Psalm 141: a Prayer for Discipline and Protection 103 Biblical Hebrew the common word for ‘tilling’, ‘working’ and ‘serving’ is db[, and considering that in pi‘el jlp means ‘pierce’ or ‘(cause to) cleave open’, it can be assumed that jlp, qal, denotes some form of splitting, done ‘in the earth’. For ‘ploughing’, the usual word is vrj, for ‘hoeing’ it is rd[. A remaining possibility for jlp is ‘digging’: not digging a well, a pit, or a grave (rpj, hrk), but digging as may be done in a field or a garden. The conjunction w seems to link alternative cases here (cf. its use in e.g. Exod 21,15.16; Lev 22,23.24; Jer 44,28) (43). Verse 7a may be translated as follows: “As when someone digs in the earth or hacks it...”. The reference is to someone making a hole in the ground with a view, for example, to planting something, or to find water (see [qb in e.g. Judg 15,19). So, like clods of earth or pieces of stone round a hole being made in the earth, “our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol”. (2) In v. 8 the text turns back to the 1st person singular. The particle yk is remarkable here, though not inexplicable. After a negation the causal yk is generally rendered adversative, ‘but’ (44). That rendering may also be suitable after a statement which is negative, not in form, but by its content — as is the case in v. 7 (see Ps 14,6; cf. 1 Sam 27:1b). Verses 7-8 may be summarized like this: Our ruin is apparently complete, but my hope is in you. (3) Verses 9-10 show that the speaker himself, taking sides with his distressed people, feels threatened by the ‘workers of mischief’. The imagery of this passage is traditional (45). The object of vqy, ‘set a trap’ (see Jer 50,24; also Ps 124,7), is not the trap, but the entrapped creature, as appears from the use of this verb in nif‘al (see e.g. Isa 8,15). Therefore it can be assumed that yl wvqy functions as a genitive here (“... of those who try to catch me”) and is parallel to ˆwa yl[p (“... of the workers of mischief”) (46). The notion phrased in v. 10a is well known in the psalms: the evildoers fall victim to their own plots (cf. Ps 7,17; 9,16-17; 10,2; 35,8; 57,7). This notion is accentuated by the emphatic ykna (‘I’), effecting contrast. The ‘workers of mischief’ fall into their nets, each into his own (wyrmkmb) (47), while the speaker, undisturbed, continues on his way. In v. 9 ydym (‘from the hands of, from’) is operative in the second stich as well as in the first (48). In v. 10 the particle d[ means ‘while’ (cf. its use in e.g. Exod 15,16; Ps 71,18) (49). As we may find with yk (50), the subject has been placed before the conjunction. * ** (43) BROWN–DRIVER–BRIGGS s.v., 1, d (p. 252). (44) See BROWN–DRIVER–BRIGGS s.v. I yk, 3, e (p. 474). (45) Cf. e.g. Ps 31,5; 91,3; 124,7; 142,4. (46) So e.g. DELITZSCH, Psalmen, 850. (47) Cf. the individualizing suffixes in e.g. Exod 28,3a; Isa 2,8.20b; Zech 14,12. See A.B. DAVIDSON, Hebrew Syntax (Edinburgh 31901) § 116 R 1. (48) Cf. GESENIUS-KAUTZSCH, § 119hh; DAVIDSON, Syntax, § 101. (49) The usage is analogous to that of d[ as ‘during’ (Judg 3,26; 2 Kgs 9,22; Jonah 4,2). (50) See BROWN–DRIVER–BRIGGS s.v. I yk, 2, b (p. 473).