pere, carl,
the word XCYR refers nowadays to hay, not to grass. if this is also the
biblical term, it does suggest that hay was used to cover the roofs.
anyway, the imagery used is of a dry material that catches fire. in fact,
וְיֹשְׁבֵיהֶן, קִצְרֵי-יָד--חַתּוּ, וַיֵּבֹשׁוּ
refers specifically to "being (figuratively) dry". in general i find very
strange the translations i find such as
כו וְיֹשְׁבֵיהֶן, קִצְרֵי-יָד--חַתּוּ, וַיֵּבֹשׁוּ; הָיוּ עֵשֶׂב שָׂדֶה, וִירַק דֶּשֶׁא, חֲצִיר גַּגּוֹת, וּשְׁדֵפָה
לִפְנֵי קָמָה. 26
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and
confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the
grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it is grown up.
nir cohen
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