Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 31/10/2004 16:52, Dora Smith wrote:

> I am wondering;
>
> Wouldn't psalms that got put through the redaction process after the exile
> have been transposed into the later Hebrew?    So that from the language we
> know a psalm was written by a certain date but not that it wasn't written
> hundreds of years earlier?
>  

Well, I wonder. Some redaction of the Psalms is certainly possible. But 
updating the language of a poem is not very easy (as is obvious from a 
quick read of updated language versions of hymns in some British hymn 
books). And it seems that archaic features were retained in poems such 
as Exodus 15 and Judges 5, although the surrounding prose has been 
conformed to a rather uniform style. So maybe it is more likely that the 
Psalms as we have them have not been significantly updated from their 
original forms.

> Yours,
> Dora Smith
> Austin, Texas
> The American Colonies
>  

So you won't be voting next week, but pledging allegiance to Her 
Majesty? :-)

Actually Texas never was one of our colonies. Perhaps we ought to decide 
whether to accept it. We would be happy to take you, Dora, but I'm not 
sure about all your fellow Texans!

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/