Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

2008/8/11 K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>:
> In 1 Kings 6:6 ends with the phrase:
> כי מגרעות נתן לבית סביב חוצה לבלתי אחז בקירות־הבית
>
> KY MGR(WT NTN LBYT SBYB XWCH LBLTY )XZ BQYRWT HBYT
>
> which makes no sense.
>
> The description in the verse appears to be something like
> flying buttresses to hold up the walls of the temples.
>
> מגרעות MGR(WT is also a happax legomenon, in context appears to be sockets
> to hold the buttresses.
>
> Is it possible that לבלתי LBLTY should have been לבתי LBTY ?
>
> What say the DSS? Any variants to support this?

There is no problem with the meaning in the verse.  At best, the
word XWCH should be read "its outside" (he denoting the 3ms
possessive pronoun).  LBTY "to the houses of" makes no sense.
LBLTY fits as the appropriate negation before a verb which appears
in the infinitive form.

Yitzhak Sapir