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  • From: Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Jer 38.9 as hyperbole
  • Date: Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:27:24 +0100

Dear Randall,

Please see below.


>Ebed-melech is
concerned about the life of Jeremiah, and he
tells the king that the prophet "is on the point
of dying," or that "he will die" if the situation
continues. This is a critical situation in the
real world. It is no exaggeration (hyperebole),

The problem with this explanation is that it does
not explain how the Hebrew communicated the
subtlety of the translation 'be on the point of dying'.

The MT, according to how the Masoretes understood it,
was saying "and he is dead". That was an exaggeration
in the circumstances.

Your statement that the Masoretes understood the text as, "and he is dead" is completely unfounded. The Masoretes did not understand Hebrew grammar, and they did not point their text on the basis of grammar. The earliest work with some grammatical hints of which I am aware, is Diqduq of Yusuf ibn Nuh, from aroud 1,000 C.E. He was a Karaite, and the Karaite movement was founded in the eighth or ninth century C.E. Because Hebrew grammar books did not exist in the first millennium CE, the formation of such grammars was based on inductive studies of the pointed Hebrew text by the Karaites. Any conclusion based on induction can be questionable. The point here is that the Masoretes pointed the Hebrew text and added vowel points long before the Karaites.

The Masoretes added their accents and vowels on the basis of the recitation in the synagogue. In my dissertation, I argue that narrative accounts would be recited in one way, and clauses referring to the present and future, and poetic texts, in other ways. So, the work of the Masoretes was pragmatic; they did not add accents and vowels on the basis of grammatical meaning but on what they heard. But later, when the Karaites started their inductive studies in order to find patterns, they misinterpreted the Masoretes, and took the work of the Masoretes to be semantic. They evidently saw the Hebrew text in the light the tense languages around them, and they interpreted the pragmatic differences in stress and vocalization made by the Masoretes ,to represent tense. The Diqduq of Ibn Nuh indicate the first steps in the direction of interpreting Hebrew as a tense language. But the author states that there are different viewpoints regarding the meaning of the verb forms. After the time of Ibn Nuh, several grammatical works were written, and then we have the full-blown Hebrew grammar of David Kimhi, around 1,200 C.E.

Our understanding of Jeremiah 38:9 should not be based on how we think the Masoretes understood the text. But we should analyze text itself and the situation. Jeremiah was still living. A verb referring to his death must, therefore, either refer to the future, or to a situation similar to 1) below. To die is either semelfactive or telic (similar to "reach"), and 1) can only betaken in the sense that Rita had almost reached the peak.

1) Rita was reaching the peak.

As already mentioned, there are almost 1,000 WAYYIQTOLs with non-past reference. So, there is no reason to claim that Jeremiah 38:9 should not be taken in a normal indicative sense. The Hebrew text should be taken in its own right. The witness of the Targums and the LXX cannot be used to find the meaning of the Hebrew text.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli





Also, to correct some earlier statements-- my friend
did not refer to we-met (weqatal) but to
we-yamo't "and (so that) he would die".
What is of interest is to notice that the Masoretes
could have vocalized the Hebrew wymt in two
ways: weyamo't (plain prose) 'so that he would die'
or wayya'mot 'and he died.'
the second carries shock and impact, even after
one realizes that it is an exaggeration. Not only did
the MT chose the 'more difficult reading', but the
targum reflects (kevar mit) the same rhetorical
shock technique.
(PS: I would appreciate more statistics on the
Old Greek translators.)

I have recently moved my library of 8,000 books to a place where I stay for a few months, until we move to a permanent residence


Randall Buth
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicallanguagecenter.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
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