The Hebrew Bible abounds with variants: expressions that are different, yet are similar in some respect-their meaning or their written or oral form. It is notoriously difficult to ascertain whether two expressions are variants, and, if so, what type of variant they are. I argue that the solution is to define precisely the vague notion of similarity of sound or meaning, and that linguistics provides such measures. Specifically, phonology can tell us the likelihood that a specific phoneme would be confused with another, and semantics can tell us under which conditions two expressions mean the same. I demonstrate this approach with a test case-the two different descriptions of the decorations of the Molten Sea: (sic) in 1 Kgs 7 and (sic) in 2 Chron 4.
The paper examines indications of a morphosyntactically conditioned complementary distribution of the prepositions /*il/ (< /*ilay/) and /l-/ (< /*la/ or /*li/), originally underlying the respective words and in post-Biblical Hebrew texts. Within the Bar-Kosiba letters, Tannaitic Hebrew and the Samaritan reading tradition of the Pentateuch, /*il/appears to be employed with pronominal suffixes, whereas /l-/ is found with syntactic complements. The paper proposes that the Samaritan reading tradition elucidates the rarer indications of this complementary distribution in the other texts: is only read in the Samaritan reading tradition as a reflex of/*il/ with pronominal suffixes, but as a reflex of /l-/ with syntactic complements, suggesting /*il/followed by syntactic complements to have been reanalyzed as /l-/ preceded by a prosthetic vowel [V-].
This study explores various aspects of the socio-historical landscape of the Chaldean region of Bit-Amuk & amacr;nu in 5(th) century BCE Southern Babylonia, through the lens of two previously unpublished texts from the town of & Scaron;& amacr;tir. The study offers an editio princeps of these texts, with a detailed analysis that provides new insights into the town's human landscape. Particular attention is given to the interactions between the Babylonian and West-Semitic inhabitants of & Scaron;& amacr;tir, as well as their involvement with local institutions, especially the town's local temple.
Plurals of nouns such as (sic) have been explained by appeal to the Plural of Result (also called the "Plural of Composition" or the unwieldy "Plural of Natural Object in an Unnatural Condition"). Under this theory, singular forms of such nouns refer to a substance, while plural forms of the same noun refer to multiple, separate instantiations of the substance. This paper will first chart the history of this grammatical category. It will then be shown that this grammatical category does not explain the data of Biblical Hebrew. Finally, an alternative account to the Plural of Result will be given, using insights from the linguistics of the mass-count noun distinction.
2 Kings 17 is considered a crux chapter in the book of Kings. Within the chapter, v. 21 has received significant scholarly attention. Scholars have read (sic) as active "he [YHWH] tore Israel" as well as medial "Israel tore itself away". The difference speaks to the agency of the verb as well as the reason for exile. In either reading, however, there has been a lack of linguistic analysis and argumentation. In response, this article reads the text anew with cross-linguistic research on predication. This paper presents a more judicious study of the subject and semantics of (sic). It demonstrates that the best reading of 2 Kgs 17:21 is "YHWH tore Israel from the house of David". The contribution of this article is not a new, but rather a more reasoned, reading of v. 21.
Interchanges between mem and nun in final position are well-known in rabbinic literature and adjacent corpora. This feature and its implications have been discussed extensively in scholarly literature. According to the prevailing view, the data betray two distinguishable phenomena: (a) final vowel nasalization; (b) scribal differentiation between nominal and verbal forms, reflected in the plural suffix. The paper offers a reexamination of the data, including new evidence, from a cross-dialectal perspective. It concludes that (a) nasalization was prevalent in Palestine not only in various dialects of Hebrew and Aramaic but also in Punic and Koine Greek; (b) scribal differentiation developed in Babylonia as early as the Amoraic period, wherefore its manifestations in rabbinic manuscripts should not be attributed to lateness but rather to Babylonian tradition.
This study utilizes the methodology of cohesion analysis within the framework of functional grammar to develop a starting point for a textually grounded set of criteria for determining the function of marked word-order constructions in a discourse. The provisional findings from some soundings in Habakkuk 1-2 reveal that most of the fronted constructions in this pericope serve to indicate boundaries. Whether or not the fronted element has cohesive ties elsewhere in the pericope is not necessarily of immediate use in understanding the purpose of the given instance of fronting. Another discovery is that a fronted construction often co-occurs with a change of grammatical subject (relative to the previous clause), but this new subject itself is not fronted.
Until recently, the study of Amorite has been limited to onomastic material and loanwords, primarily in Akkadian texts. The formulaic nature of personal names has restricted the range of attested verbal forms, shrouding the true nature of the Amorite verbal system. However, recently published texts containing full sentences provide invaluable examples of numerous verbal forms. This article analyses attestations of the Prefix Conjugation therein, with reference to comparative Semitic evidence, in order to assess their functions with respect to the expression of tense, mood, and aspect. The findings show that the Amorite tense-mood-aspect system is of Northwest Semitic derivation, assuaging long-standing doubts regarding the language's classification.
This study revolves around the enigmatic, wide-spread production and use of wild animal imagery in the early sedentary communities of the Neolithic Near East. Earlier interpreters have tried to make sense of the portrayals of these "animals of violence" (Hodder 2006) in terms of assumed prehistoric religious beliefs and activities in which male and female divinities and the concept of fertility played a central role (Mellaart 1967; Cauvin 2000). More recent researchers have argued, in contrast, that they should be read as visual representations of the new forms of social hierarchy and leadership that have emerged along the road towards complex society (Hodder 2006, 2010; Meskell 2008; Hodder and Meskell 2011:260). It is contended here that an explanation based on the metaphysical concepts of "animal power" and "cosmic unity" between hunter and prey - key features of the ideology of hunters across the globe - probably much closer resembles the mindset of the artists who have created the art.
The article suggests a new rendering and interpretation of the final part of the nonprovenanced "assessment ostracon". It claims that whereas lines 5-7 present the payments that 'Azzur delivered to the royal officials, lines 8-9 relate the payment he should pay in the future. Lines 8-9 should be translated, "to your assessment ((sic)): 2 shekel and 12 (gerahs) and again ((sic)) 1 [shekel] and 6 (gerahs)". The ostracon opens a narrow window to the question of how the king and his officials calculated the payments they collected from their subjects.
Although vocative expressions are pragmatically second person in that they are used to address or call to someone within the speech situation, the internal syntax of vocative expressions in Biblical Hebrew exhibits a puzzling alternation in the use of secondperson and third-person pronominal reference to refer to the addressee. This article reexamines the issue of pronominal reference within vocative expressions by considering the linguistic features of the head of the vocative expression and the syntax of phrases and/or clauses that modify it. A syntactic explanation of the distribution of secondperson and third-person pronominal reference is offered based upon the agreement of pronominal elements to their antecedents.
There is no consensus on the meaning of Deuteronomy 6:4. However, the ancient translations may give us clues to how the passage was interpreted. This study focuses on its translation in the Syriac Peshitta, considering the syntax of the enclitic pronoun, the syntax of the numeral "one", and the syntax of the remaining words of the sentence. I conclude that the Syriac translation of the last part of the verse should be analyzed as an instance of left dislocation followed by a tripartite nominal clause: "The Lord our God, the Lord is one".
It is proposed that the Hebrew Bible hapax legomenon arose as a scribal error of (sic) in Old Hebrew script.
Every occurrence of (sic) in the Hebrew Bible is associated in its context with imagery of death, suggesting that the Versions, which overwhelmingly rendered it with "shadow of death", correctly understood the intention of the original authors. This essay also discusses six different terms in Ugaritic that are most plausibly explained as compound nouns involving mt, "death", and suggests that an analogy to theophoric divine names led all these terms to be transmitted as compound nouns in W. Semitic scribal traditions. The alternative theory, that there was a noun (sic), "darkness", cannot be disproven, but the fact that the root slm does not seem to have been productive in Iron Age West Semitic languages makes it unlikely
The preposition (sic) is found accompanied by (sic) only in 1 Sam 4:18, which has led to numerous interpretations and textual emendations throughout the centuries. Most modern translations render the prepositional phrase as some variation of "beside", potentially explained by Driver's (1890:39) emendation of (sic) to (sic), even though such a reading is never attested in the Hebrew Bible for (sic) governing an inanimate landmark with the movement of an animate trajector (BHRG 39.9). The MT as it stands is intelligible, however, with the (sic) in 1 Sam 4:18 fitting the profile for an opening in a wall, in analogy with the clearer cases of "through"for (sic) with (sic).
This paper aims to take a small step towards better grasping the different "praise" words, both their conceptual overlap and differences. Two of the most important and frequent verbs for praise (sic) and (sic) are regarded as (absolute) synonyms in Biblical Hebrew. This study is contextualized within Frame Semantics. All instances in the Psalms, in which the Frame Element instrument/manner is instantiated in the use of (sic) and (sic), are analyzed. The data shows that it could be argued that there exists a conceptual distinction between the two verbs as far as this Frame Element is concerned. This draws the overall degree of conceptual overlap between the two verbs into question for the whole corpus.
Poetry is the richest form of all forms of linguistic expression. Psalm 81 is used here as an example. The psalm constitutes chiefly a speech of God and demonstrates how creative literary techniques can be used in the service of (prophetic) proclamation aimed at "listening to YHWH". Two monocola are placed at hinge points (vv. 6c and 11c), serving as structural markers. They are associated with indeterminate deictic references so that ambiguity generates multiple readings. Due to intra-textual equivalences and with the catalysing effect of allusions to passages from Deuteronomy, different statements come into play. These include, among other things, the double aspect of filling the mouth or being sated with the word of God and bodily nourishment (vv. 11c and 17ab).
This article explores the theme of heroism within the Book of Chronicles. The study explores the portrayal of heroism within the genealogical lists (1 Chron 1-9) and the narratives featuring the monarchs (1 Chron 10-2 Chron 36). The analytical findings reveal a discernible dichotomy drawn by the author, wherein the tribe of Benjamin embodies one extreme, and Solomon represents the opposite. Positioned between these extremes is King David, whom the author perceives as epitomizing the synthesis of heroic attributes.
