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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Psalm 22:16 - daqar as pierced ?

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  • From: Moshe Shulman <mshulman AT ix.netcom.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Psalm 22:16 - daqar as pierced ?
  • Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 17:45:20 -0400

I will not have time to address all the questions before Yom Kippur, but I would like to make a short post that summarizes how I see the issues, and strip away some of the 'biases' that exist so we can discuss what the text really said and meant.

There are two issues: 1. What the true original text said 2. What the proper translation of the text should be.

As to 1, I admit that my feelings are that the MT reading is the original. I believe that the 'error' of the LXX/GB is based on a defective text (similar to the DSS one which I will discuss shortly.) This defect made the translator see the word as a verb and not an adverb as the MT sees it. As to the DSS text, if you look at it and compare the way the yod is written and the vov is written, you will see that stylistically there are reasons to accept the text as having an elongated yod. If you look at every yod in the text it is not a short stroke but a short stroke with a 'hat'. (A short line to the left.) The vovs do not have this. IF we look at the letter in question, it has this hat. I believe that shows that it is a yod. The translator of the LXX/GB may have had the same type of text, or even one with the misplaced aleph, and that is the source of his translation.

2. The translations of both present problems, but they are simple to explain away (without using exegetical translations.) In fact, by so doing there really is not much of a difference as to what the verse is saying. The MT translation problem is that it should have the word 'et' so that it comes out 'like a lion at my hands and feet.' which is descriptive of how the subject is being surrounded by enemies who have animal like characteristics. (A common theme in this chapter of Psalms.) We do find many times the word 'et' being missing when it would 'sound' better if it were there, so it is not such a problem, but it is difficult. On the other hand if we translate literally the way the LXX/GB saw it as 'dug', we see a similar allusion there. 'They dug my hands and feet.' This fits in quite well with the comparisons to his enemies as dogs and lions, and their attacking him in a digging fashion, as opposed to 'piercing' fits quite well. 'The word 'pierce' is an exegetical translation used to support a Christological interpretation, whereas the MT or even using the word dug, as in the LXX/GB give similar imagery without the editorializing.

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Moshe Shulman outreach AT judaismsanswer.com 718-436-7705
Judaism's Answer: http://www.judaismsanswer.com/





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