A Proto-Masoretic Gloss in the Prayer for the King (Psalm 61:7-8)?

Abstract

The form Nma in the prayer for the king in Psalm 61 is an old crux interpretum. It has traditionally been taken as a pi'el apocopated imperative from the verb hnFmf meaning "appoint!" The ancient versions took it as akin to the Aramaic interrogative Nma and translated it as "who?" Because the form interrupts the natural grammatical and poetic sense of the verse, many suggestions have been made to emend it, and the form has often been regarded as a gloss without which the verse would read more smoothly. In this paper we will examine the tantalizing suggestion that Nma represents a proto-Masoretic gloss standing for Nw%n )l'mf to indicate that the following form w%hrUc;n:yI is written with the letter nûn. We raise a number of objections to this proposal and demonstrate that if Nma represents a Masoretic note it would be the first example of its type.