Read Psalm 36 at Bible Gateway.
There are no {n} Hebrew paragraph divisions within lines in Psa 36.
Psa 36 chiastic structure:
The Hebrew of Psalm 36 presents a number of difficult translation issues, as evidenced by the variety of the meaning conveyed in English translations. The chiastic structure eluded me until I went to an explanation of the translation from the Hebrew (I am indebted to A New Psalm for their analysis of the Hebrew):
1a) Psa 36:1-4, Transgression speaks to the wicked/ takes pride in himself + achieves inquity:
1a) Psa 36:1, Transgression speaks to the wicked in his heart: There is no fear of God before his eyes;
1b) Psa 36:2, For he flatters himself in his own eyes, to achieve iniquity, and to hate;
2b) Psa 36:3, The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; he has ceased to be wise and to do good;
2a) Psa 36:4, He devises wickedness on his bed; He takes his stand in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil;
1b) Psa 36:5-6a, The greatness of the lovingkindness + righteousness of the Lord;
1c) Psa 36:6b, Your judgments are a great deep;
1d) Psa 36:6c, Man and beast You preserve, O Lord;
central axis) Psa 36:7a, How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!
2d) Psa 36:7b-8, The children of men take refuge in You/ You satisfy them with Your fullness + delights;
2c) Psa 36:9, For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light;
2b) Psa 36:10, Continue Your lovingkindness + righteousness to those who know You, the upright in heart;
2a) Psa 36:11-12, Let not foot of pride + hand of the wicked overtake me + push me away [from You].
A pair: The 1A pair is comprised of a reverse parallelism, a mini chiastic structure without the central axis. It is not that reverse parallelisms only start showing up in the Psalms; it is more that I am better at recognizing them as I have grown, and we happen to be in the Psalms at the moment. LOL.
The idea of verse one is that when transgression speaks, or perhaps another way to phrase it, when temptation to sin begins its siren call, the heart of the wicked has ears to hear it. He devises wickedness on his bed, when his person is quiet from other responsibilities perhaps, and his mind can shape and plan what his heart is receiving. The reason the ears of his heart are open to the voice of transgression, is that there is no fear of God before His eyes. You might say that because he does not fear God, he loves evil (vs. 1 and 4), or conversely, because he does not love God, he does not abhor evil.
The 2A pair is the psalmist’s prayer that he not become ensnared in the pride or the siren call of temptation to do wickedly as the man in the 1A pair has been.
The C pair: Your judgments are a great deep / For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
The reference to the great deep shows that the wisdom of God’s judgments is very deep wisdom. But it also put me in mind by connection of common theme, to the great deep being opened when the earth was flooded at Noah’s Flood:
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. Gen 7:11
As I meditated on the connection of the great deep to its fountains, I realized that the great depth of wisdom of the Lord’s judgments of right and wrong, the definition of righteousness and sin that we have in Torah, the first five books of Moses, is a fountain of life. It is revealed wisdom from God to man (revealed, because it is wisdom man would not have been able to discover on his own without God), thus it is His light that enables us to see.
“Now therefore, listen to me, my children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the Lord;
But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.” Pro 8:32-36
Wisdom is the one speaking in Pro 8. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 9:10). The fear of the Lord can simply be, regarding His words as truthful and weighty with wisdom, regarding His judgments as just, regarding His way of walking as worthy. “Torah” in Hebrew simply means, “teaching, instruction.” He who regards the truth of Torah, the excellence of the great depth of the Lord’s judgments, is he who hears instruction, listens to wisdom, not disdaining it, and finds a fountain of life thereby (see God’s word gives life to those who find it).
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