02_VanWieringen_179_197 15/07/14 12:15 Pagina 186 186 A.L.H.M. VAN WIERINGEN ized by addressing the text-internal reader at the end of the text, for example in a fairy tale. In the Bible, the text-internal reader is only addressed explicitly in a few texts. The most famous example is John 20,30-31 16. The narrator here remarks that, although there is more to tell about Jesus, the stories in his Gospel are enough for you, dear readers, to believe in Jesus Christ. Of course, this does not mean that every reader will believe at the end of chapter 20, but, from the perspective of the text, the text-internal reader cannot do anything else but believe. Psalm 65 also contains a text-internal reader. This text-internal reader is not directly addressed anywhere in the text. The text-in- ternal reader is kept hidden, and this is significant. Psalm 65 creates a position for the text-internal reader parallel to the textual position of the “I”-character, which is almost hidden in the text of Psalm 65 as well. The main aspect of the position of this “hidden” “I”-char- acter is its non-appropriation. The “hidden” text-internal reader is considered to have the same position. What the “I”-character does not do, may not do and cannot do in view of his prayer-relationship to God, namely appropriating for himself being chosen and, sub- sequently, appropriating for himself the ideal Promised Land, the text-internal reader may not do either. Instead of addressing the text-internal reader directly, the text offers an indirect access. This can be observed twice in the text of Psalm 65. The text-internal reader’s first access is offered in verse 3b, “to you, all flesh comes”. The expression “all flesh” has a universal aspect: it indicates every human being, fragile and mortal. If every human being belongs to the expression “all flesh” in Psalm 65, the text-internal reader can consider himself to be one of them as well. If the text-internal reader does indeed do so, the text-internal reader has access to the text even before the “I”-verse (= verse 4). However, the text-internal reader has yet to go through the non-ap- propriating development of the “I”-character. The text-internal reader walks along with the “I”-character, as it were, and is likewise taught not to fall into the trap of self-appropriation. 16Another example is Isa 7,9c-d in which the text-internal reader is ad- dressed by the prophet, resulting in a parallel communication between the characters Isaiah and Ahaz, on the one hand, and the prophet and the text-in- ternal reader, on the other hand; see VAN WIERINGEN, Implied Reader, 72-74.