Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Studium Biblicum Franciscanum <sbfnet AT netvision.net.il>]

 On  04/21/99 (Re: 2 Kings 23.7)  Irene Riegner wrote:


> Dear List People,
> 
> How should one understand this verse?
> How should one understand the word  _btym_?  Houses?  What are
> _houses_  for the asherah?  Is there a more arcane meaning for
> _btym_ in this context?  How should one understand the 2nd clause
> beginning with  _)$r_, the clause after the etnachah?  Is this
> something like a parenthetical clause, an identifying aside?  Are
> the women weaving inside the houses of the holy men (there's no
> reason to presuppose they are male prostitutes)?  Shouldn't
> _$m_  have a   beth_  in front of it  _b$m_?
> 

Dear irene Riegner,

if this is not too late fore an answer, I would note that traditional Jewish exegetes such as Rashi and Radak understood *battim* as "curtains" (in Hebrew *yeri`ot*), a meaning also attested in Rabbinic literature (see Jastrow's dictionary).
Tha syntactic construction is OK, and seems well rendered in the following translation: "He tore down the cubicles of the male prostitutes in the House of the LORD, at the place where the women wove coverings for Asherah" (JPS).

Peace and all good.
Alviero Niccacci


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