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  • From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: "b-hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ta`am `Elyon of the Decalogue
  • Date: Sun, 15 Feb 2004 02:12:47 +0200

Thanks, I'll have a look. But this still does not explain where the versions
that seperate the first two come from.

Yigal
----- Original Message -----
From: Bearpecs AT aol.com
To: leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il ; b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, February 15, 2004 2:06 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ta`am `Elyon of the Decalogue



See the excellent discussion on versification of Exodus in: Mynatt, Daniel
S., The Sub Loco Notes of the Torah in BHS, Fort Worth: Bibal Press, 1994.
Especially: Appendix B, pp 251ff, and Note 154, pp 133-4.

According to the Western Massoretic tradition, Exodus contains 1209 verses.
According to the Eastern tradition, there are 1207 verses. The difference
is in Chapter 20, where the Western (Palestinian) tradition counts 22 verses
(counting 12 verses in the Ten Commandments), while the Eastern (Babylonian)
tradition counts 20 verses (counting one verse for each of the 10
commandments). Most modern editions have 23 verses, following the Western
tradition except for verses 2-3 which were combined in the Western tradition.
If we consider all the different traditional verse divisions, there are 26
verses.

It's likely that the reason the first two commandments were consolidated in
the Western tradition was that these two were considered by tradition to be
spoken directly to the people by G-d, whereas the rest were mediated by Moses.






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