284 FORMS OF HEBREW POETRY
which should precede it, and the s, which should
follow, are not found in the present text. Having
regard to these facts alone, we might consider
the position of n in relation to q accidental. But
when we connect this with our previous conclu-
sion, such an explanation becomes difficult ; for
n occurs at the correct interval before not only
q but also before p and f. I recall further at
this point that the fifth line after the n (x. 5 b),
where initial n should stand, is suspicious, though
perhaps not impossible, in style, and that the
substitution of ''a similar word beginning with s
appears to be a considerable improvement. The
case of the missing initial n may be taken with a
consideration of the first part of the poem; and
this may be brief, for opinion differs less seriously
here.
Of late it has never been seriously questioned
that Psalm ix. was originally alphabetic, and this
being so it is unnecessary to discuss at length
whether the d and h strophes were shorter than
the rest in the original poem. No reason or sound
analogy can be given for such abbreviation, and
we have not the slightest ground for assuming
that the author was such a bungler as without
reason to have failed in the very simple art of
writing an alphabetic poem. It follows that the
equivalent of about four lines has fallen out of
the text between ix. 6 and ix. 10.
But if this has certainly happened at one point