חָנְנֵנִי יְהוָה רְאֵה עָנְיִי מִשֹּׂנְאָי מְרֹומְמִי מִשַּׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת׃
Rough Word-by-word:
Be gracious to me, LORD. See the poor of me from those hating me, one being high of me from gates of death.
Smooth Translation:
Be gracious to me, LORD. See my poverty from those who hate me, higher than me from the gates of death.
Notes:
I'm not quite sure how to translate the Polel participle here. Soncino says, "Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death."
I'm taking it more as an appositive of LORD.
Rough Word-by-word:
Be gracious to me, LORD. See the poor of me from those hating me, one being high of me from gates of death.
Smooth Translation:
Be gracious to me, LORD. See my poverty from those who hate me, higher than me from the gates of death.
Notes:
I'm not quite sure how to translate the Polel participle here. Soncino says, "Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death."
I'm taking it more as an appositive of LORD.
חָנְנֵנִי Qal imperative 2ms with 1cs pronominal suffix from הָנַן (he was gracious) "be gracious to me"
יְהוָה tetragrammaton "LORD"
רְאֵה Qal imperative 2ms from רָאָה (he saw) "see"
עָנְיִי noun ms in construct with 1cs pronominal suffix "[the] poor of me"
מִשֹּׂנְאָי preposition and Qal active participle mp in construct with 1cs pronominal suffix from שָׂנֵא (be hateful) "from those hating me"
מְרֹומְמִי Polel participle ms in construct with 1cs pronominal suffix from רוּם (he high) "one being high of me"
מִשַּׁעֲרֵי preposition and noun mp in construct "from gates of"
מָוֶת noun ms "death"
A polel is essentially the same as a piel, but it's used in place of the piel stem in certain weak verbs (such as the hollow verb here) because the middle radical can't take a dagesh. Another possible translation would potentially be "one who makes me high" or "one who lifts me up," or maybe even "one who exalts me" since it should have the same intensity of a piel.
ReplyDeleteI would have expected something like נשא if the idea was the one who makes ME high, but רום I thought had more the idea of BEING high like in Isaiah 52:13. A stative verb rather than a transitive verb.
ReplyDeleteMy Mounce expository dictionary gives meanings for רום as "to exalt, lift high" specifically for the polel stem. But I agree that using נשא would also communicate more of an active meaning like that.
ReplyDeleteMy other thought was that using the Hiphil or even Hophal might convey the idea that the one being MADE high is this case is ME rather than THE ONE BEING.
DeleteThe English translations that I've looked at all take the 1cs pronominal suffix as if it is a direct object.
I'm having a hard time getting my mind around how they get that translation. Maybe it is an insignificant point, but I always try to at least understand the process.
So that is why it seems that taking it as a further description of the LORD fits the grammar better.