Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Trevor Peterson <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Peter Kirk wrote:

> The pattern of setuma and petuha in the Hebrew Bible does not always 
> correspond to verse divisions (not just here, in quite a lot of places), 
> which suggests to me that it is part of a tradition independent from the 
> Masoretic one which divides the text into verses and subdivisions with 
> sof pasuq and accents (cantillation marks). The Masoretic marking tells 
> readers how to chant the verse. If the setuma does as well, it is at 
> least part of an independent chanting tradition.
I'm not sure this actually answers the question. It does suggest that 
the Masoretes weren't necessarily trying to pass judgment on how the 
passage should be subdivided. In any case, we might say the same thing 
generally--they were trying to preserve the tradition handed down to 
them. Where the tradition diverged, they appear in some cases to have 
done the best they could to preserve multiple options. But whether or 
not we can say anything about the Masoretes' own views on the passage, 
it does seem like whatever tradition the stumah preserves is in fact 
following a division similar to that of the iconic Christian tradition, 
whereby vv. 6-10 constitute one command and v. 21 constitutes two 
(English vv.). Even the versification of this passage varies, BTW, 
between the two accenting systems.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics