I've spent a lot of time looking at a 1491 Incunable (87.2) at the University of Sydney rare books collection, which contains, among the writings, the text of Psalms along with a commentary by Radak (Rabbi Qimḥi). But what I can't work out is whether the "book" divisions are his or by the printer. I am working with the latter assumption but am still trying to work it out.
Here is the junction between book three and four. On the right (the top-outside-corner) is the Bible text, where a new psalm is indicated by a space either side of the the first word of Psalm 90, תְּפִלָה (n.b. without dagesh, against Leningradensis). Then on the left are Radak's comments, where we can see ברוך in square script with a space either side, telling us these are his comments on the last line of Psalm 89, and then his comments, then a large space, then, in square script, נשלם ספר שלישי ספר רביעי תפלה. That is, "end of the third book," a space, "fourth book," then a space, "prayer" and then, on the next line, back to Rashi script, with למשה איש האלדים, the first words of Psalm 90.
A few things to point out:
- Biblical quotations and book divisions are written in square script.
- The words indicating the end and beginning of books aren't in Radak's commentary in sefaria.org.
- Radak does however mention the first book and by extension all books; he has discussed it at the end of the first book, and says the author says this every time he completes a book.
The text is a little different to the one I can find on sefaria.org, mostly with the removal of the definite article in the electronic text. But it's hard to read and my Rashi-script-reading isn't great at the best of times.
Here is the end of Psalm 106 and the beginning of Psalm 107. The commentary covers the entire width of the page (we are down towards the bottom). The last line of Psalm 106 is discussed by being introduced with a gap either side of the first two words of 106, ברוך ידוה, that is, ברוך יהוה. Then we have his discussion, then a large gap after his discussion of this verse, before telling us that this is the end of the fourth book, נשלם ספר רביעי, then a new line, then ספר חמישי, book five, then a space either side of הודו, the first word of Psalm 107.
A few things to point out:
- These words indicating the old and new books aren't in Radak's commentary at sefaria.org.
- The words indicating the end of book four are written in Rashi script, as is the rest of the commentary.
- The words indicating the beginning of book five and the first word of the text of book five are in square script, as was the observed practice earlier
As mentioned above, I really struggle with Rashi script, and reading it off a 530 year old manuscript doesn't make it any easier. But with the line breaks of the Incunable, here is what I think it says, with the published text for comparison:
Incunable 87.2
אמן ואמן דברי המשורר ראה ברוח הקודש שבות י
ישראל מהגלות ונתן הודא׳ לאל׳ או מחבר הספר א
אמ׳ כן בתכלית הספר תודה לאל כמו שכותבים ה
הסופרים׳ בהשלימם׳ הספר וכבר פירשנו הפסו׳ בתכלית
הספר הראשון:
sefaria.org
דברי המשורר ראה ברוח הקודש שיבת
הגלות ונותן הודאה לאל יתב'. או מחבר הספר
אמר כן בתכלית הספר תודה לאל יתב', כמו שכותבים
הסופרים בהשלימם ספר, וכבר פירשנו הפסוק בתכלית
ספר הראשון:
In terms of translation, I think it (Radak in the Incunable) says something like:
Blessed be Yhwh forever, amen and amen. The words of the singer who spoke by the Holy Spirit about the return of Israel from the exile, and who gave praise to God. Or, the join of the book says it thus, in the context of the book, praise be to God, just as the scribes when writing in the completion of the book, and we have formerly interpreted the end in the midst of the first book.
Some notes:
- At the beginning the text includes a few more words from the Bible text, albeit in Rashi script.
- ספר is always definite in the Incunable.
- The setting out of the text justifies each line by including the first letter of the next line where required. The Bible text follows a similar practice. The next line reduplicates any letters, printing the whole word.
- Some words are abbreviated by one letter, which seems unnecessary.
- "Israel" is written in the Incunable, to specify whose return is referred to. Exile is prefixed with a mem.
- I'm always interested why sometimes the divine name and God is spelled with a qoph and here with a daleth: 'eloqim (elsewhere - Rashi from memory), or 'elodim (here), rather than 'elohim. But that's not really relevant here. The divine name in the commentary appears simply as ה׳, as in haShem.
If it is true (as I suggest) that the book divisions were introduced by the printer, we can still say that Radak was aware of the book divisions, and the way they were concluded. It doesn't seem to have made any impact on his interpretation of the psalms, except for when he refers back to the first Book as he concludes his commentary on the third book.
Otherwise, I don't really know much of anything about the transmission history of the medieval Rabbinic works, but there are clearly differences, even allowing for the errors I have certainly introduced. I would be very grateful for any enlightnment!
