[b-hebrew] Psalms and Sedarim
Brak
Brak at neo.rr.com
Sun Jun 11 20:42:37 EDT 2006
I was kind of suspect that this might be the reason behind the divisions
- but it was just a thought.
Since you gave the same idea/theory,I decided to actually check this to
see if it is so.
I ran a program to analyze sedarim breaks calculating both the number of
verses and number of words.
The result: the sedarim division DO NOT separate the text into equal
parts - not even close.
Here are the actual output from the program. I only checked the first
three books of the Prophets - Joshua, Judges, and Samuel.
************************************************************************************
01: Jos 001:001 - Jos 003:006 Verses: 48 Words: 823
02: Jos 003:007 - Jos 004:023 Verses: 34 Words: 569
03: Jos 004:024 - Jos 006:026 Verses: 42 Words: 777
04: Jos 006:027 - Jos 007:026 Verses: 27 Words: 503
05: Jos 008:001 - Jos 008:032 Verses: 32 Words: 547
06: Jos 008:033 - Jos 010:007 Verses: 37 Words: 629
07: Jos 010:008 - Jos 010:041 Verses: 34 Words: 600
08: Jos 010:042 - Jos 012:024 Verses: 49 Words: 681
09: Jos 013:001 - Jos 014:014 Verses: 47 Words: 705
10: Jos 014:015 - Jos 017:003 Verses: 77 Words: 763
11: Jos 017:004 - Jos 018:027 Verses: 42 Words: 661
12: Jos 018:028 - Jos 019:050 Verses: 51 Words: 478
13: Jos 019:051 - Jos 021:040 Verses: 50 Words: 713
14: Jos 021:041 - Jos 022:033 Verses: 38 Words: 745
15: Jos 022:034 - Jos 024:033 Verses: 50 Words: 889
01: Jud 001:001 - Jud 002:006 Verses: 42 Words: 618
02: Jud 002:007 - Jud 003:030 Verses: 47 Words: 738
03: Jud 003:031 - Jud 005:030 Verses: 55 Words: 792
04: Jud 005:031 - Jud 006:039 Verses: 40 Words: 678
05: Jud 006:040 - Jud 008:002 Verses: 28 Words: 552
06: Jud 008:003 - Jud 009:006 Verses: 39 Words: 612
07: Jud 009:007 - Jud 009:057 Verses: 51 Words: 761
08: Jud 010:001 - Jud 011:031 Verses: 49 Words: 764
09: Jud 011:032 - Jud 013:023 Verses: 47 Words: 757
10: Jud 013:024 - Jud 016:002 Verses: 44 Words: 707
11: Jud 016:003 - Jud 018:005 Verses: 47 Words: 824
12: Jud 018:006 - Jud 019:019 Verses: 45 Words: 775
13: Jud 019:020 - Jud 020:026 Verses: 37 Words: 601
14: Jud 020:027 - Jud 021:025 Verses: 47 Words: 727
01: 1Sa 001:001 - 1Sa 002:009 Verses: 37 Words: 517
02: 1Sa 002:010 - 1Sa 003:019 Verses: 46 Words: 740
03: 1Sa 003:020 - 1Sa 006:013 Verses: 49 Words: 855
04: 1Sa 006:014 - 1Sa 009:001 Verses: 48 Words: 738
05: 1Sa 009:002 - 1Sa 010:023 Verses: 49 Words: 856
06: 1Sa 010:024 - 1Sa 012:021 Verses: 40 Words: 697
07: 1Sa 012:022 - 1Sa 014:022 Verses: 49 Words: 768
08: 1Sa 014:023 - 1Sa 015:016 Verses: 46 Words: 749
09: 1Sa 015:017 - 1Sa 016:017 Verses: 36 Words: 549
10: 1Sa 016:018 - 1Sa 017:036 Verses: 42 Words: 639
11: 1Sa 017:037 - 1Sa 018:013 Verses: 35 Words: 548
12: 1Sa 018:014 - 1Sa 020:004 Verses: 45 Words: 747
13: 1Sa 020:005 - 1Sa 020:041 Verses: 37 Words: 599
14: 1Sa 020:042 - 1Sa 022:003 Verses: 20 Words: 365
15: 1Sa 022:004 - 1Sa 024:019 Verses: 67 Words: 1127
16: 1Sa 024:020 - 1Sa 025:032 Verses: 36 Words: 604
17: 1Sa 025:033 - 1Sa 026:024 Verses: 36 Words: 665
18: 1Sa 026:025 - 1Sa 028:023 Verses: 36 Words: 642
19: 1Sa 028:024 - 1Sa 030:024 Verses: 37 Words: 662
20: 1Sa 030:025 - 2Sa 002:006 Verses: 53 Words: 740
21: 2Sa 002:007 - 2Sa 003:020 Verses: 46 Words: 745
22: 2Sa 003:021 - 2Sa 005:009 Verses: 40 Words: 729
23: 2Sa 005:010 - 2Sa 007:015 Verses: 54 Words: 806
24: 2Sa 007:016 - 2Sa 010:011 Verses: 56 Words: 908
25: 2Sa 010:012 - 2Sa 012:012 Verses: 47 Words: 780
26: 2Sa 012:013 - 2Sa 013:024 Verses: 43 Words: 715
27: 2Sa 013:025 - 2Sa 014:032 Verses: 47 Words: 830
28: 2Sa 014:033 - 2Sa 015:036 Verses: 37 Words: 620
29: 2Sa 015:037 - 2Sa 017:019 Verses: 43 Words: 750
30: 2Sa 017:020 - 2Sa 018:026 Verses: 36 Words: 664
31: 2Sa 018:027 - 2Sa 019:039 Verses: 45 Words: 813
32: 2Sa 019:040 - 2Sa 021:006 Verses: 37 Words: 679
33: 2Sa 021:007 - 2Sa 022:050 Verses: 66 Words: 691
34: 2Sa 022:051 - 2Sa 024:025 Verses: 65 Words: 927
************************************************************************************
So the question remains:
What is the rhyme and reason behind the placement of these break points?
What is the method to this apperent madness?
B"H
Brak
JAMES CHRISTIAN READ wrote:
>I haven't looked into this much but in light of Yigal's
>explanation it would seem that making the separations
>in logical places was of little importance and that the
>aim was rather to divide the reading up into equally
>sized chunks.
>
>I find this most interesting actually, because it does
>bring to light evidences about the older form and order
>of the cannon.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Brak <Brak at neo.rr.com>
>To: b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org
>Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:23:04 -0500
>Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalms and Sedarim
>
>So this goes to my original question. IF these breaks indicate reading
>portions why are a lot of them placed in places where (in my logic)
>should be placed. Such as in the middle or the 2nd to the last or third
>to the last verse of a Psalm, or no breaks at the beginning of a book in
>the Minor Prophets. In many places the breaks are put in the middle of
>conversations and thoughts. In one place there is a list of genealogies.
>And a break is place in between a man's 4th son and his 5th son (I don't
>remember where it is at, I would have to look for it at a later time).
>
>
>
>Yigal Levin wrote:
>
>
>
>>Dear James,
>>
>>The sedarim are meand for daily reading, one seder a day. So the reader
>>would go through the entire book in two months!
>>
>>The intrduction to the Koren Tanakh, while not dealing specifically with the
>>Psalms, does say the following: the division of the Torah into 154 sedarim
>>follows the ancient custom of reading the Torah over a triannual cycle, one
>>seder for each Sabbath (the present custom is to divide the whole Torah into
>>52 "parshiyot", one for each Sabbath of the year). Additionally, according
>>to the Koren, the entire Tanakh is divided into 293 sedarim, which is the
>>number of non-holydays in the solar year (that is, 365 minus 52 Sabbaths, 7
>>days of Passover, 1 of Shavuot, 2 of Rosh Hashanah, 1 Yom Kippur, 8 Sukkot
>>and the 9th of Av). So, the division enables one to read through the entire
>>Tanakh in a year of "weekdays", leaving the holidays and Sabbaths for their
>>own assigned readings.
>>
>>Yigal
>>
>>
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