Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Herman Meester <crazymulgogi AT gmail.com>]

Textcritically speaking, what is the lectio difficilior? I guess the
reading with the "deserts". Making it "potior". The Ugaritic parallel
is nice, but just because Ugaritic exists, and was discovered not long
ago, we don't have to let it decide our MT as if this archeological
treasure represents by definition more authentic material. I totally
agree with Uri, we are dealing with poetry, and a lot is possible in
poetry. Why, and by whom, would the conjectural "Ugaritic" reading,
supposed it is authentic, be changed into our present MT reading?
Unnecessary conjecture.
Herman

2005/12/15, Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>:
>              Psalms 68Gene Gardner
>
> ---------------------------------
>
>                 "  Psalms 68 v 4or 5 (depending on text) has been 
> interpreted in different ways:         4 Sing to God, sing praise to His 
> name; lift up a song for Him who rides in the deserts, by His name Jehovah; 
> yea, exult in His presence.         5 Sing unto God, sing praises to His 
> name;   extol Him that rideth upon the skies, whose name is the LORD; and 
> exult ye before Him.         4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: 
> extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before 
> him.         The Hebrew:   syrv l`lhym zmrv smv $lv lrkb bjrbvt byh smv 
> vjlzv lpnyv         In the three translations above, we find deserts, 
> skies, and heavens as the meaning of the Hebrew. The DSS Bible also 
> translates it as deserts. What is the consensus on which is more accurate, 
> and why?  "
>
>      Well, it is important here to remember that this is part of a a poetic 
> text. The people who composed  and chanted it were not logicians; the 
> people who transmitted it were not mathematicians. When paralleles occur in 
> biblical poetry, as they often do, the different parts are meant to 
> resemble each other, but they are not exactly mirror images, as some would 
> hold.
>
>     Therefore I would repond to you questions: there is no consensus as to 
> the translation of the two verses; all three are acceptable, and one could 
> offer  a few more.
>
>
>      But a note on the famous LRKB B(RBWT ( larokhev ba'arvot  ) in v 5: In 
> my view the origin of the phrase is unquestionably the Ugaritic "rider in 
> clouds"; however not only was the deity shifted from Baal to Yahweh, but in 
> this verse  the meaning too has shifted to "rider in the steppes/deserts". 
> I say this simply because of the imperative "sollu" that prceeds it and 
> means "pave the way " (check this with Akkadian) . There is no need to pave 
> a way in the clouds.
>
>     Yet on the other hand, to return to my first point above, 
> metaphorically this is possible, especially becuase of v 34 further in the 
> Psalm.
>
>     Thus I do not claim here to give a final answer, but to point out why 
> for a concensus we shall perhaps have to wait for the return of the prophet 
> Elijah who hopefully will solve all questions .
>
>      Uri
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Yahoo! Shopping
>  Find Great Deals on Holiday Gifts at Yahoo! Shopping
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>