Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear James,

> Thanks for the explanations guys. So, if I understand 
> correctly, a theoretical 'original' version of the 
> completed text would have had no 'pe' at the end of 
> each open verse but rather a line of space in its
> place?
>  

HH: I have learned from Marvin Sweeney's Hermeneia commentary on 
Zephaniah that the biblical system of "open section lines (petuchah) and 
"closed section" lines (setumah) was a Masoretic convention. Therefore, 
it says nothing about what the original document from the hand of Isaiah 
would have looked like. The open section lines marked off a large 
structural division in the text, and the closed section lines indicated 
a structural subdivision within a larger petuchah. However, the 
Masoretes were not always consistent in their use of this system. 
Perhaps that is one reason why printed editions of rabbinic Bibles 
(Miqra'ot Gedolot) do not even use petuchah and setumah.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard