Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

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