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  • From: "Lewis Reich" <LBR AT sprynet.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Gen 10:21
  • Date: Sat, 24 Oct 1998 08:46:02 -0400


On 20 Oct 98, at 1:15, Peter Kirk wrote:

> Is Japheth older or younger than Shem?
>
> According to the accents of the Masoretic Text, NIV
> (also KJV, NKJV) is correct: "21 Sons were also born to
> Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the
> ancestor of all the sons of Eber." LXX and (so I am
> told) older Jewish commentators support this view.
>
> But all other modern translations I have at hand (in
> various languages) translate something like NRSV "To
> Shem... the elder brother of Japheth".
>
> MT is ...):AXEY YEPET HAG.FDOWL, with a disjunctive
> accent (Tipha) on ):AXEY and a conjunctive accent
> (Mereka) in YEPET.

It seems to me that the ambiguity is intrinsic in the
Hebrew; I'm not sure I understand how the trope provides
much evidence one way or the other. The phrase ):aXeY
YePeT HaG.fDoWL could mean either "brother of YePeT, [who
was] the elder" or "the elder brother of YePet".

Lewis Reich
LBR AT sprynet.com



  • Gen 10:21, Peter_Kirk, 10/20/1998
    • <Possible follow-up(s)>
    • Re: Gen 10:21, Ben Crick, 10/20/1998
    • Re: Gen 10:21, Lewis Reich, 10/24/1998

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