Psa 27:13 | KD | STEP | Self-encouragement to firmer confidence of faith. Joined to (Aben-Ezra, Kimchi), trails badly after it. We must, with Geier, Dachselt, and others, suppose that the apodosis is wanting to the protasis with its לוּלא pointed with three points above, and four below, according to the Masora (cf. B. Berachoth 4 a ), but a word which is indispensably necessary, and is even attested by the lxx (ἑαυτῇ) and the Targum (although not by any other of the ancient versions); cf. the protasis with לוּ, which has no apodosis, in , and the apodoses with כּי after לוּלי in ; ; Sam. 35:34; (also Num 22:33, where אוּלי = אם לא = לוּלי), which are likewise to be explained per aposiopesin . The perfect after לוּלא (לוּלי) has sometimes the sense of a plusquamperfectum (as in , nisi cunctati essemus ), and sometimes the sense of an imperfect , as in the present passage (cf. , si saperent ). The poet does not speak of a faith that he once had, a past faith, but, in regard to the danger that is even now abiding and present, of the faith he now has, a present faith. The apodosis ought to run something like this ( ; ): did I not believe, were not confidence preserved to me...then (אז( ne or כּי אז) I should perish; or: then I had suddenly perished. But he has such faith, and he accordingly in encourages himself to go on cheerfully waiting and hoping; he speaks to himself, it is, as it were, the believing half of his soul addressing the despondent and weaker half. Instead of ואמץ ( ) the expression is, as in Ps 31:25, ויאמץ לבּך, let thy heart be strong, let it give proof of strength. The rendering “May He (Jahve) strengthen thy heart” would require יאמּץ; but האמיץ, as e.g., הרחיב , belongs to the transitive denominatives applying to the mind or spirit, in which the Hebrew is by no means poor, and in which the Arabic is especially rich.

‏ Psalms 27:13

Self-encouragement to firmer confidence of faith. Joined to Psa 27:12 (Aben-Ezra, Kimchi), Psa 27:13 trails badly after it. We must, with Geier, Dachselt, and others, suppose that the apodosis is wanting to the protasis with its לוּלא pointed with three points above, ^{▼▼The ו has not any point above it, because it might be easily mistaken for a Cholem, vid., Baer’s Psalterium p. 130.} and four below, according to the Masora (cf. B. Berachoth 4 a), but a word which is indispensably necessary, and is even attested by the lxx (ἑαυτῇ) and the Targum (although not by any other of the ancient versions); cf. the protasis with לוּ, which has no apodosis, in Gen 50:15, and the apodoses with כּי after לוּלי in Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; 1 Sam. 35:34; 2Sa 2:27 (also Num 22:33, where אוּלי = אם לא = לוּלי), which are likewise to be explained per aposiopesin. The perfect after לוּלא (לוּלי) has sometimes the sense of a plusquamperfectum (as in Gen 43:10, nisi cunctati essemus), and sometimes the sense of an imperfect, as in the present passage (cf. Deu 32:29 , si saperent). The poet does not speak of a faith that he once had, a past faith, but, in regard to the danger that is even now abiding and present, of the faith he now has, a present faith. The apodosis ought to run something like this (Psa 119:92; Psa 94:17): did I not believe, were not confidence preserved to me...then (אז( ne or כּי אז) I should perish; or: then I had suddenly perished. But he has such faith, and he accordingly in Psa 27:14 encourages himself to go on cheerfully waiting and hoping; he speaks to himself, it is, as it were, the believing half of his soul addressing the despondent and weaker half. Instead of ואמץ (Deu 31:7) the expression is, as in Ps 31:25, ויאמץ לבּך, let thy heart be strong, let it give proof of strength. The rendering “May He (Jahve) strengthen thy heart” would require יאמּץ; but האמיץ, as e.g., הרחיב Psa 25:17, belongs to the transitive denominatives applying to the mind or spirit, in which the Hebrew is by no means poor, and in which the Arabic is especially rich.