Psalm 1— Logotechnical Analysis

Guidelines
 Please read the General Introduction as well as the Introduction to Book I.
 For common features found in the numerical analysis charts, see the "Key to the charts".

Specific features of Psalm 1

 The opening psalm of the Book of Psalms is a showpiece of biblical numerical
composition. In a most ingenious way, the 7-word meaningful centre of the text (v. 3b) is
positioned within a larger 15-word core around the pivotal word , 'in season', in a
perfectly concentric menorah pattern: 26 + 4+3+1+3+4 + 26. The 14 (7 + 7) words
surrounding the pivot demonstrate the use of the number of fullness, while the 26 words
on either side witness the use of the divine name number 26.
 The first psalm also exhibits a striking numerical device shared by a considerable
number of psalms and others texts: the use of the numerical value of a key-word to give
structure to the text. Here, the number of words enveloping the meaningful centre, 52 (26
+ 26), represent the numerical value of the first word, 
 , ‘happy’ (1+21+20+10 = 52),
which is an important key-word occurring 26x in the Book of Psalms. Psalm 1 shares this
feature particularly with Psalm 41 concluding Book I. This key-word clearly serves as a
device for inclusion. For the use of the numerical value of a key-word to define the
number of words in a given text, see “The numerical value of a key-word in the text” in
the General Introduction.
 The psalm also introduces the use of syntax as a device to structure the text in still
another way to weave divine name numbers into the fabric of the text: in this case, the
number 26 is divided in vs. 2-3 and 4-6 into its basic components, YH = 15 and WH = 11.

Strophic structure
 Van der Lugt: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (3 strophes, with 6 verselines and 14 cola).
 Fokkelman: 1-2, 3, 4-6 (3 strophes, 8 verselines, 16 cola, taking vs. 1a and 3b as bicola;
with disregard for syntax, he divides v. 1a into 3 + 4 words, instead of 2 + 5).
 Labuschagne: 1-2, 3, 4-6 (3 strophes, with 6 verselines and 14 cola).
 For an overview of other divisions of the text, see Van der Lugt, CAS, Psalm 1, § 6.

Logotechnical analysis
 Columns a and b show the number of words before and after the atnach.
 Column c: words in the main clauses; d: words in the subordinate clauses.
 The numbering of the verselines is in brown.
Total a b c d
1 
   7 2 2 5
 = 52 ^ 4 4 4
(1+21+20+10)   4 4 4
For  see Observation 3 Total, v. 1 15 = 11 + 4 = 2 + 13
2   5 5 5
 4 4 4
Total, v. 2 9 = 9 + 0 = 9 + 0
Strophe 1 Total, v. 1-2 24 = 20 + 4 = 11 + 13

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3 Meaningful core:   6 6 6
26+15+26 ^  7 7 7
Middle word: 33 + 1 + 33 
  4 4 4
Middle words: Middle Strophe 2 Total, v. 3 17 = 13 + 4 = 6 + 11
67 = 26 + 4 + 7 + 4 + 26 Total, v. 2-3 26 = 22 + 4 = 15 + 11
4 ^  3 3 3

  6 6 3 3
Total, v. 4 9 = 3 + 6 = 6 + 3
Total, v. 3-4 26 = 16 + 10 = 12 + 14
5 ^  6 6 6

  3 3 3
Total, v. 5 9 = 6 + 3 = 9 + 0
6 ^   5 5 5
For  see Observation 3 
  3 3 3
Total, v. 6 8 = 5 + 3 = 0 + 8
Total, v. 5-6 17 = 11 + 6 = 9 + 8
Strophe 3 Total, v. 4-6 26 = 14 + 12 = 15 + 11
Total, v. 2-6 52 = 36 + 16 = 30 + 22
Total, v. 1-6 67 = 47 + 20 = 32 + 35

Observations
1. The middle word is , 'in season', in v. 3a (33 + 1 + 33), situated in the middle of
the 7 words in v. 3a (30 + 7 + 30), which fall within the central strophe, v. 3:
 
that yields its fruit in season and whose foliage never withers.
These 7 words constitute a most appropriate and therefore meaningful centre,
because they focus especially on the seasonal fruit and the evergreen foliage of the
tree, which symbolize its fruitfulness and durability. The pivotal position of the 7-word
centre is highlighted by the fact that it coincides with the 7th of the 14 (2 x 7) cola.
2. In their turn, the 7 pivotal words constitute the arithmetic centre of the 15 words
describing all four qualities of the fruitful tree:
planted beside water channels,
that yields its fruit in season and whose foliage never withers,
and whatever it produces is good.
Therefore, this larger centre may be regarded as the meaningful core of the psalm.
The 26 words on either side buttress its meaningfulness: 26 + 7 + 1 + 7 + 26. The
divine name number 26 – representing YHWH’s presence - surrounds the 15-word
centre in much the same way as in Psalm 23. For more examples, compare (among
many others) Psalms 41, 82, and 92.
From this perspective, the middle word is flanked by two sets of 7 words, witnessing
once again the deliberate use of the number of fullness and abundance to symbolize
the fruitfulness and enduring goodness of the righteous in the simile.

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 3. Since the 15-word inner core falls within the middle strophe (v. 3), it cannot be
excluded that the author intended the entire v. 3 to be the meaningful centre. The fact
that v. 3 is made up of exactly 17 words underscores this supposition.
It is not simply a matter of coincidence that the 15-word core is surrounded by 52
words (26 + 15 + 26). The author used this pattern deliberately, because 52
represents the numerical value of the key-word   , ‘happy’, the very first word of
the psalm (1 + 21 + 20 + 10 = 52). That we have to do with a key-word of paramount
importance is shown by the fact that it occurs 26x times in the Psalter as a unifying
thread throughout the whole corpus.
1:1; 2:12; 32:1,2; 33:12; 34:9; 40:3,5; 41:2; 65:5; 84:5,6,13; 89:16; 94:12;
106:3; 112:1; 119:1,2; 127:5; 128:1; 137:8,9; 144:15a,15b, 146:5.
See The Compositional Structure of the Psalter, pp. 13f.
For a comparable case, the 26 occurrences of the word , ‘rock’, in the Psalter,
see Observation 3 in my analysis of Psalm 18.
It is important to note that 
 is also the first word in Psalm 41 at the end of Book I.
In addition, the meaningful centre of Psalm 41 is significantly surrounded by exactly
104 (4 x 26) words, with 52 before and 52 after the centre. See Observation 2 in my
Analysis of Psalm 41. Since this can hardly be a matter of chance, we may conclude
that  also functions as a device for inclusion to delimit the 41 psalms of Book I.
In Psalm 1, we find another intriguing scribal device: the use of the first word with
initial aleph and the last word with initial taw to delimit a text. In this case  in v.1a
and in v. 6b. My attention was directed to this phenomenon, to be found also
in Psalms 5, 70, 79, 112, 138, 150 (in a special way), and 82:6-7, by Van der Lugt,
who calls it “a quasi-alphabetic acrostic device”. See his Cantos and Strophes (OTS
53), Leiden – Boston, 2006, p. 97, note 8) and see Observation 3 in my Analysis of

Psalm 82 and Observation 1 in that of Psalm 150. I myself suggested to call it the
'Aleph-taw device for inclusion'.
In Psalm 134 the aleph and taw of the accusative particle symbolically express
the idea of all-inclusiveness. See Observation 1 in my analysis of Psalm 134.

4. In addition to the use of the number 26 described above, both divine name numbers
17 and 26 are woven into the text in succession as follows particularly in order to give
prominence to certain sections of the text:
v. 2 distinctive qualities of the righteous 9 words
v. 3 specification of these qualities 17 words
vs. 2-3 words devoted to the righteous 26 words
v. 4 about the wicked 9 words
vs. 3-4 about the righteous and the wicked 26 words
vs. 4-6 about the wicked and the righteous 26 words
vs. 5-6 conclusion 17 words.


The following psalms (35 in total, excluding the alphabetic acrostics) have a first word with initial
aleph: 1, 5, 9, 14, 18, 22, 28, 30, 39, 41, 44, 46, 50, 53, 54, 60, 62, 63, 67, 70, 72, 73, 79, 82 (note the
taw-alliteration in the last colon), 83, 90, 94, 109, 116, 120, 121, 123, 127, 128, and 138.
Among the alphabetic acrostics (9-10, 25, 34, 37, 11, 112, 119, and 145), it is only Psalm 112 that
begins with a word with initial aleph and ends with a word with initial taw.

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 Note the concatenation of divine name numbers in vs. 2-3 (9 + 17 = 26), a numerical
figurative device used in a number of instances in the psalms to weave the divine
name into the fabric of the text. See "Special patterns" in the General Introduction.
5. In terms of main clauses and subordinate clauses in vs. 2-3 and 4-6, the
compositional formula is significant: 26 = 15c + 11d. In both instances the divine
name number is divided into its basic components: 15 (= YH) and 11 (= WH).
6. The name  occurs 2x (vs. 2a and 6a).
© 2014
Dr. C.J. Labuschagne Senior Lecturer in Semitic Languages (retired),
Brinkhorst 44 University of Pretoria, South Africa
9751 AT Haren (Gron) and
The Netherlands Professor of Old Testament (retired),
[email protected] University of Groningen, The Netherlands

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