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  • From: David Kummerow <farmerjoeblo AT hotmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] NXM
  • Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:58:19 +1000

Hi Karl,

Four things:

1. My own experience is the opposite of your own: I find that if I sit with the text as it stands long enough, emendation and repointing can nearly always be avoided.

2. What you have to say below is assertion without demonstrable evidence.

3. I would rather the text dictate what it says than repointing or emending it to what I think it should say.

4. You have not presented a scenario where the text changed from having a noun to a verb. If this is what has happened, then there is to be some explanation. Nevertheless, I am unable to find manuscript support for your position so it seems to be pure conjecture if a scenario giving rise to the alteration is not able to be provided.

Regards,
David Kummerow.


David:
First of all, when I read Tanakh, at least for the last few times I read it
through, I read it without the Masoretic points. There are a few reasons for
it: I read using a font derived from pre-Exile Hebrew writing, and the
points don't fit in it (I don't know when I deviate from their points); when
reading with the dots, I came across too many (I didn't bother to count)
instances where changing the points changed a difficult to understand
passage to a simple, easily read one; I think the Masoretes were more
interested in preserving the sounds that had come to them from their
tradition than in having the text make sense, i.e. preserving tradition was
more important than understanding it; and I don't think they were as
mechanically rigorous in their parts of speech as are modern day
grammarians.

Having said that, I have noticed that almost every time there is a dispute
as to the meaning of a verse, changing the Masoretic points of a word or two
is enough to clear up the dispute. Almost every time. And here is a verse
with a dispute.

Karl W. Randolph.





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