Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Medina, Vincent" <VMedina AT cbcag.edu>]

Peter:

Thanks for your input. This is a very difficult passage to lineate. As
previously noted, BHS formats it as prose, so I suppose some would even
question my attempt to lineate it at all.

In response to your comment, "I don't much like the way you have divided
11e and 11f, even making this 
a break between stanzas." I have to admit that there is a certain amount
of subjectivity here. I made a line break there because 11f is a
subordinate clause (a causal clause). Many theorists who advocate a
syntactical approach to the determination of lines in Hebrew poetry
point to clause level as at least a basic starting point. As to the
comment about "making this a break between stanzas" I don't know what
you mean (unless you understand the word "stanza" in a different way
than I do).

Your dependence upon the Masoretic accenting has the advantage of
possessing a certain objectivity--at least it is something to go on.
However, I don't think most students of the Hebrew poetry would be
comfortable with simply accepting this as the final determiner. That
does not mean that I do not think that the Masoretic accenting should be
consulted. When doing this type of work I always consult the MT (though
I usually only look at the major disjunctive accents). But this is only
one factor to consider among others. Sometimes it is decisive, sometimes
not.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to help me talk through this problem.

Blessings,

Vince

Associate Professor
Central Bible College
3000 N. Grant Avenue
Springfield, Missouri  65803