David:
Step one, before we go any further, what is the text?
I accept only the consonantal text as authoritative. The Masoretic points
are not authoritative. They represent an ancient tradition that is pretty
good and concerning which I recommend changing only where there are
questions, but not infallible. Therefore, I do not see repointing as
emendation. But the consonantal text is sacrosanct, i.e. there had be very
good evidence that it had been corrupted by copyist error, best where there
are textual variants to back up the evidence. Even in most cases where there
are kethib/qere differences, I prefer the kethib.
Because I don't have the points, I am very dependent on the context to
indicate the best reading. Most of the time it's obvious. Occasionally there
are cases like this verse, where WNXMTY can be a qal, niphal, piel or from
the noun NXMH without emending the text. My practice is then to look for the
meaning that best fits the context.
So what is the text?
It appears that at least one of your points depends on the answer to this
question. We may need to agree to disagree.
Karl W. Randolph.
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