Il Miserere (Sal 51). La firma davidica al Salterio

Psalm 51 is, for obvious reasons, the psalm most studied for its structural point of view, given the richness and regularity of its repetitions. This study re-proposes a thematic analysis based on its poetic division into two stanzas of four strophes each, in a perfectly balanced structure. This analysis results at least in two conclusions. The first is the need to integrate the final verse into the structure of the psalm, which is usually considered a secondary gloss regarding the sacrifices. The second is that the author of the psalm deliberately remade the psalm to fit the pre-sacrificial situation of David (“then”), and therefore the biographical title that is attributed to this king - despite being a midrashic addition - is wholly appropriate even from the exegetical point of view, and is almost the Davidic signature of the entire Psalter.