Biblical Hebrew Forum

[schmuel <schmuel AT nyc.rr.com>]

Hi Folks,

Greetings to the b-hebrew crew !
In this verse:

1 Kings 8:27 (KJB)
But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
how much less this house that I have builded?

We have a double interrogative in the AV.

There is a parallel verse in 2 Chronicles where this is exclamatory in the AV.

2 Chronicles 6:18 (KJB)
But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?
behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
how much less this house which I have built!

Also in the Emphasized by Joseph Bryan Rotherdam, exceedingly literal 
and quite independent of the AV.

Emphasized
1 Kings 8:27
http://books.google.com/books?id=6Hs8It79excC&pg=PA360
2 Chronicles 6:18
http://books.google.com/books?id=6Hs8It79excC&pg=PA441

Webster and Lamsa have the same distinction, however they are more 
likely to be AV influenced.
Yet most modern versions only have the single interrogative in the 1 
Kings verse.

There are differences in the Hebrew of the verses as a whole which 
might change the flow of the sentence, or there could be a more 
direct marker.  And there are also the issue of the exact Masoretic 
Text manuscripts used, and their various marks.  Any help 
understanding the Hebrew difference that is unto the interrogative 
will be much appreciated.  Keep in mind that Rotherdam would be using 
the pre-Kittel text, which would be a Ginsburg (Ben Hayim) text, 
similar to the AV text rather than the Kittel 3rd-edition and later standard.

Shalom,
Steven Avery
Queens, NY