The Psalm is in two equal parts, each of which has a symmetrical structure.
a. 1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
b. May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
c. 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
d. 3 May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
c’. 4 May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
b’. 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
a’. May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
a. 6. Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
b. 7. Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
c. but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
b’. 8. They collapse and fall,
c’. but we rise and stand upright.
a’. 9. O LORD, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
I am not sure that this chiasm proposal is convincing. (1) I think part of the problem is that the repeated words are few and very general. Can one make a strong case for the repetitions of Lord helping to form a chiasm when it is also implied so many times elsewhere in the Psalm? In addition, while answer (which along with “saves” are (I think) the least general of the repeated words) is highlighted in verses 6 and 9 it is also present in verse 1 but not used to make a case for the structure of the Psalm. (2) I also wonder if a chiastic structure would split up the parallelism in a couplet as this does in verses 1, 7, & 8- a question based on my own ignorance. I have no idea of the answer. 🙂
Thank you Shannon. I believe your challenge is very helpful and just what the “Comment ” box is for. All posts are “provisional” and need to be tested. I have come to see that splitting up couplets is not a good idea because regular parallelism is the foundation structure of hebrew. Without specific repeating words we cannot have a strong case.