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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] correct to Deut 6:9 (was 9:6)
  • Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 13:02:28 -0600

Dear Hayyim,

Deuteronomy 9:6
The Vulgate reads: scribesque ea in limine et ostiis domus tuae.
With my limited Latin skill, I think this means: And write them on the threshhold and the gates of your house.

Q #1: Does this reflect a direct translation from the MT? Or would the MT
be translated as "... in limine domus tuae et in ostiis tuis"? (As I said,
my Latin skills are limited, so perhaps the latter is simply bad Latin.)

HH: Right. The Vulgate would be incorrect as a literal translation.

Q #2: In reference to "your gates" Robert Alter, in his new translation of
the Pentateuch (p.913): "These would be the gates of the city, since houses
did not have gates." Does the Vulgate contradict this? If so, is the Vulgate
factually incorrect, as Alter seems to suggest?

HH: My opinion is that the Vulgate is incorrect. "Of your house" strictly speaking goes with doorposts alone.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard



  • [b-hebrew] Deut 9:6, Bearpecs, 01/10/2005
    • Re: [b-hebrew] correct to Deut 6:9 (was 9:6), Harold R. Holmyard III, 01/10/2005

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