Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

On Thu, Jul 8, 2010 at 1:03 AM, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:

> 4. The fact that the MT, in a vast majority of cases, retains the
> consonantal text without the second Yod would seem to indicate that the
> tradition of reading "Yerishalem" was known and considered legitimate late
> enough, so that the Masoretes, who wanted to read "Yerushalayim", felt that
> they did not have the authority to add the Yod, so they made do with the
> vowel-points.
>
>
> Yigal Levin
>
> According to a quick electronic search, YRW$LYM with a second yod was
written only five times in the MT, only once pre-exile (Jeremiah 26:18). The
other times in 1 Chronicles 3:5, 2 Chronicles 25:1, 32:9 and Esther 2:6.
That suggests that the vowel change started early, possibly even late
pre-exile.

(Is there a DSS attestation to the Jeremiah verse? I wonder if there was a
copyist error.)

Karl W. Randolph.