Psalm 4:7 Douay-Rheims

The light of thy countenance O Lord, is signed upon us: thou hast given gladness in my heart.

Ibn Ezra

1089–1167 Jewish

Many (רַבִּים - rabbim): He returns to mention the words of those seeking falsehood [from v. 3]. For when I and my men were in distress, those seeking falsehood were speaking [these words] against me and against my men: "Who will show us good?" (מִי־יַרְאֵנוּ טוֹב - Mi yar'enu tov): [Regarding the next word, נְסָה - Nesah ("Bestow" / "Lift up")] Some say: That the word Nesah is from the verbs lacking the Lamed [final root letter] (alumei ha-lamed), [with the root being] נ-ס (N-S). And it properly should have been [formed] according to the pattern of [imperatives like] u-Re'eh ("and see!") and va-Aseh ("and do!"). And it appears in the form that it has [נְסָה, with the final Heh typical of this verb class], similar to (Psalm 119:117) "ve-esh'ah be-chukekha" ("and I will gaze upon Your statutes" - from root שעה). And it is correct [however] for the Heh [in נסה] to be like the Alef [of נשא - N-S-A, lift up], and the Samekh [in נסה] to be like the Shin [of נשא]. [Aside on verb types]: There are verbs called "lacking the Ayin" [middle root letter] (alumei ha-ayin), such as all the verbs [that appear to have only] two letters, like kam (קָם - arose) and shav (שָׁב - returned). And they are all as if one were to say [the imperatives] Kum! (קוּם) and Shuv! (שׁוּב), where the middle letter [Vav or Yod] is hidden (alumah), which corresponds to the Ayin [middle position] of the standard root pattern pa'al. [Returning to נסה]: And it is correct for the Heh to be like the Alef and the Samekh like the Shin, in the manner of (Numbers 6:26): "Yissa Ad-nai panav eilekha" ("May Ad-nai lift up His countenance upon you" - yissa from נשא), and like (Job 4:2): "Ha-nisah davar eilekha til'eh" ("If one attempts/lifts up a word to you, will you be weary?" - ha-nisah).

Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.

Source details
1167 · Psalms 4:7

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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