me to the test, They tested Me, though they had seen My work..." (NASB)

The RVC considers YHWH's speech to begin in v. 7c; the NET in v. 8; and the NASB in v. 9. We will consider these three possibilities in the following argument maps.


Argument Maps

v. 7c

YHWH's speech in Psalm 95 could be understood to begin in v. 7c, as read in the RVC: (7c) "If today you hear my voice (8) do not harden your heart, as in Meribah, as in the day of Massah, in the desert. (9) There your fathers tempted me; they put me to the test, although they saw my works..."[4] 


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[v. 7c]: YHWH's speech begins in v. 7c (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 293 :C:). #dispreferred
 + <One sentence>: v. 7c begins the sentence which continues to v. 9a, where YHWH is unambiguously speaking, so YHWH must also be speaking in v. 7c. #dispreferred
 - <3rd person>: Verse 7c refers to YHWH in the third person: "his voice" (קֹלוֹ), so YHWH cannot be the speaker in this line.
  - <Emendation>: The text in v. 7c should be emended to "my voice" (קֹלִי) (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 295 :C:).#dispreferred
   - <Textual evidence>: There is no textual evidence for this emendation.
    <_ <Early assimilation>: The MT's 3sg "his voice" (קֹלוֹ) came about as an erroneous scribal assimilation to the previous line and clause (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 295 :C:). #dispreferred
    <_ <Graphic error>: The letters yod and waw are often graphically confused in manuscripts creating the scribal error ו ➞ י. #dispreferred
     <_ <Not an early scribal issue>: In paleo-Hebrew the waw and yod are not orthographically similar (compare 𐤅 and 𐤉̇ in the Tetragrammaton 𐤉̇𐤄𐤅𐤄), as in the later square script's ו and י.


Argument Mapn0v. 7cYHWH's speech begins in v. 7c (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 293 🄲). n1One sentencev. 7c begins the sentence which continues to v. 9a, where YHWH is unambiguously speaking, so YHWH must also be speaking in v. 7c. n1->n0n23rd personVerse 7c refers to YHWH in the third person: "his voice" (קֹלוֹ), so YHWH cannot be the speaker in this line.n2->n0n3EmendationThe text in v. 7c should be emended to "my voice" (קֹלִי) (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 295 🄲).n3->n2n4Textual evidenceThere is no textual evidence for this emendation.n4->n3n5Early assimilationThe MT's 3sg "his voice" (קֹלוֹ) came about as an erroneous scribal assimilation to the previous line and clause (Briggs & Briggs 1906-1907, 295 🄲). n5->n4n6Graphic errorThe letters yod and waw are often graphically confused in manuscripts creating the scribal error ו ➞ י. n6->n4n7Not an early scribal issueIn paleo-Hebrew the waw and yod are not orthographically similar (compare 𐤅 and 𐤉̇ in the Tetragrammaton 𐤉̇𐤄𐤅𐤄), as in the later square script's ו and י.n7->n6


v. 8 (preferred)

YHWH's speech could be understood to begin in v. 8. So, e.g., the NET: (7c) Today, if only you would obey him. (8) He says, “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness, (9) where your ancestors challenged my authority, and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work..." 


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[v. 8]: YHWH's speech begins in v. 8 (Hitzig 1863, 255 :C:; Kraus 1966, 659 :C:; Fokkelman 2003, 185 :M:; Jacobson 2004, 109 :M:; Hossfeld 2005, 461 :C:; Alter 2019, 288 :C:). 
 - <Syntax of v. 7c-8>: Verse 7c and v. 8 probably form a single conditional sentence: "Today, if you want to obey his voice (v. 7c), do not harden your hearts... (v. 8)" (see exegetical issue "The Syntax of Ps 95:7-8"). It is unlikely that a speaker shift would occur in the middle of a conditional sentence, between the protasis and the apodosis.#dispreferred
  - <Verse 7c fragment>: Verse 7c is probably a sentence fragment ("Today, if only you would obey his voice!"), which is syntactically independent from the clause in v. 8. Therefore, there is no issue with a speaker shift between v. 7 and v. 8. 
  <_ <Pausal form>: There is a strong prosodic division between v. 7c and v. 8 (תִשְׁמָֽעוּ, pausal form and silluq), indicating a strong poetic break, which could accommodate a speaker shift.
 + <One sentence (vv. 7c-9 / vv. 8–9)>: Verses 7c-9 (or, if v. 7c is interpreted as a fragment, vv. 8–9) constitute a single sentence, and YHWH is clearly the speaker at the end of this sentence (v. 9). Therefore, YHWH should be considered as the speaker as early as possible in the sentence as long as there is no contradiction with other clear indicators, such as the 3sg referent "his voice" in v. 7c.
 - <Ancient versions>: Reformulations and paraphrases in both Targum Psalms and the Peshitta include 3rd person references to YHWH in v. 8 and thus preclude the probability of YHWH as the speaker in this verse of these translations.#dispreferred
  + [Ancient versions]: TgPs: היך יומא דנסיתון אלהא במדברא "as in the day when you tested God in the wilderness" (Stec 2004, 179); Peshitta: ܠܐ ܬܩܫܘܢ ܠܒ̈ܘܬܟܘܢ ܠܡܪܓܙܘܬܗ "do not harden your hearts so as to provoke him to anger" (Taylor 2020, 395).#dispreferred


Argument Mapn0v. 8YHWH's speech begins in v. 8 (Hitzig 1863, 255 🄲; Kraus 1966, 659 🄲; Fokkelman 2003, 185 🄼; Jacobson 2004, 109 🄼; Hossfeld 2005, 461 🄲; Alter 2019, 288 🄲). n1Ancient versionsTgPs: היך יומא דנסיתון אלהא במדברא "as in the day when you tested God in the wilderness" (Stec 2004, 179); Peshitta: ܠܐ ܬܩܫܘܢ ܠܒ̈ܘܬܟܘܢ ܠܡܪܓܙܘܬܗ "do not harden your hearts so as to provoke him to anger" (Taylor 2020, 395).n6Ancient versionsReformulations and paraphrases in both Targum Psalms and the Peshitta include 3rd person references to YHWH in v. 8 and thus preclude the probability of YHWH as the speaker in this verse of these translations.n1->n6n2Syntax of v. 7c-8Verse 7c and v. 8 probably form a single conditional sentence: "Today, if you want to obey his voice (v. 7c), do not harden your hearts... (v. 8)" (see exegetical issue "The Syntax of Ps 95:7-8"). It is unlikely that a speaker shift would occur in the middle of a conditional sentence, between the protasis and the apodosis.n2->n0n3Verse 7c fragmentVerse 7c is probably a sentence fragment ("Today, if only you would obey his voice!"), which is syntactically independent from the clause in v. 8. Therefore, there is no issue with a speaker shift between v. 7 and v. 8. n3->n2n4Pausal formThere is a strong prosodic division between v. 7c and v. 8 (תִשְׁמָֽעוּ, pausal form and silluq), indicating a strong poetic break, which could accommodate a speaker shift.n4->n2n5One sentence (vv. 7c-9 / vv. 8–9)Verses 7c-9 (or, if v. 7c is interpreted as a fragment, vv. 8–9) constitute a single sentence, and YHWH is clearly the speaker at the end of this sentence (v. 9). Therefore, YHWH should be considered as the speaker as early as possible in the sentence as long as there is no contradiction with other clear indicators, such as the 3sg referent "his voice" in v. 7c.n5->n0n6->n0


v. 9

YHWH's speech should be understood to begin in v. 9, as reflected by the placement of the quotation marks in the NASB: (7c) Today, if you will hear His voice, (8) Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah in the wilderness, (9) “When your fathers put Me to the test, They tested Me, though they had seen My work..." 


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[v. 9]: YHWH's speech begins in v. 9 (Meier 1992, 33 n. 1 :M:).#dispreferred
 + <First person language in v. 9>: There is no clear indication that YHWH is speaking before the first person language in v. 9.#dispreferred
  + [First person language in v. 9]: "where your ancestors put me to the test. They tested me. They had even seen my work!" (v. 9). #dispreferred
 - <Subordinate clause>: Verse 9 is a subordinate clause that begins with אֲשֶׁר. It would be unusual to have a speaker shift in a subordinate clause.
  + <Speaker shifts in prophecy and poetry>: Other unmarked shifts in speaker throughout prophetic and poetic literature are waw-conjoined (see, e.g., Jer 25:7; 51:57) or asyndetic (see, e.g., Isa 63:1; Hab 1:5, 12; Ps 46:11; see further Meier 1992, 209-272 :M:), not אֲשֶׁר subordinated. 
 + <Poetic structure>: Verses 9-11 comprise a poetic unit, subdivided from the larger unit of vv. 7c-11, and such divisions often coincide with the "change of grammatical person" as "a text-structuring device" (de Regt 2001, 214).#dispreferred
  + <Poetic structure of vv. 7c-11>: The pattern of line-initial יוֹם "day" in vv. 7c and 8b delimits this unit from vv. 9-11, with their verse-initial אֲשֶׁר in vv. 9 and 11, as well as the pattern of line-final 1cs pronominal suffixes (see vv. 9b, 10c, 11a, 11b). #dispreferred


Argument Mapn0v. 9YHWH's speech begins in v. 9 (Meier 1992, 33 n. 1 🄼).n1First person language in v. 9"where your ancestors put me to the test. They tested me. They had even seen my work!" (v. 9). n2First person language in v. 9There is no clear indication that YHWH is speaking before the first person language in v. 9.n1->n2n2->n0n3Subordinate clauseVerse 9 is a subordinate clause that begins with אֲשֶׁר. It would be unusual to have a speaker shift in a subordinate clause.n3->n0n4Speaker shifts in prophecy and poetryOther unmarked shifts in speaker throughout prophetic and poetic literature are waw-conjoined (see, e.g., Jer 25:7; 51:57) or asyndetic (see, e.g., Isa 63:1; Hab 1:5, 12; Ps 46:11; see further Meier 1992, 209-272 🄼), not אֲשֶׁר subordinated. n4->n3n5Poetic structureVerses 9-11 comprise a poetic unit, subdivided from the larger unit of vv. 7c-11, and such divisions often coincide with the "change of grammatical person" as "a text-structuring device" (de Regt 2001, 214).n5->n0n6Poetic structure of vv. 7c-11The pattern of line-initial יוֹם "day" in vv. 7c and 8b delimits this unit from vv. 9-11, with their verse-initial אֲשֶׁר in vv. 9 and 11, as well as the pattern of line-final 1cs pronominal suffixes (see vv. 9b, 10c, 11a, 11b). n6->n5


Conclusion (C)

"Removing the uncertainties of the text would be an injustice to the artistry that the present text unfolds" (Meier 1992, 207). Meier's caution should perhaps be heeded, such that the possibilities of YHWH beginning to speak in vv. 8, 9a, or even later,[5] should all be maintained and punctuation such as explicit quotation marks and introductory formulae such as "God says" should be avoided. Nevertheless, if a decision must be made concerning where to indicate YHWH as the speaker unambiguously, the evidence seems to point with more certainty to v. 8. The third person language in v. 7c precludes v. 7c as a serious alternative, while the strong prosodic division (pausal form and silluq) between the protasis and apodosis of vv. 7c-8 provides a stronger case than between the matrix clause and subordinate אֲשֶׁר clause of v. 9.

Research

Translations

Ancient

  • LXX: σήμερον, ἐὰν τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὗ ἐπείρασαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, ἐδοκίμασαν καὶ εἴδοσαν τὰ ἔργα μου.[6]
    • "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at the embittering, like the day of the trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tempted; they put to the proof and saw my works."[7]
  • Iuxta Hebraeos: hodie si vocem eius audieritis nolite indurare corda vestra sicut in contradictione sicut in die temptationis in deserto ubi temptaverunt me patres vestri probaverunt me et viderunt opus meum
    • "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the strife, as in the day of temptation in the desert, where your fathers tempted me and test me and saw my work"
  • Peshitta: ܝܘܡܢܐ ܐܢ ܒܩܠܗ ܬܫܡܥܘܢ ܠܐ ܬܩܫܘܢ ܠܒ̈ܘܬܟܘܢ ܠܡܪܓܙܘܬܗ ܐܝܟ ܡܡܪ̈ܡܪܢܐ ܘܐܝܟ ܝܘܡܐ ܕܢܣܝܘܢܐ ܕܒܡܕܒܪܐ ܕܢܣܝܘܢܝ ܐ̈ܒܗܝܟܘܢ ܘܒܩܘ ܚܙܘ ܥܒ̈ܕܝܐܪ̈ܒܥܝܢ ܫܢܝ̈ܢ[8]
    • "Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts so as to provoke him to anger, like the rebellious and like the day of testing in the wilderness. 'For your ancestors tried me; they tried me and saw my works for forty years"[9]
  • Targum: יומא דין אם במימריה תקבלון׃ לא תקשון לבכון היך במצותא היך יומא דנסיתון אלהא במדברא׃ די נסיאו יתי אבהתכון בחנו יתי לחוד חמון עובדי׃ [10]
    • "For he is our God, and we are his people and the flock of the pasture of his hand. O that this day you would listen to his Memra! Do not harden your heart as at Strife, as in the day when you tested God in the wilderness, when your fathers tested me, tried me, and saw my work."[11]

Modern

v. 7c

  • 7c "If today you hear my voice 8 do not harden your heart, as in Meribah, as in the day of Massah, in the desert. 9 There your fathers tempted me; they put me to the test, although they saw my works..." (RVC)

v. 8

  • 7c Today, if only you would obey him. 8 He says, “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work..." (NET; cf. CEB, CJB, GNT, NIV)
  • 7c Wenn ihr doch heute auf seine Stimme hören wolltet: 8 »Verstocket euer Herz nicht, wie zu Meriba geschah, wie zu Massa in der Wüste, 9 wo mich eure Väter versuchten und prüften und hatten doch mein Werk gesehen...« (LUT)
  • 7c Aujourd'hui, puissiez-vous entendre ce qu'il dit: 8 «Ne vous entêtez pas comme à Meriba, comme au jour de Massa, dans le désert. 9 Vos ancêtres m'y ont provoqué, ils m'ont poussé à bout, même après avoir vu tout ce que j'avais fait...» (NFC; cf. PDV)
  • 7c Escuchen hoy lo que él les dice: 8 «No endurezcan su corazón, como en Meribá; como aquel día en Masá, en el desierto, 9 cuando me pusieron a prueba sus antepasados, aunque habían visto mis obras...» (DHH; cf. RVR95)

v. 9

  • 7c Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, As on the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When your fathers put Me to the test, They tested Me, though they had seen My work..." (NASB)
  • 7c Wenn ihr heute seine Stimme hört, 8 dann verschließt euch seinem Reden nicht! Macht es nicht wie das Volk damals in Meriba, in Massa in der Wüste, als es sich gegen ihn auflehnte. 9 Da, ´sagt Gott`, haben mich eure Vorfahren herausgefordert, sie haben einen Beweis meiner Macht von mir verlangt, obwohl sie meine großen Taten mit eigenen Augen gesehen hatten. (NGÜ)

Secondary Literature

Alter, Robert. 2019. The Hebrew Bible Volume 3: The Writings: A Translation with Commentary. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Briggs, Charles A. & Briggs, Emilie G. 1906-1907. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms. New York, NY: C. Scribner’s Sons.
Fokkelman, Jan P. 2003. Major Poems of the Hebrew Bible: at the Interface of Prosody and Structural Analysis. Assen: Royal van Gorcum.
Hitzig, Ferdinand. 1863. Die Psalmen: übersetzt und ausgelegt. Leipzig und Heidelberg: C. F. Winterische Verlagshandlung.
Hossfeld, F. 2005. "Psalm 95." Pages 458-462 in K. Baltzer (ed.) A Commentary on Psalms 51-100. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press.
Jacobson, Rolf, A. 2004. Many are saying: The Function of Direct Discourse in the Hebrew Psalter. London: T&T Clark.
Kraus, H. 1966. Biblischer Kommentar altes Testament. Psalmen 2. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag.
Meier, Samuel, A. 1992. Speaking of Speaking: Marking Direct Discourse in the Hebrew Bible. Leiden: Brill.
de Regt, Lénart. 2001. "Person Shift in Prophetic Texts: its Function and its Rendering in Ancient and Modern Translations." Pages 214-231 in Johannes C. de Moor (ed.) The Elusive Prophet: The Prophet as a Historical Person, Literary Character and Anonymous Artist. Leiden: Brill.

References

Choose a PsalmNavigate Psalm 19

95:7

  1. ↑ Text from OSHB.
  2. ↑ As noted by one study on the matter, "The divine voice in the book of Psalms ... may remain formally unmarked when it begins or ends, often merging imperceptibly and perplexingly with human voices that talk about God" (Meier 1992, 222).
  3. ↑ (7c) «Si hoy escuchan ustedes mi voz, (8) no endurezcan su corazón, como en Meriba, como en el día de Masah, en el desierto. (9) Allí los padres de ustedes me tentaron; me pusieron a prueba, aunque vieron mis obras...»
  4. ↑ 7c «Si hoy escuchan ustedes mi voz, 8 no endurezcan su corazón, como en Meriba, como en el día de Masah, en el desierto. 9 Allí los padres de ustedes me tentaron; me pusieron a prueba, aunque vieron mis obras...»
  5. ↑ Perhaps recognizing an apparent awkwardness of the speaker shift, the LXX does not contain the suffix on "they put me to the test" and only introduces YHWH as unambiguously the speaker in the following independent clause: οὗ ἐπείρασαν ø οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, ἐδοκίμασαν ø καὶ εἴδοσαν τὰ ἔργα μου "where your father put to the test; they tested and they saw my works." See, however, ΕΔΟΚΙΜΑΣΑΝ ΜΟΥ in Alexandrinus and temptaverunt me in Gall.
  6. ↑ Rahlfs 1931, 246.
  7. ↑ Adapted from the NETS, which supplies the objects where your fathers tried me; they put me to the proof and saw my works in v. 9, despite not being present in the Greek text.
  8. ↑ CAL
  9. ↑ Taylor 2020, 393-395.
  10. ↑ CAL
  11. ↑ Stec 2004, 179. The Targum has identical syntax to the MT and, despite Stec's translation, is open to the same flexibility of interpretation of the conditional אִם, since Aramaic אם can both function as a conditional particle and introduce an oath (CAL).