Terror as a Teacher: How Binyanim Drive the Plea in Psalm 9:20

שִׁ֘יתָ֤ה יְהוָ֨ה מֹורָ֗ה לָ֫הֶ֥ם יֵדְע֥וּ גֹויִ֑ם אֱנֹ֖ושׁ הֵ֣מָּה סֶּֽלָה׃
(Psalm 9:20)

Place YHWH terror upon them let the nations know they are mortals Selah

Introduction: When Syntax Pleads and Binyanim Roar

Psalm 9:20 is not merely a poetic appeal for justice—it is a syntactic cry for divine instruction through fear. The verbs שִׁ֘יתָ֤ה and יֵדְע֥וּ stand as cornerstones in this verse, one anchoring a divine imperative, the other foretelling its human result. Each verb comes wrapped in a distinct binyan, and together they construct a powerful theological architecture: God places terror, and in response, the nations come to know who and what they truly are.

Verb-by-Verb: Binyan Analysis

1. שִׁ֘יתָ֤ה — Place!

• Root: שׂ־י־ת (alternate spelling: שׁ־ו־ת)
• Binyan: Qal (imperative, masculine singular)
• Morphological Structure: Root consonants with imperative prefix vowel ִ and paragogic ה (emphatic ending or poetic lengthening)
• Function: Command directed at YHWH: “Place!” or “Set!”
• Semantic Force: Though Qal often marks simplicity, this imperative drives the psalmist’s entire request. Here, it is not a quiet request—it is a thunderclap of urgency: “Set fear upon them!”
• Usage Note: The verb שִׁית often governs abstract direct objects—here מֹורָה (“terror, awe”). It suggests not physical placement, but imposition of an invisible force.
• Syntactic Role: Verb + direct object מֹורָה + indirect object לָהֶם (“upon them”)
• Literary Nuance: The Qal here is clean and cutting. It lacks the fanfare of Piel or the causation of Hiphil, making it feel immediate—almost primal. The psalmist isn’t asking God to cause others to fear in a long sequence of events; he wants terror to drop like a thunderbolt.

2. יֵדְע֥וּ — Let them know

• Root: י־ד־ע (“to know”)
• Binyan: Qal (imperfect, 3rd person plural)
• Morphological Structure: Prefix י- (3rd masc. plural imperfect), internal vowel pattern ֵ־ְ, final -וּ for plural
• Function: Narrative or jussive imperfect — “Let them know” or “they will know”
• Semantic Force: The Qal stem preserves a sense of intuitive or experiential knowledge. It does not indicate teaching, but realization. The nations will come to know, perhaps in fear, perhaps in awe, certainly by force of divine intervention.
• Syntactic Role: Verb + subject גֹויִ֑ם, with implied result: knowledge of their mortality
• Contrastive Insight: While הוֹדִיעַ (Hiphil) would suggest God causing them to know, the Qal here expresses the outcome of divine terror—they arrive at knowledge themselves. It invites repentance, not just instruction.

High-Contrast Table: Qal Verbs in Action

Sound and Sense: How the Binyan Amplifies the Tone

Both verbs appear in the Qal stem—often described as the “simple” stem. But in Biblical poetry, simplicity can strike like a dagger. The Qal binyan does not embellish the verbs with causation (Hiphil), intensity (Piel), or reflexivity (Hitpael). Instead, it strips the action down to its core, giving it immediacy and power.

Here, the psalmist wants God to act and the nations to realize—not through layers of mediation but through confrontation. The binyanim refuse to soften the moment: these are not diplomatic verbs—they are thunderclaps.

Echoes of the Stem

Psalm 9:20 shows how even the “basic” Qal binyan can carry immense poetic and theological weight. The psalmist could have asked God to teach (הוֹדִיעַ in Hiphil), or to cause trembling through grandiose Piel constructions. But instead, he invokes simplicity with edge: שִׁיתָה and יֵדְעוּ.

In this verse, Qal doesn’t just mean “simple”—it means direct. The psalmist wants terror to land like a stone. He wants the nations to know, not because they were taught—but because they have seen and felt their own frailty. It is not a theology class. It is a reckoning.

This is how the binyan shapes the soul of the verse—and how form meets fervor in Biblical Hebrew.