Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Penner" <pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca>]

Ian Hutchesson wrote re:1QS 7:6-7

> They all agree on the notion of "in full" (br'$w, "in its 
> sum", BDB), but I can't get that from brw$w (which seems to 
> me to be possibly "in his/its poverty"). How do people 
> analyse this word?

It's "rosh", but spelled with a waw mater rather than a quiescent alef,
as also in 1QS X 8. So the BDB entry for r'$ is applicable. The noun
forms of the root RW$ in BDB all have Y (i-class vowels) rather than W
(u-class vowels), however, it is not easy to distinguish a Y from a W in
the scrolls.

> All the translations seem to agree on the notion of neglect 
> for ytrmh, but, according to BDB, rmh is heavier than neglect 
> (deceit). Am I missing something?

There are three roots RMH in BDB. Number two is "deceive", and number
three is "loosen (> be negligent)". As far as I can tell, none occur in
a tD stem, although Jastrow's entry for the Aramaic Itpe. lists "to
happen, chance", which may be related to negligence=leaving something to
chance. Can you offer a better explanation why the T is there? Usually
the tD stem is the reflexive/reciprocal of the Piel, which is attested
with the meaning "deceive".

Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Regent College), M.A. (McMaster)
Ph.D. Student, Religious Studies, Biblical Field (Early Judaism major)
McMaster University
Hamilton, Canada
pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca