Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Just as an idea, might not the difference be attributed to the type of
houses and "gates" that existed at the times the two texts were written. The
typical Israelite house of the Iron Age was a "four-roomed house", with no
real "courtyard". The only "gate", then, would have been the gate of the
town (which may have been just a hamlet with a fence). In the fifth century
CE Roman city that Jerome knew, many houses may have had courtyards of their
own.
Just a thought.

Yigal Levin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] correct to Deut 6:9 (was 9:6)


> 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
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