Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Petr Tomasek <tomasek AT etf.cuni.cz>]

> 
> Can someone on this list cast some light on why such a translation has been
> possible?
> Maybe NFMWT has been mistaken for a Nif'al Participle in the line of NFDWN,
> (male) who is judged (2Sa 19:10) or NFKWN, (male) who is decided (Gn 41:32)
> or NFBWN, (male) who discerns (Gn 41:33)?
> 
> Pere Porta

There is rabbinic tradition of so-called "tiqunei sopherim" (תיקוני סופרים),
(also mentioned in the "apparatus criticus" of BHS) which says that originally
it should have read "לא תמות", but the scribes changed this into "לא נמות" -
as an euphemism, to avoid an idea that the God could die.

This place is from the Qumral biblical fragment, so that we have no evidence
for what had been in the text originally.

I personally consider the "tiqunei sopherim" as a rather _haggadic_ tradition
and whether there really was such a change should be proved for every such a 
place.

On the other hand, I think that euphemisms and euphemistic changes to the
Biblical text makes much sense if we consider that the text was read to public
and there was an effort to avoid meanings which could be understood by
the public in a wrong way, or may sound offending
(see also qerē/ketīḇ places, such as עפלים/תחורים and so on).

P.T.

-- 
Petr Tomasek <http://www.etf.cuni.cz/~tomasek>
Jabber: butrus AT jabbim.cz

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