Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Liz,

>Do you think Nebuchadnezzar's army would cut the vessels to pieces
>(qiCCeC) or do you think the gold was stripped from them (qaCaC)?

HH: I have thought that the vessels were cut in pieces for easy transport.
I trust the Piel pointing of the Massoretic tradition in 2 Kings 24:13. The
object of the verb is the vessels themselves; they cut the vessels of gold.
But in 2 Kings 18:16 the same Piel is used of cutting the doors of the
temple, where it is evident that the purpose was to get the gold. So it may
be hard to speak definitively. Perhaps commentaries might offer detail
about the practice.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard
                                Dallas, TX