The versions of Psalm 151 from the perspective of the Biblical and Semitic Rhetoric Analysis

The composition of 11QPs 151A has the form of a narrative poem divided into seven parts, which form a concentric construction similar to the so-called Menorah Psalm). They praise David’s selection as king by the prophet Samuel from among the sons of Jesse in Bethlehem (1Sam 16). The fragment 11QPs 151B stands apart as the beginning of the next Psalm belonging to the same Davidic collection. Similarly the composition of the LXX Ps 151,1-5 is concentric and divided into five parts similar to the Torah composition), and the remaining fragment of LXX Ps 151,6-7 stands apart as the beginning of a new episode in the Davidic cycle. It exalts David’s victory over Goliath (1Sam 17), which is probably also the theme of 11QPs 151B in the Psalms Scroll. It can be assumed, on the grounds of rhetorical analysis of the Greek and Hebrew versions, that both poems are derived from the same Hebrew Vorlage, with the preserved textual evidences coming from different stages of its textual development. The Greek translation seems to be corrupt and made from the shorter Hebrew version, whose subsequent full form is the version from Qumran.