Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Dear Vadym:
On Tue, Jul 15, 2008 at 1:26 AM, Vadym Zhuravlov <baskrima AT km.ru> wrote:

> Comparing Great Isaiah Scroll and the text of "Vision of Gabriel" one can
> get the following observations.
> 1. David is spelled as DWD in "stone" text (lines 16 and 72), and
> excusively as DWYD in the scroll.


We can see this also in Chronicles, indicating that this change was
occurring already in late Biblical times.


> 2. In the text of "Vision of Gabriel" Jerusalem is spelled YRWSLM (6
> times), while in the 1QIsa-a  both spellings  YRWSLYM and YRWSLYM are used
> alternately.
> In both cases the "stone" orthography is more ancient than one of the
> scroll. On the other hand, as we already mentioned, stone text uses clear
> indications of post-biblical language, like ending -YN instead of -YM and
> preposition S- instead of ASR. This brings me the the question - is there a
> contradiction between the language of the text and its orthography?
>
> The S- was already used in the first book, namely Genesis 49:10. Here we
may be dealing with more a difference between formal vs. informal speech,
rather than early vs. late.

Already during the second temple period, it appears that there was an effort
of textual criticism, i.e. an attempt to get the most accurate text as
possible. The Great Isaiah scroll was written before that attempt, or it was
merely a cheap text that did not try to adhere to the most accurate of
transcriptions. Since the stone was a late, second temple document, it is
possible that Biblical references were written with an eye towards following
the Biblical norms, while post Biblical references followed common speech.
At least that's how I see it.


> Best regards,
> Vadym Zhuravlov


Karl W. Randolph.