Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Joel Stucki" <joel AT stucki.ws>]

On 7/16/06, schmuel <schmuel AT nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> Ok, this one is more biblical aramaic, (and some Latin and Greek) so I hope 
> you don't mind.
> And also it can veer into the interpretive issues, however my main question 
> is the Ben Hayim text.
>
> Daniel 3:25
> He answered and said,
> Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire,
> and they have no hurt;
> and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
>
> We likely all know that "Son of God" is often translated differently,
> such as "son of the gods", due to the plural form of the Aramaic
> in the Masoretic Text le-bar-elahin
> (some omit le, some have ber, some have alehin)
>
> Some other translations -- "divine being" "a god" "(that of) an angel" 
> (Judaica Press)
>
> It was a little difficult to determine possible textual variations.
> =====================================================
>
> MAIN QUESTION - BEN HAYIM AND DSS
>
> My main concern is the Ben Hayim Masoretic Text, (which is generally the same
> as the first two editions of Kittels).  I was wondering if that has any 
> variation.
>
> And I would conjecture that the DSS has the exact same plural form as the 
> currently
> used Masoretic texts, I was also wondering whether there is any variation at 
> all.
> (no footnote in the DSS Bible).

Complicated question about the DSS but a very interesting one. There
are several Daniel scrolls found in the DSS, all are fragmentary. They
were found mostly in cave 4 but some in cave 1 and 6. They are known
as follows:

1Q71
1Q72
4Q112
4Q113
4Q114
4Q115
4Q116
6Q7

For this verse you wan to look at 1Q72 and 4Q115.

You can find a photo online of 1Q72 here
http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/4/4.1/411.html#1926 Unfortunately not
the part you are looking for.

While a part of the verse is attested in these two fragments I do not
think the actual part you are looking for exists in the scrolls. I
know 4Q115 is very poor condition.

Joel Stucki