Biblical Hebrew Forum

["B. M. Rocine" <brocine AT twcny.rr.com>]

>

B-Haverim,

Here's a passage from Alter's Genesis that he formats as prose.  There is
one other detail about the passage that supports his determination that I
forgot to mention in my previous post.  The numbers in the passage go from
20 to 14 to 6; in other words, they decrease in value.  This would be quite
unusual in BH poetry where number values almost always *increase* in value.

Shalom,
Bryan

> Gen 31:41-42 (PROSE):
> These twenty years in your household I served you, fourteen years for your
> two daughters, and six years for your flocks, and you switched my wages
ten
> times over.  Were it not that the God of my father, the God of Abraham and
> the Terror of Isaac, was with me, you would have sent me off empty handed.
> My suffering and the toil of my hands God has seen, and last night He
> determined in my favor.
>


B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206

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