Cosmic Imagery in Psalm 72 עַד־בְּלִי יָרֵחַ [ad bli yareaḥ] - Acta Universitatis Sapientiae

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica, 16, 3 (2024) 144–152

DOI: 10.47745/ausp-2024-0036

Abstract. Psalm 72, usually identified as a “royal psalm”, vividly portrays the profound connection between God and Creation. The psalm employs carefully crafted language to suggest a multi-faceted portrayal of the universe, encompassing both temporal and physical dimensions. The paper aims to analyse this language, with a peculiar focus on the Hebrew text. When necessary, parallels with translations in English will be employed. Special attention will be given to the semantic range of celestial or natural elements, which are used to evoke a sense of the seemingly endless or boundless extent of time or space. This is especially evident in v. 5 (“as long as the sun and as long as the moon”), v. 7 (“till the moon is no more”), v. 8 (“from the River to the ends of the earth”), and v. 17 (“as long as the sun”) of the psalm.

Keywords: biblical commentary, translation challenges, psalms, Hebrew