Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Steve:

On Fri, Dec 4, 2009 at 6:28 PM, Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> In Ps 22:17, if the correct reading is karu according to the 2 DSS
> witnesses
> + LXX, then is it possible to explain the extra aleph in the MT as a
> "prosthetic aleph"?
>
> Is this an extra aleph in the word, or is it a verb found elsewhere only in
Amos 8:8 where the middle consonant is an aleph? What do you think is its
meaning?

I was told that this verb is also found in Akkadian medical texts with a
meaning of distorting, putting out of shape.

As for the “correct reading”, it is supported not only by the DSS and LXX,
but also by the context of Psalm 22:17. The next verse has a similar
correction from the DSS, except this place a waw should be a yod.

Karl W. Randolph.