Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

> From: K Randolph Sent: Saturday, December 05, 2009 11:08 AM
> To: B-Hebrew
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] prosthetic aleph in Ps 22:17?
> 
> 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?

[Steve Miller] The word in Amos 8:8 seems to me like it should not be a verb
because it is preceded directly by a verb. Amos 8:8b is an almost exact
duplicate of Amos 9:5b. In Amos 9:5, there is a yod after the kof, making it
"like a river". That is how every translation that I've seen translates it
in 8:8 also. So it seems that there is a missing yod in Amos 8:8.

If I was not going to amend the text in Amos 8:8, which I would not do
except that every translation seems to be doing that, then I would take the
meaning as "like a light", which doesn't seem to make sense.

Evidence supporting that the aleph is extra is that one of the 2 DSS
witnesses (4QPs(f) DJD 16 p. 88) has it as kof resh with no aleph in
between, with the fragment ending at the resh.
 
> 
> I was told that this verb is also found in Akkadian medical texts with a
> meaning of distorting, putting out of shape.
> 
[Steve Miller] I use a program called SAFFA to give me all the verb
conjugations. It contains a verb kof aleph resh meaning "to make ugly", that
only exists in pual, hitpael, hifil and hufal. None of these forms exist for
this verb in the Tanach according to my searches, though. Perhaps it is a
modern Hebrew word.

> 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.

[Steve Miller] I agree that the context of 22:17 supports a verb. 
What is the difference between DSS and MT in the next verse? My "Dead Sea
Scrolls Bible" doesn't have anything for v18. 
Thank you, Karl.

Sincerely,
-Steve Miller
Detroit
www.voiceInWilderness.info
They shall come, and they shall declare
to a people to be born,
reveal His righteousness.
This deed which the Lord has done
they'll retell to everyone
that He may all peoples bless. (Psalm 22:31)