In addition to the problems already mentioned, there are the various verses included in some versions but relegated to the footnotes in others due to different assesment of the manuscript evidence, even if one ignores the wholesale rearrangements popular in some renditions. Also, there's one psalm missing a bit in standard translations but restorable from the Dead Sea scrolls (it's acrostic, so the omission is hard to question). Does this get a new verse number or just 14b?
All Scripture is usefull for teaching, etc., so no matter what the middle verse is, it can be argued to be important. Additionally, as Psalms is the longest book and close to the middle in many arrangements, there is a good chance of the middle falling somewhere within it, however one measures it. As wisdom literature, it lacks some of the types of verses that are hard to claim as having great significance, e.g., so and so begat so and so begat so and so; say hi to so and so, so and so sends greetings; they went from there to the next town. Although they have their importance in context, as isolated verses they do not do much, whereas a random verse from Psalms, Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes is a bit more likely to contain a complete idea.
Dr. David Campbell
"Old Seashells"
Biology Department
Saint Mary's College of Maryland
18952 E. Fisher Road
St. Mary's City, MD 20686-3001 USA
dcampbell@osprey.smcm.edu, 301 862-0372 Fax: 301 862-0996
"Mollusks murmured 'Morning!'. And salmon chanted 'Evening!'."-Frank Muir, Oh My Word!
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