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גְאָלָהּ of Ps. 69:17-19 (16-18)

Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2017 7:37 pm
by Isaac Fried
We read there
עֲנֵנִי יהוה כִּי טוֹב חַסְדֶּךָ כְּרֹב רַחֲמֶיךָ פְּנֵה אֵלָי
וְאַל תַּסְתֵּר פָּנֶיךָ מֵעַבְדֶּךָ כִּי צַר לִי מַהֵר עֲנֵנִי
קָרְבָה אֶל נַפְשִׁי גְאָלָהּ לְמַעַן אֹיְבַי פְּדֵנִי

KJV: "Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies. 
And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. 
Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies."

In my opinion קָרְבָה = קרב-היא with the pleader being the poet, with the actor being God, and with the PP היא referring to the performer of the act QRB acting upon its beneficiary גְאָלָהּ, 'salvation'. Then, גְאָלָהּ = גאל-היא with the PP היא referring to the thing itself. Consequently קָרְבָה אֶל נַפְשִׁי גְאָלָהּ is: "(God, please,) bring salvation to my soul"

My point is that גְאָלָהּ =גאל-היא is not "redeem her", but is rather a noun akin to גְאוּלָה = גא-הוּא-ל-היא, 'salvation' (See Ruth 4:7), notwithstanding the mapik in the ה of גְאָלָהּ. I find the rendering "Draw nigh unto my soul" somewhat awkward.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: גְאָלָהּ of Ps. 69:17-19 (16-18)

Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2017 9:45 pm
by Jemoh66
Your theory has a couple of things to commend it.
1. It results in better rhythm
2. And a truer parallelism.

Bring redemption to my soul
Ransom me from my enemies