Biblica_1_Layout 1 20/01/12 11:44 Pagina 487 487 THE INTERPRETATION OF PS 144,14 144,14 26. It is also significant that #rp is never elsewhere associated with reproductive failure, whereas its denotation of reproductive suc- cess and prosperity is well established in the tradition: Gen 28,14; 30,30.43; Exod 1,12; Isa 54,3; Hos 4,10; Job 1,10 27. Especially salient are occasions where #rp communicates an increase in livestock, whether exclusively or in combination with other possessions (Gen 30,30.43). Consequently, if one wishes to maintain the position that tacwy !ya means “without miscarriage”, it would be advisable to abandon the same sense for #rp 28. For instance, L. Allen assigns the meaning “miscarriage” to tacwy but adopts a broader and more defensible def- inition for #rp, “outbreak”, “plague” — a translation that receives some backing from Ps 106,29, hpgm ~b-#rpt, “a plague broke out among them” 29. Another meaning along these lines has been pro- posed on the basis of 2 Sam 6,8 (= 1 Chr 13,11) and Job 16,14 30, 26 ZIEGLER, “Ps 144”, 193. Identifying #rp with natal misfortunes is at least as old as D. Kimchi (see below); he is followed by Bochart, who argued that #rp means a rupture of the uterus or an abortion. BOCHARTI, Hierozoicon, I, 297. The Peshitta, which has nD*Q(, “barren”, may actually be the earliest witness to #rp being understood in a reproductive capacity. The other ancient sources are more supportive of the alternative translations discussed below: LXX, kata,ptwma fragmou/, “falling down of a fence”; Symmachus, diakoph,, “gap”, “breach”; Vulgate, ruina maceriae; Jerome, interruptio; Tg. Pss., @wqt, lit., “strength”, but it can also mean “attack”. D.M. STEC, The Targum of the Psalms. Translated, with a Critical Introduction, Apparatus, and Notes (The Aramaic Bible: The Targums 16; Collegeville, MN 2004) 240, n. 23. 27 Cfr., NIDOTTE III, 691-694. 28 Contra KIMCHI, Psalms CXX-CL, 127; PETERS, Das Buch der Psalmen, 351; OESTERLEY, Psalms, 570; NIDOTTE III,692; NASB, RSV, REB, TEV, ESV. Even more unlikely is S. R. Hirsch’s idea that tacwy !ya and #rp-!ya speak of moral debauchery. S.R. HIRSCH, Die Psalmen (Frankfurt 1882) 344-345. 29 ALLEN, Psalms 101-150, 359, 360. So A. Maillot ‒ A. Lelièvre, “sans épidémie”. MAILLOT ‒ LELIÈVRE, Psaumes 101 à 150, 241, 242. 30 HENGSTENBERG, Psalms, 534; D.R. KITTEL, Die Psalmen (3rd and 4th ed.; KAT 13; Leipzig 1922) 429; L. JACQUET, Les Psaumes et le coeur de l’Homme. Psaumes 101 à 150 (Namurci 1979) 685; KRAUS, Psalmen, II, 944. A variation of this position is evident in G. Phillips’ translation, “May there be no breaking (#rP) of the peace, may there be no going forth (tacAy) of evil, may there be no ,, e shout (hxw"c) of sedition in our streets”. Similarly, F. Hitzig conjectures that #rp '. involves any kind of rupture in a blissful situation (Judg 21,15; 2 Sam 6,8), whe- reas tacwy refers to an affliction unleashed by the Lord (Jer 23,19; Ru 1,13). PHILLIPS, The Psalms, 578; HITZIG, Psalmen, 443-444.