Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David P Donnelly <davedonnelly1 AT juno.com>]

Ken,

Thank you for the information.

Some sources indicate that vowel-letters were not used in the Hebrew text

until about 1000 B.C. to 900 B.C.

Does sufficient evidence exist to say that:
in Genesis 1:1,
in the original autograph,
it was unlikely that Elohiym had a Yod being used as a vowel-letter for
the vowel "i"?

Do any extant Hebrew texts as old as say 1100 B.C. [or earlier] even
exist,
so that scholars would know that in the oldest copies [or fragments] of
the Book of Genesis,
there wasn't a Yod in Elohiym, 
so therefore, it must have been added at a later date?

Dave Donnelly






On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 10:02:14 -0400 "Ken Penner" <pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca>
writes:
> > I assume that there are no Dead Sea Scrolls that have vowel 
> points,
> 
> Right. Although the Cairo Damascus document (CD), which is often 
> included in
> collections of the Dead Sea Scrolls, does have some vowel points.
> 
> > in the Dead Sea Scrolls, does Elohiym have a Yod,
> > which is being used as a vowel-letter for the vowel "i"?
> 
> Accordance shows that Elohim always has a Yod before the Mem in the
> sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls. I'm not sure about in the biblical 
> texts, but I
> expect the same there.
> 
> > If in the Dead Sea Scrolls,
> > Elohiym does have a Yod,
> > which is being used as a vowel-letter for the vowel "i",
> > is there any older extant Hebrew text, 
> > where Elohiym is written without a Yod?
> 
> Gogel's "lexicon" of epigraphic Hebrew indicates Elohim does not 
> occur in
> that corpus in the absolute form (with the Mem). However, the word 
> does
> occur in the construct state, in "your God" and "God of", with the 
> Yod (and
> without a Waw, by the way), but of course without the Mem.
> 
> Ken Penner, M.C.S. (Biblical Languages, Greek Focus), M.A. (Hebrew 
> Poetry)
> Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University
> pennerkm AT mcmaster.ca
> Flash! Pro: http://socserv.socsci.mcmaster.ca/westerholm/flash or
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> 
> 
>