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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Dora Smith <villandra AT austin.rr.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Dating the Psalms by language
  • Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 20:39:32 +0000

On 31/10/2004 16:52, Dora Smith wrote:

I am wondering;

Wouldn't psalms that got put through the redaction process after the exile
have been transposed into the later Hebrew? So that from the language we
know a psalm was written by a certain date but not that it wasn't written
hundreds of years earlier?


Well, I wonder. Some redaction of the Psalms is certainly possible. But updating the language of a poem is not very easy (as is obvious from a quick read of updated language versions of hymns in some British hymn books). And it seems that archaic features were retained in poems such as Exodus 15 and Judges 5, although the surrounding prose has been conformed to a rather uniform style. So maybe it is more likely that the Psalms as we have them have not been significantly updated from their original forms.

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
The American Colonies


So you won't be voting next week, but pledging allegiance to Her Majesty? :-)

Actually Texas never was one of our colonies. Perhaps we ought to decide whether to accept it. We would be happy to take you, Dora, but I'm not sure about all your fellow Texans!

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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