Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

Peter Kirk wrote:
> > Dave:
> >
> > You are correct that the main text described in the article covers verses 
> > 37 to 43.  There are a couple of words from verse 8 preserved on another 
> > fragment, which he also discusses in this article.  They are as follows: 
> >
> > bhnchy[l]
> > bny 'l[
> >
> > The text cuts off there, so we can't tell whether the word is 'l, 'lym or 
> > 'lhym.
> 
> Do I understand that people are trying to reconstruct the text here 
> based on a fragment of papyrus or whatever consisting of one complete 
> word and two partial words? Might these words not have come from some 
> completely different text? And of course there are many other words 
> beginning with 'l.

Parchment, I believe, and the answer is, yes.  Whether the smaller 
fragment actually came from some other text is what I hope to find 
out by re-examining the article (hopefully it has a photo).  When I 
originally compiled my Catalog of Biblical Passages in the Dead 
Sea Scrolls (my Masters thesis, now pending publication), for 
some reason I left out this fragment; I now want to know why I did 
that.  I'm guessing that either the letters were too poor quality to 
read with certainty (at least for me) or I couldn't verify that the 
fragment came from the same scroll (and from the precise position) 
as the larger one.  My guess is that it was placed where it was by 
comparing scribal hands and by stichometry.  Of course, a lot 
depends on where the small fragment was found in relation to the 
larger one, textual predispositions of those reconstructing it, and a 
host of other factors, so I doubt we can establish this reading (in 
this ms.) with much certainty.  4QDeut(j), OTOH, does read Elohim 
as I already mentioned.  But that in itself may or may not mean 
something, depending on one's view of the nature of cave 4.

> 
> "A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't."
> 
> Yes, but that much falling apart is ridiculous!

If my Bible is even still in existence 2,000 years from now I'll be 
surprised!

Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
A Bible that's falling apart means a life that isn't.