Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 01:56 PM 7/15/2003 -0500, Karl Randolph wrote:
>Dear Yigal:
>
>After reading several verses where the text made better sense using
different dots than what the Masorites inserted, I started reading an
unpointed text. Therefore in this question, an unpointed text supports a
plural reading as well as singular, and the plural fits the context better.
>
>In the face of what I think is overwhelming contextual evidence that “my
servants” should be read as plural, does anyone have any clue why the
Masorites made this a singular?
>
Very good question, to which I do not have an answer. However, I do not
accept your premise (if I understand it correctly), that the Masorites
more-or-less invented the vocalization. They were heirs to a long tradition
of reading and interpretaion. I know that there are many cases in which
alternative readings seem to make more sense; this may be one of them. But
before I "sign on", I want to find out if there are witnesses to a plural
reading (such as the LXX, or DDS versions with two yods). If not, I'm
willing to admit that here's one more text in which we find if difficult to
understand the author's full meaning.

Yigal



Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.