¹ L.D. CROW, The Songs of Ascent (Pss 120-134): Their Place in Israelite History and Religion (SBLD 148; Atlanta 1996) 94.

² S.J.L. CROFT, The Identity of the Individual in the Psalms (JSOTSS 44; Sheffield, 1987) 149.

³ Gunkel thought the Psalm of Confidence an adjunct of the Psalm of Individual Lament: in effect, the Certainty of a Hearing, without the Lament itself. Day, however, among others, sees it as a Gattung in its own right. See J. DAY, Psalms, (OT Guides; Sheffield 1990) 52.

⁴ S. MOWINCKEL, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, transl. D.R.Ap-Thomas. 2 vols. (Oxford 1962) I, 216, 222. ("An individual (‘I’) speaks on behalf of the congregation, identifying himself with its distress: he is, in fact, the liturgical representative of the congregation — the chief priest, or somebody similar": 222.)

⁵ "The speaker in the Psalm seems to be an individual rather than the personified Israel, because of the intensely personal language of the composition": A.A. ANDERSON, The Book of Psalms, vol. II (NCB; London 1972) 878.

⁶ "Hier liegt wohl eine vergeistigte Form des Beichtspiegels vor": D. MICHEL, Tempora und Satzstellung in den Psalmen (Abhandlungen zur evangelishen Theologie 1; Bonn 1960) 119.

⁷ G. QUELL, "Struktur und Sinn des Psalms 131", in F. MAASS (ed.), Das Ferne und Nahe Wort (Fs. L. ROST (BZAW 105; Berlin 1967) 173-185.

⁸ L.C. ALLEN, Psalms 101-150 (WBC 21; Milton Keynes 1987) 198, referring to K. SEYBOLD, Die Wallfahrtspsalmen. Studien zur Enstehungsgeschichte von Psalm 120-134 (Biblische-Theologische Studien 3; Neukirchen-Vluyn 1978) 34, 37-38, 54, which I have not been able to consult.

⁹ See W. BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris des Geistes. Studien zum 131. Psalm (SBS 108; Stuttgart 1982) 11-13.

¹⁰ P.A.H. DE BOER, "Psalm CXXXI 2", VT 16 (1966) 287-292.

¹¹ J.H. EATON, Kingship and the Psalms (SBT 2nd series 32; London 1976) 49-50.

¹² BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 56-60.

¹³ CROW, Songs of Ascent, 95.

¹⁴ C.C. KEET, A Study of the Psalms of Ascents: A Critical and Exegetical Commmentary upon Psalms CXX to CXXIV (London 1969) 82.

¹⁵ QUELL, "Struktur und Sinn des Psalms 131", 185. He thinks that ytklh should perhaps be vocalized as a qal.

¹⁶ "Used idiomatically to introduce an imprecation or oath, as in [Isa 5,9; 14,24], the meaning being: if such a matter does not come to pass, then let such and such a thing happen, as in ‘God do so to me (and more also)’ (2 Sam 3,35; 19,14; 1 Kgs 2,23; 2 Kgs 6,31)": D. KIMHI, The Commentary of Rabbi David Kimhi on Psalms CXX-CL, ed. and transl. by J. BAKER and E.W. NICHOLSON (Cambridge 1973) 41.

¹⁷ G.R. DRIVER, "Notes on the Psalms. II. 73-150", JTS 44 (1943) 12-23, 21.

¹⁸ BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 33-35, 61.

¹⁹ KIMHI, Psalms CXX-CL, 40-41.

²⁰ O. LORETZ, "Zur Parallelität zwischen KTU 1.6 1128-30 und Ps. 131,2b", UF 17 (1986) 183-187, 185.

²¹ DE BOER, "Psalm CXXXI 2", 289-290.

²² CROW, Songs of Ascent, 96.

²³ BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 32.

²⁴ QUELL, "Struktur und Sinn des Psalms 131", 177.

²⁵ The first two verses are analysed inter alia in the following ways:
        v. 1 Gunkel: 3+3 (2); 3+2 (3); Schmidt 3+3; 3+2; Allen 3+3; 3+2; Dahood 3+3; 3+3; Kraus 3+3; 3+2. (All include the tetragrammaton). BEYERLIN, who omits the tetragrammaton from the calculation, has 3+3+5.
        v. 2 Gunkel: 4; 3+3; Schmidt: 4+3; 3; Allen: 2+3; 3+3; Dahood: 3+3; 3+3; Kraus 4; 3+3; Beyerlin: 4; 3+3.

²⁶ First the verse is divided into two in accordance with the parallelism, the first colon ending in an ‘ôlè w^eyôred, the second with a silluq. Each colon is then subdivided, in accordance with internal parallelism, the first half-colon ending in a disjunctive accent, the ’azla’ legarmeh and the ’athnach respectively. The verse seems to be perfectly regular judged by the rules identified by W. WICKES, tma ym[f A Treatise on the Accentuation of the three so-called Poetical Books of the Old Testament, Psalms, Proverbs and Job (Oxford 1881).

²⁷ DE BOER, "Psalm CXXXI 2", 290-293.

²⁸ W.A. VANGEMEREN, "Psalm 131:2—k^egamul. The Problem of Meaning and Metaphor", Hebrew Studies 23 (1982) 51-57, 52-56.

²⁹ e.g. at Gen 33,13; Num 11,13; Isa 1,14; Job 7,20.

³⁰ In 1 Sam 1,22, Hannah says that she will take the child Samuel up to the shrine at Shiloh after he has been weaned. Is it possible that this story has influenced our Psalmist?

³¹ As at Isa 49,15; perhaps also Ps 22,10,11 and Jer 31,22; cf too Ps 27,10, where the Psalmist professes himself surer of a good reception by God than by his parents.

³² As in Hab 3,8 ( Myrhnb...Myrhnbh): F. DELITZSCH, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, vol. III, tr. D. EATON (London 1889) 303. Delitzsch suggests another reason: the absence of a "collateral definition", as in Deut 32,2 and Isa 41,2 (? the idiom noted at GKC 126q).

³³ "By writers of the silver age, it is sometimes used with the force of a dative." [e.g. 1 Chr 13,2] Beyerlin so understands it in both cola, noting that this interpretation fits well with the common opinion that the Psalm is "very late": BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 27 n.33.

³⁴ Unless Vangemeren is right about the semantic range of lmg.

³⁵ They think in terms of a mother, but it is not clear why. The Mishnah (Hag 1.1) and the Talmud (Hag 6a) speak of a child being carried on the shoulders of his father. If v. 2 referred to a child being carried, would it not be more natural to take it thus: "Like a weaned child carried by its mother, nay like the child that I, its father, am now carrying"?

³⁶ See BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 25 and n.17.

³⁷ The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 5: Psalms -- Song of Songs (ed. W.A. VANGEMEREN) (Grand Rapids 1976) 56.

³⁸ Following BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 50, n.11.

³⁹ LXX and Vulgate could be reading the noun lwmg: cf C.A. BRIGGS, The Book of Psalms. Vol. II (ICC; Edinburgh 1907) 467: "so is bountiful dealing unto my soul"; he oddly, however, says that LXX, Vulgate and Symmachus seem to presuppose the infinitive construct form lmg. Symmachus makes quite good sense: "If I have not assimilated and likened my soul to a child that has been weaned to its mother, thus let retribution be given to my soul." It would require, however, emendation of the consonantal text as well as of the pointing.

⁴⁰ Alternatively we can follow Mowinckel, Schmidt and Kraus in reading a niphal form, lmgt. (An excellent suggestion, says H. GUNKEL, Die Psalmen.4. Aufglage (HAT, II.2; Göttingen 1925) 564.) Kissene proposes lmg Nk, "so is my soul weaned in me," ignoring the gender of #$pn: E.J. KISSENE, The Book of Psalms. Vol. II (Dublin 1954) 269.

⁴¹ LXX clearly realized that the word lmg is used in two different senses. Crow, although he identifies a pun in the words hw#$ and Mmd, oddly declines to find one in lmg, on the ground that the two occurrences come so close to each other.

⁴² Beaucamp, indeed, sees 131 as "perhaps an appendix" to Ps 130: E. BEAUCAMP, Le Psautier [tom. 2:] Ps 73-150 (SB 7; Paris 1979) 255.

⁴³ CROW, Songs of Ascent, 97. See Isa 14-19; 23; Ezek 26-28.

⁴⁴ KIMHI, following Numbers Rabbah (IV. 20), finds allusions to David’s own life: his heart was not proud when Samuel anointed him; his eyes were not haughty when he killed Goliath; he did not walk in matters too great for him when he was reinstated; and he eschewed matters too marvellous for him when he brought up the Ark to Jerusalem. KIMHI, Psalms CXX-CL, 42-43.

⁴⁵ So, for example, without evidence, BRIGGS, Psalms, II, 466: "the Ps is doubtless one of the late Greek period"; and ANDERSON, Psalms, II, 878: "The date of the Psalm may well be post-Exilic". If yl( means (as Peshitta and Rashi, among others, including BEYERLIN, suppose) "to me", it will point to a post-exilic date; but such an interpretation is improbable.

⁴⁶ On the Judges text, Moore wrote many years ago: "The rel. #$ is frequent in late BH, and in MH supplants r#$) altogether; but it is unsafe to infer that it was of late origin...We have equally little ground for pronouncing #$ a peculiarity of a northern dialect. The relatives r#$) and #$ are probably of different origin, and may have existed side by side in all periods of the language": G.F. MOORE, Judges (ICC; Edinburgh 1895) 144-145. More recently Dahood has also protested at the view that w "as a relative pronoun [is] limited to late Hebrew and passages with North Palestinian colouring...The Ugaritic personal name šb‘l...can well be interpreted ‘the One of Baal’, in which šu is the relative pronoun": M. DAHOOD, Psalms III (101-150) (AB 17A; New York 1970) III, 251-252. Soggin at one time suggested the possibility of taking ytmq#$ in Judg 5,7 as ‘an ancient causative in š- (the šafel form)': J.A. SOGGIN, Judges (OTL; London 1981) 86.

⁴⁷ BEYERLIN, Wider die Hybris, 76-80.

⁴⁸ see Mic 7,15.

⁴⁹ see Exod 3,20; Josh 3,5; 1 Chr 16,12,24.

⁵⁰ J. KENNEDY, The Note-line in the Hebrew Scriptures commonly called Paseq, or Pesiq (Edinburgh 1903) 11.

⁵¹ KENNEDY, Note-line, 78,90.

⁵² CROW, Songs of Ascent, 97.

⁵³ as in Ps 22.

⁵⁴ as in Ps 18.

⁵⁵ e.g. Ps 26,1 "Give me justice, O LORD, for I have lived my life without reproach, and put my unfailing trust in the LORD"; cf 17,1; 44:18 [EVV 44,17].

⁵⁶ Nyt)rq in v.1 in that case is a genuine past tense, as in LXX and Vulgate.

⁵⁷ CROW, Songs of Ascent, 98.

⁵⁸ R.S. FYALL, Travelling Hopefully: A Spiritual Pilgrimage (London 1996) 50.

⁵⁹ J.L. MAYS, Psalms (Louisville 1994) 408.

⁶⁰ PG 27:12,24.

⁶¹ PL 9:725.

⁶² PG 27:520; 55:378.

⁶³ PG 70:943-4.