Psa 21:10-13 | KD | STEP | (Hebrew_Bible_21:10-11) Hitherto the Psalm has moved uniformly in synonymous dipodia, now it becomes agitated; and one feels from its excitement that the foes of the king are also the people’s foes. True as it is, as Hupfeld takes it, that לעת פּניך sounds like a direct address to Jahve, nevertheless as truly teaches us quite another rendering. The destructive effect, which in other passages is said to proceed from the face of Jahve, ; ; (cf. ἔχει θεὸς ἔκδικον ὄμμα), is here ascribed to the face, i.e., the personal appearing ( ) of the king. David’s arrival did actually decide the fall of Rabbath Ammon, of whose inhabitants some died under instruments of torture and others were cast into brick-kilns, 2Sa 12:26. The prospect here moulds itself according to this fate of the Ammonites. כּתנּוּר אשׁ is a second accusative to תּשׁיתנו, thou wilt make them like a furnace of fire, i.e., a burning furnace, so that like its contents they shall entirely consume by fire ( synecdoche continentis pro contento ). The figure is only hinted at, and is differently applied to what it is in , Mal 4:1. and are intentionally two long rising and falling wave-like lines, to which succeed, in , two short lines; the latter describe the peaceful gleaning after the fiery judgment of God that has been executed by the hand of David. פּרימו, as in ; Hos 9:16, is to be understood after the analogy of the expression פּרי הבּטן. It is the fate of the Amalekites (cf. Psa 9:6.), which is here predicted of the enemies of the king.

‏ Psalms 21:10-13

Psa 21:9-10 (Hebrew_Bible_21:10-11) Hitherto the Psalm has moved uniformly in synonymous dipodia, now it becomes agitated; and one feels from its excitement that the foes of the king are also the people’s foes. True as it is, as Hupfeld takes it, that לעת פּניך sounds like a direct address to Jahve, Psa 21:10 nevertheless as truly teaches us quite another rendering. The destructive effect, which in other passages is said to proceed from the face of Jahve, Psa 34:17; Lev 20:6; Lam 4:16 (cf. ἔχει θεὸς ἔκδικον ὄμμα), is here ascribed to the face, i.e., the personal appearing (2Sa 17:11) of the king. David’s arrival did actually decide the fall of Rabbath Ammon, of whose inhabitants some died under instruments of torture and others were cast into brick-kilns, 2Sa 12:26. The prospect here moulds itself according to this fate of the Ammonites. כּתנּוּר אשׁ is a second accusative to תּשׁיתנו, thou wilt make them like a furnace of fire, i.e., a burning furnace, so that like its contents they shall entirely consume by fire (synecdoche continentis pro contento). The figure is only hinted at, and is differently applied to what it is in Lam 5:10, Mal 4:1. Psa 21:10 and Psa 21:10 are intentionally two long rising and falling wave-like lines, to which succeed, in Psa 21:11, two short lines; the latter describe the peaceful gleaning after the fiery judgment of God that has been executed by the hand of David. פּרימו, as in Lam 2:20; Hos 9:16, is to be understood after the analogy of the expression פּרי הבּטן. It is the fate of the Amalekites (cf. Psa 9:6.), which is here predicted of the enemies of the king. Psa 21:11-12 (Hebrew_Bible_21:12-13) And this fate is the merited frustration of their evil project. The construction of the sentences in Psa 21:12 is like Psa 27:10; Psa 119:83; Ew. §362, b. נטה רעה is not to be understood according to the phrase נטה רשׁת (= פּרשׁ), for this phrase is not actually found; we have rather, with Hitzig, to compare Psa 55:4, 2Sa 15:14 : to incline evil down upon any one is equivalent to: to put it over him, so that it may fall in upon him. נטה signifies “to extend lengthwise,” to unfold, but also to bend by drawing tight. שׁית שׁכם to make into a back, i.e., to make them into such as turn the back to you, is a more choice expression than נתן ערף, Psa 18:41, cf. 1Sa 10:9; the half segolate form שׁכם, (= שׁכם) becomes here, in pause, the full segolate form שׁכם. חצּים must be supplied as the object to תּכונן, as it is in other instances after הורה, השׁליך, ידה; כּונן חץ, Psa 11:2, cf. Psa 7:14, signifies to set the swift arrow upon the bow-string (מיתר = יתר) = to aim. The arrows hit the front of the enemy, as the pursuer overtakes them. Psa 21:13 (Hebrew_Bible_21:14) After the song has spread abroad its wings in twice three tetrastichs, it closes by, as it were, soaring aloft and thus losing itself in a distich. It is a cry to God for victory in battle, on behalf of the king. “Be Thou exalted,” i.e., manifest Thyself in Thy supernal (Psa 57:6, 12) and judicial (Psa 7:7.) sovereignty. What these closing words long to see realised is that Jahve should reveal for world-wide conquest this גּבוּרה, to which everything that opposes Him must yield, and it is for this they promise beforehand a joyous gratitude.