Thanks for the explanations guys. So, if I understand
correctly, a theoretical 'original' version of the
completed text would have had no 'pe' at the end of
each open verse but rather a line of space in its
place?
HH: I have learned from Marvin Sweeney's Hermeneia commentary on
Zephaniah that the biblical system of "open section lines (petuchah) and
"closed section" lines (setumah) was a Masoretic convention. Therefore,
it says nothing about what the original document from the hand of Isaiah
would have looked like. The open section lines marked off a large
structural division in the text, and the closed section lines indicated
a structural subdivision within a larger petuchah. However, the
Masoretes were not always consistent in their use of this system.
Perhaps that is one reason why printed editions of rabbinic Bibles
(Miqra'ot Gedolot) do not even use petuchah and setumah.