Symmachus uses the lexeme ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι in his translation of Psalm 55[56]:11.¹ The relevant passage reads as follows in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text:

1. Hexaplaric Evidence for ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι (σ' Ps 55:11b)

The Göttingen Hexapla Database, which is in its Beta version, gives the following information for Psalm 55[56]:11b:

1.1. MT

The Masoretic Text has the verb אֲהַלֵּל, a first-person singular yiqtol verb from the root הלל in the piel stem. The verb הלל (piel) is very common, occurring approximately fifty times in the Masoretic Psalter.² The Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew defines it as an “action by which humans or divine beings express their appreciation, admiration, respect, and/or gratitude to (other) humans or deities about who they are and what they do.”³ The verb can have other senses as well, depending on the context, but the sense defined above is the one that is active in Psalm 56:11 and in most of the word’s occurrences in the Psalter.

            Psalm 56:11 is somewhat unique in that the same verb הלל (piel) occurs twice in a single verse (see also Pss 113:1; 135:1; 148:1–3; 150:1–5), and both times with the direct object דָּבָר. Indeed, the degree of repetition between the two lines is rather striking, the only difference being the reference to God in each line: “In God (בֵּאלֹהִים), whose word I praise, in God (בַּיהוָה), whose word I praise” (RJPS). Ancient interpreters handled this repetition in different ways.⁴ The Septuagint, for example, translates the word דָּבָר differently in each line: “In God I will praise with a word (ῥῆμα); in the Lord I will praise with a statement (λόγον)” (NETS). Jerome (iuxta Hebr.), in addition to translating דָּבָר differently in each line, also varies his translation of the verbs: in Deo laudabo verbum in Domino praedicabo sermonem.⁵ Aquila does the same, interpreting the first instance of הלל (piel) in the sense of “boast” and the second instance in the sense of “praise”: ἐν θεῷ καυχήσομαι ῥῆμα, ἐν κυρίῳ ὑμνήσω λόγον. The Peshitta only translates the first line: ܠܡܠܬܗ   ܕܐܠܗܐ ܐܫܒܚ.⁶ The Targum focuses on the different ways of referring to God, seeing in the first reference (בֵּאלֹהִים) an allusion to God’s justice and in the second (בַּיהוָה) an allusion to his mercy: “In the measure of the justice of God I shall praise his Memra; in the measure of the mercy of the Lord I shall praise his Memra.”⁷ As will be discussed below, Symmachus also dealt with the repetition in a creative way. Indeed, the unique lexeme ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι appears to be part of his attempt to add variety to the verse.

1.2. LXX

The Septuagint has the verb αἰνέσω, a first-person future active indicative verb related to the lexical form αἰνέω, “to praise extol.”⁸ This lexeme is the Psalms translator’s default equivalent for the verb הלל (piel/pual).⁹ In Psalm 55[56]:11, the translator uses the word twice – αἰνέσω… αἰνέσω – thus matching the variation in the Hebrew text. As noted above, however, the translator gives a different translation of דָּבָר in each line: ῥῆμα vs λόγον.

1.3. Aquila and Symmachus

Among the Hexaplaric translations, only the translations of Aquila and Symmachus have survived. In Psalm 55[56]:11b, Aquila has the verb ὑμνήσω, and Symmachus has the verb ὑμνοποιήσομαι. The Database, in its Beta version, has drawn these readings from Field’s edition of the Hexapla.¹⁰ Field reconstructs both readings for the entire verse as follows: Ἀ. ἐν θεῷ καυχήσομαι ῥῆμα, ἐν κυρίῳ ὑμνήσω λόγον. Σ. τὸν θεὸν ὑμνολογήσω, διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον.”¹¹ He notes that both readings come from Eusebius and that the reading for Symmachus is also attested by one of the “Reg.” manuscripts, apparently Ra 1133 (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Grec 139).¹² The following section discusses each of these sources.

2. Manuscript Attestation and Patristic Evidence (σ' Ps 55:11b)

2.1. Eusebius

The quotation of Eusebius is based on the 10^th century manuscript Codex Coislinianus 44, the only direct witness of Eusebius’ commentary for Psalms 51–95. The reading attributed to Symmachus for Psalm 55:11b – ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον– appears twice on folio 32r, first at the top of the first column and then a second time near the bottom of the column:

Codex Coislinianus 44, f. 32r

https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b11004562j/f34

The full passage reads as follows according to Bandt’s edition:¹³

            The two quotations of Symmachus for v. 11b are slightly different. The first one reads διὰ τοῦ θεοῦὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον, while the second one reads διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον. It is difficult to know which is the actual reading for Symmachus. On the one hand, the extended quotation at the beginning of the passage, which reads θεοῦ (cf. Ra 1133 below), is more likely to present Symmachus’ actual wording without contextual embellishment. By contrast, in the short quotation at the end of the passage, Eusebius might have harmonized Symmachus’ reading to the Septuagint and Aquila (κύριος) so as not to distract from the main point of his comparison, i.e., the syntax of the clause and especially the verbs (αἰνέσω vs ὑμνήσω vs ὑμνοποιήσομαι). Yet, on the other hand, the translation διὰ τοῦ κυρίουwould more clearly reflect the underlying Hebrew text in v. 11b (בַּיהוָה). Furthermore, it seems unlikely that Symmachus would have flattened out the only difference between these two lines in Hebrew, especially when Rabbinic interpretation makes so much of the difference (see above). If θεοῦ in the extended quotation is secondary, then it might have arisen due to the influence of the surrounding references to God as θεός.

2.2. Ra 1133

The manuscript known as the “Paris Psalter,” (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Grec 139 = Ra 1133), which Field and Montfaucon cite as one of the “Reg.” manuscripts, contains the text of Psalms surrounded by a Catena commentary.¹⁴ The relevant reading, attributed to Symmachus, appears on f. 161v:

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Grec 139 (Ra 1133), f. 161v

The entire Symmachus quotation is identical in scope (οἶδα – ἄνθρωπος) and content to the quotation found in Eusebius’ commentary. The Catena also quotes Aquila, and, again, it quotes the same part of the text that is preserved in Eusebius, with some minor differences.¹⁵ It is likely, then, that this Catena is dependent on Eusebius’ commentary and is not an independent witness to the reading ὑμνοποιήσομαι.

2.3. Refined Representation of Hexaplaric Evidence (σ' Ps 55:11b)

A refined representation of the reading in question and its attestation looks like this:

3. Analysis of σ' ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι in Ps 55:11b

The word ὑμνοποιήσομαι, which Symmachus uses in Psalm 55[56]:11b to translate the Hebrew word אֲהַלֵּל, is a first-person middle future indicative verb (infinitive: ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι; lexical form: ὑμνοποιέομαι). Elsewhere, Symmachus translates the Hebrew verb הלל (piel) with the lexeme ὑμνεῖν (Pss 21:23; 21:24; 34:18; 43:9; 55:5; 62:6; 112:1ab; 118:164; 148:3; 150:1) and occasionally with other words, e.g., αἰνεῖν (Pss 9:24; 147:1) and ἐμφωνεῖν (Ps 68:31).¹⁶ In this verse, however, he uses the lexeme ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι, which appears to be a hapax legomenon in all surviving Greek literature. The lexica analyze the word as follows:¹⁷

The lexica generally agree that ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι means “to make/sing a song/hymn.” They also associate this word with the related adjective ὑμνοποιός, which occurs twice in Euripides (Rhesus, 651; Supplices, 180) and once in an inscription (Inscriptiones Graecae 12[7].449.7), describing someone “who is an author of hymns, composing songs.”¹⁸

            Despite its status as a hapax, the basic sense of ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι is etymologically transparent. It is a compound word with two main elements: ὑμνο- + -ποιεῖσθαι. Elsewhere, these elements occur in compound with other words. For example, compounds beginning with ὑμνο- include: ὑμνο-λογέω (“to sing hymns”), ὑμνο-πολεύω (“to compose hymns”), ὑμνο-πολέω (“to praise”), ὑμν-ῳδέω (“to sing hymns”).¹⁹ Similarly, examples of compounds ending in -ποιεῖσθαιinclude: σπονδο-ποιέομαι (“pour a libation”) στεγο-ποιέομαι (“build oneself a house”), υἱο-ποιέομαι (“adopt as a son”) and χαρακο-ποιέομαι (“form a palisade, fortify a camp”).²⁰ Furthermore, the independent words ποιεῖν and ὕμνος are sometimes collocated with the sense “make a hymn/song.”²¹ The compound lexeme ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι, therefore, probably has the basic sense “to make a hymn/song.”

            This basic sense of the word works well in the context of Symmachus’ translation. Fortunately, Eusebius provides the complete syntagmatic (sentence) context for the lexeme in question, along with several of the surrounding lines:²²

Before determining the meaning of ὑμνοποιήσομαι, it is necessary to clarify the syntax, particularly the syntactic function of λόγον. This word, which is in the accusative case, could either be an adverbial accusative (cf. LXX according to NETS) or the direct object of ὑμνοποιήσομαι. In the former case, the clause might be translated, “I will make a song with a word,” and in the latter case, “I will make a word into a song.” The latter option is perhaps the simplest. The lexemeποιεῖν, even in the middle voice (ποιεῖσθαι), can take two accusative objects: “to make X [acc.] become Y [acc.].”²³ An interesting parallel to this expression occurs in (Pseudo-)Athanasius, where ἐπαινέσω τοὺς λόγους μου (LXX, Ps 55:5) is paraphrased as ὅλους τοὺς λόγους μου ὕμνους ποιῶν (“making all of my words into songs”).²⁴ In the case of the similar phrase ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον, the word λόγον is likely the direct object, and the first element of the verbal compound (ὑμνο-ποιήσομαι) functions as a second object. Thus: “to make a word into a song.”

            This interpretation of Symmachus’ translation also represents a plausible interpretation of the underlying Hebrew text: אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר. The verb אֲהַלֵּל, apparently with דָּבָר as its direct object, is in the piel stem, and one of the major functions of the piel stem is causativity: “cause X to become Y.”²⁵ This would not be the only place where Symmachus uses a compound with the root -ποι- to represent the causative function of the piel.²⁶

            It is interesting to note how Symmachus varies his translation of the two Hebrew lines, which are nearly identical. In the first line, he translates אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר with the single compound word ὑμνο-λογήσω (“to sing hymns, praise”), the ὑμνο- part of the compound representing the semantic content of אֲהַלֵּל and the -λογ- part of the compound representing דָּבָר.²⁷ In this first line, he also translates the phrase בֵּאלֹהִים as an accusative direct object: τὸν θεὸν. Thus, v. 11a says, “I will praise God with a song.” In the second line, however, he translates the same words and syntactic structures in different ways to convey a different meaning: אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר is translated as ὑμνοποιήσομαι λόγον (“I will make a word into a song”), and the bet prepositional phrase (בַּיהוָה) is translated in an instrumental sense: διὰ τοῦ κυρίου, i.e., “through the Lord with the Lord’s help.” Furthermore, the similar phrase אֲהַלֵּל דְּבָרוֹ occurs earlier in the same psalm (v. 5), and Symmachus gives yet another translation: ὑμνήσω τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ.²⁸ He appears to have resisted translating אֲהַלֵּל with the same Greek word more than once in this psalm. Thus, the first time אֲהַלֵּל occurs in this psalm, he uses his default equivalent, ὑμνεῖν (cf. Pss 21:23; 21:24; 34:18; 43:9; 55:5; 62:6; 112:1ab; 118:164; 148:3; 150:1). But for each subsequent occurrence of the word, he uses a chooses a different, increasingly rare, Greek word: ὑμνολογεῖν and, finally, ὑμνοποιεῖσθαι.