Biblical Hebrew Forum

[decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca (Vincent DeCaen)]

if i remember correctly, Isaiah 40, "a voice crying ...."

prepositional phrases in hebrew as in english are notoriously ambiguous as
to syntax. in this case, bammidbar "in the desert", could go both ways.
but the cantillation forces the reading,"A voice crying, "In the
desert make way...."". However, this is a case where the other reading has
come down to us through the Christian scriptures: "A voice crying out in
the desert, "Make way...."". Both are possible without context. Quite
different meaning, and again, this happens on a regular basis with such
syntax.

but i would say this: the vowelling and cantillation are a package deal,
inseparable. take one, you get the other. so an interesting problem for
conservative Christians, i would think. ;-)

sholom
V -- 
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Dr Vincent DeCaen     <decaen AT chass.utoronto.ca>
c/o Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, 4 Bancroft Ave., 2d floor
University of Toronto, Toronto ON, CANADA, M5S 1A1

Hebrew Syntax Encoding Initiative, www.chass.utoronto.ca/~decaen/hsei/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-I
Xue dao lao, huo dao lao, hai you sanfen xue bu dao.
Zhu ni xuexi yukuai!