Bernard P. Robinson, «Form and Meaning in Psalm 131», Vol. 79 (1998) 180-197
Psalm 131 displays a subtle play on words. The psalmist has silenced and calmed down his soul/breast (he has put an end to its loud complaints). The two verbs used express or suggest the idea of assimilation (I have transformed it into something silent and something calm), which leads up to the material image which follows. In 2b gamul means a child that has been weaned or is happy (and has stopped crying loudly); instead of kaggamul one should read tiggmol, you have been nice to me. Although the psalm has an unusual form, it has the same structure as Psalm 130. It probably constitutes a literary unit. It may by royal psalm.
would pick up the threefold use of the word in v. 1. We may follow Beyerlin 18, therefore, in here translating it "No!"
ytyw#$
is usually taken, I think rightly, to come from hw#$ I, to be even or level, giving the meaning "I have made level" (as with the ground, in Isa 28,25; and perhaps of quieting mental disturbance at Isa 38,13, though the text and meaning of that verse are very uncertain), or "I have calmed." Jerome (proposui) seemingly took it from hw#$ II = "to set or place", as did Kimhi, who rendered it by the verb My#& 19, but this is less satisfactory. Emendations such as yt(w#$ I have cried out [cf Ps 30,3 (EVV 30,2)], or ytwx#$ I have bowed down [cf Ps 38,7] (Cheyne), are unnecessary. LXX and Peshitta (I humbled) and Vulgate (humiliter sentiebam, I felt humble) probably have the MT reading, and take the verb to be hw#$ I.It should be noted, however, that
hw#$ I can also mean "to resemble" (cf 2 Sam 22,34; Ps 18,34 [EVV18,33]; Prov 26,4; Dan 5,21), and was taken so here by Symmachus ( e)ci/swsa). We shall return to this point.Loretz 20 believes that a noun (perhaps
ybl) has fallen out after ytyw#$w. This is an attractive suggestion, since it would give a more regular structure to the Psalm, or at least to vv. 1-2, which would consist of four bicola, each displaying parallelism:1b O LORD, my heart is not haughty,
my eyes are not lifted up.
1c I have not occupied myself with great matters,
with things too wondrous for me.
2a I have indeed (?) calmed (?) [? my
heart]
and I have quieted (?) my soul.
2b Like a weaned child on its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul to me.
His understanding of 2b is doubtful, but otherwise the analysis is attractive. I am not persuaded, however, that he is right to emend. The fact that an emendation produces a more regular structure is not conclusive. How do we know that the Hebrew Psalmists operated with strict rules about such things? The text of many of the Psalms