שִׁיתֵ֣מֹו נְ֭דִיבֵמֹו כְּעֹרֵ֣ב וְכִזְאֵ֑ב וּֽכְזֶ֥בַח וּ֝כְצַלְמֻנָּ֗ע כָּל־נְסִיכֵֽמֹו׃ (Psalm 83:12)
Contextual Overview: A Poetic Petition for Justice
Psalm 83 is a national lament and imprecatory psalm, calling for YHWH’s judgment on Israel’s enemies. Verse 12 offers a vivid poetic request to strike down enemy leaders, invoking historical figures associated with divine judgment. The syntax here is not only poetic—it is strategically structured to reinforce emotional impact and theological memory.
Clause Structure: Imperative with Coordinated Similes
The verse opens with a 3rd person masculine plural jussive (volitional) verb:
– שִׁיתֵמֹו – “Make them [like]…”
This is followed by the direct object נְדִיבֵמֹו (“their nobles”), and a series of coordinated comparative similes introduced by the preposition כְּ־ (“like”):
1. כְּעֹרֵב – like ʿOrev
2. כִּזְאֵב – like Zeʾev
3. כְּזֶבַח – like Zevaḥ
4. כְּצַלְמֻנָּע – like Tsalmunnaʿ
Finally, the verse closes with a summary object:
– כָּל־נְסִיכֵמֹו – “all their princes”
This final phrase functions appositionally to נְדִיבֵמֹו, forming a parallelism of terms for leaders.
Word Order and Emphasis: Fronted Imperative and Repetitive Rhythm
– The fronted volitive verb שִׁיתֵמֹו (“place them” / “make them”) sets the tone of petition and divine intervention.
– The accumulation of similes builds poetic rhythm and intensifies the curse by evoking known historical villains.
The doubling of leader terms—נְדִיבֵמֹו and נְסִיכֵמֹו—adds lexical variation and emphasis.
Nominal Phrases: Parallelism and Thematic Allusion
– נְדִיבֵמֹו: “their nobles” – from root נד״ב, connoting nobility or generosity; used ironically here.
– נְסִיכֵמֹו: “their princes” – a synonym to intensify the completeness of the curse.
– The four proper names are the historical Midianite rulers from Judges 7–8, all of whom perished in YHWH’s past judgment.
Verbal Syntax: Volitive Force and Theological Petition
– שִׁיתֵמֹו – 3rd person plural jussive from שׂוּם (“to place, set”), meaning “Make them like…”
This is a request to God to deal with the enemy princes the way He once dealt with Midian’s chieftains.
Agreement and Pronoun Alignment
– The verb שִׁיתֵמֹו matches its object נְדִיבֵמֹו in gender and number (both masculine plural).
– The possessive suffix ־מֹו in both נְדִיבֵמֹו and נְסִיכֵמֹו refers back to the enemies mentioned earlier in the psalm.
Poetic Structure: Climactic Parallelism
The verse uses climactic parallelism: an imperative followed by a rapid sequence of comparisons. The repetition of כְּ־ and the mounting list of names mirror battle rhythms and invoke historical memory.
| Imperative | Direct Object | Similes (Historical Figures) | Summary Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁיתֵמֹו Make them like |
נְדִיבֵמֹו their nobles |
כְּעֹרֵב, כִּזְאֵב, כְּזֶבַח, כְּצַלְמֻנָּע | כָּל־נְסִיכֵמֹו all their princes |
Tense, Aspect, and Discourse Function
The volitive verb שִׁיתֵמֹו places the speaker in the role of intercessor, appealing to God’s historical justice. No aspectual progression is intended—this is purely modal and petitionary.
Discourse Reflection: Syntax as Sacred Memory
Psalm 83:12 doesn’t merely wish for destruction—it invokes divine precedent. The syntax deliberately constructs a bridge from past judgment to future hope by naming victims of YHWH’s prior vengeance. The structure thus becomes both rhetorical weapon and liturgical formula.
The Syntax of Collective Memory
Psalm 83:12 is a syntactic invocation of history, wrapped in poetic parallelism and legal memory. The strategic alignment of imperative, simile, and repetition builds more than a curse—it constructs a prayer rooted in precedent. In its very form, it says: As You have done before, do again.
