Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Thu 24 Mar 2005 (16:37:08 +0000), kgraham0938 AT comcast.net wrote:
> Hey what does everyone think about Psalm 8:1
> 
> 'A$ER TT:NAH HODKA, do you think this [TT:NAH]is a corruption of the
> second masculine NTTH or imperfect TTN.

 [Verse 2 in the BHS.]
 This is the Qal 2ms imperative of NTN, a Pe Nun verb meaning to give or to
 set. The initial Nun disappears, and the medial Taw is the first letter.
 It has a Daghesh lene, meaning it is pronounced as a hard T and not Th
 (one of the letters Be:GaD:KePaT). But the sense "Set thou thy glory..." does
 not fit the context; so yes, there is a corruption: or at least an obscurity.

 Some emend the Imperative to a Perfect "who hast set thy glory...", which
 yields good sense. The LXX has EPHRQH hH MEGALOPREPIA SOU hUPERANW TWN
 OURANWN, so maybe the Hebrew text which the Seventy had before them had
 the Perfect. This is supported by the Targum, the Syriac, Symmachus and
 Jerome in his Vulgate. Compare Psalm 21:4 [5 in BHS] where we have
 XaYYiM $a'aL MiMM:Ka *NaTaTTaH* LoW "he asked life of thee, thou gavest
 (it) to him". Compare also Numbers 27:20 and 1 Chronicles 21:25.

 HTH
 Shalom
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF                                       ZFC Lu
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