Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Nir cohen - Prof. Mat." <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>]

i allow myself a remark on a former string. i just happened to read
vevyurko 2007. there she says that both sept. and qumran4QDeut-q
diverge from the biblical text in deut 32:43 and are longer. 
she reproduces the qumran text as:

הרנינו שמים עמו והשתחוו לו כל אלהים כי דם בניו
יקום ונקם ישיב לצריו ולמשנאיו ישלם ויכפר אדמת עמו

this version is interesting for three reasons thematic to the 
original question. the first is that ויכפר is a verb, for what it's worth. 

the second is in terms of double meaning (passive/active): god "pays" and
"redeems" the land; at the same time "castigates" and "recovers" the land.
if in the poet's mind ישלםis a metaphoric "castigate" (a ubiquitous 
expression up to these days), יכפר might as well be a metaphoric "recover".

the third is the sensible question of a possible masoretic editing. 
assuming (just for the argument) that qumran reflects better the original
version, secondary in importance (...) is the vav added to אדמת 
for the obvious argument that the land does not belong to the hebrews 
but to god. except that this creates a syntactic "plonter". then also 
the Y is removed on וכפר, ending exactly where we started: "and his 
people will expiate for his (sic!) land" which (i must agree with karl) 
doesnt sound very natural.

nir cohen