Read It Like This

For His wrath lasts but a moment; life results from His favor; in the evening, weeping may tarry, but in the morning there is joyful singing.  Psalm 30:6  Hebrew Bible  Chabad

A moment – No vowels.  Remember that.  The absence of vowels leads to some interesting, and important, alternatives.  Note the Hebrew (pointed) translation from Chabad above:

כִּ֚י רֶ֥גַע בְּאַפּוֹ֘ חַיִּ֪ים בִּרְצ֫וֹנ֥וֹ בָּ֖עֶרֶב יָלִ֥ין בֶּ֗כִי וְלַבֹּ֥קֶר רִנָּֽה

For His wrath lasts but a moment; life results from His favor; in the evening, weeping may tarry, but in the morning there is joyful singing.  Hebrew Bible  Psalm 30:6  Chabad

This word is read with the vowel “e.”  The verb root that results is:

2116    רָגַע (rāgaʿ) I, act in an instant.  Derivative 2116a  רֶגַע (regaʿ) a moment.^[1]

“The differentiation between this root and rāgaʿ “to rest” is very difficult to determine. However, in several ot passages there appears to be a usage of the root with an antithetical meaning, ‘act quickly,’ ‘act in an instant.’”^[2]

But what if the vowel is “o’?  What if the word is roga instead of rega?  There isn’t any compelling reason to read it with an “e” rather than an “o,” except tradition, and tradition isn’t always right.  If we read the word with an “o,” then we have a different meaning even though the root verb is spelled with the same consonants.  Now it means “to tremble, to shake,” and our verse becomes something like “When God is angry, tremble.”

But it isn’t just the absent vowels that present a problem for this verse.  The verbal root has two (perhaps three) different meanings.  The translation above assumes the root is rāgaʿ I.  But there is another:

2117    רָגַע (rāgaʿ) II, rest, be at repose.

2117a  רָגֵַע (rāgēaʿ) restful, quiet (Ps 35:20).

2117b  מַרְגּוַֹע (margôaʿ) rest (Jer 6:16).

2117c  מַרְגֵּעָה (margēʿâ) rest, repose (Isa 28:12).^[3]

William White notes: “The root rāgaʿ is a very difficult one to separate into its philological and semantic relationships. Although there is a development of the root in Judeo-Arabic and the later Semitic dialects, there are no ancient cognates. The root appears fifteen times in the ot. It appears to have two opposite meanings which are still not adequately explained. They are nearly equally divided. The first is ‘rest,’ ‘be at repose’ (Deut 28:65; KJV, RSV, ‘ease’; jps, ‘repose’). This meaning extends to several stems of the root. The second is ‘stir,’ ‘act in a moment’ (Jer 49:19; KJV, RSV, ‘suddenly’). The versions both ancient and modern are confused and most follow the context in translating this difficult root.”^[4]  In other words, no one knows for sure what this sentence is supposed to say.  Is it “For His wrath lasts for a moment, a lifetime of His favor” or is it “Since (or “except”) His wrath rests, a lifetime of His favor.”

White continues:

2116a  רֶגַע (regaʿ) a moment.

The differentiation between this root and rāgaʿ “to rest” is very difficult to determine. However, in several otpassages there appears to be a usage of the root with an antithetical meaning, “act quickly,” “act in an instant.”

A key passage for the meaning of the verb is Isa 51:4, KJV, “And I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.” RSV disregards the whole problem, “And my justice for a light to the people.” The jps, on the other hand, reads, “And my right on a sudden for a light of the peoples.” None of these translations are acceptable, as the Hebrew says, “For law (tôrâ) shall go forth from me, and my instruction shall instantly be a light of the people.” The same confusion exists among the lexica which differentiate the roots in contradictory ways. Another passage which yields this second verbal root is Job 20:5. However, the phrase occurs at the end of a long parallel construction, (vv. 4–5), “Did you not know this from olden times, since man was put upon earth, that the wicked’s triumphing is short-lived, and the joy of the godless but for an instant (rāgaʿ).” Similar occurrences are found in Jer 49:19; 50:44 and Prov 12:19. The masculine noun regaʿ occurs twenty times in the ot in the sense of a momentary or instant space of time. The initial usage is in Ex 33:5, “If I go among thee for one moment.” In the plural it means “every moment” (Isa 27:3), “I, the Lord, am its keeper; I water it every moment.” In one passage there is confusion about the meaning of the root (Job 21:13). RSV, “They spend their lives in prosperity, and in peace go down to Sheol,” is incorrect, the root regaʿ still maintains the meaning “a moment.” The proper reading is that of the KJV.^[5]

How will you read the text?  Well, unless you understood the complications of the Hebrew root, you’d read it just as the translators tell you.  You’d probably read it as it is recorded at the beginning of this investigation.  You’d read it as Jack Riemer suggests (which is to read “in a moment” as it is translated in Jeremiah 31:35 as “to stir up, to disturb”).  He writes:

“The simplest way to read it is: when God is angry, there is roga. Roga means ‘to tremble, or ‘to shake.’   So when God is angry, the earth shakes.  That could be what the verse means.  But now let me show you another way to read this line.  Rega means ‘a moment’ or ‘a short time.’  Biblical Hebrew has no vowels; in verse 6 this word could be read as roga orrega  So it may mean God is angry for a brief moment, but his love is constant.”[6]

Is Riemer right?  It seems to me that he has it backwards.  We expect rega as “in a moment.”  We do not expect roga in this verse.  After all, the context isn’t about God’s anger.  It’s about gratitude for God’s patience.  It could be roga, or it could be the other meaning of the root (which Riemer doesn’t mention).  But at least now you know the alternatives, something your translators didn’t bother to mention.

Topical Index: rega, roga, vowels, raga, moment, tremble, Psalm 30:6

^[1] White, W. (1999). 2116 רָגַע. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 832). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4] White, W. (1999). 2117 רָגַע. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., pp. 832–833). Chicago: Moody Press.

^[5] White, W. (1999). 2116 רָגַע. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 832). Chicago: Moody Press.

[6] Jack Riemer and Elie Spitz, Duets on Psalms: Drawing New Meaning from Ancient Words (Ben Yehuda Press, 2023), p. 115.