[b-hebrew] Regnal resume variation in Kings
Ben Crick
ben.crick at argonet.co.uk
Sat Jul 16 11:21:41 EDT 2005
On Sat 16 Jul 2005 (00:03:08), christopher.heard at pepperdine.edu wrote:
> However, what remains unexplained (Karl considers it only a minor
> variation, and that may
> be all it is) is the reason why five such references read "behold
> them written" and all other such instances of the formula read "are
> they not written?" It's not the phenomenon of referencing other books
> that has piqued my curiosity; it is the verbal variance in the
> quotation in only these few cases.
Dear Christopher,
Sorry if I was merely repeating the obvious. To address your question,
ISTM that what we have here is a "Litotes". Instead of stating "They are
written in the books...", for stylistic variation he asks a rhetorical
question "Are they not written... ?". This is a question expecting a
negative reply; "No; they are indeed written...". We can't do this very
well in English: the Germans negate a negative with "Doch...", and the
French with "Si...".
I'm a traditionalist when it comes to authorship (penmanship) and date.
However, that is not germane to B-Hebrew.
Shalom
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF ZFC Hf
<ben.crick at NOSPAM.argonet.co.uk>
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