July 20, 2010
Biblical
Hebrew Poetry
and Word
Play
Reconstructing
the Original Oral[1],
Aural[2]
and Visual Experience
By
David Steinberg
David.Steinberg@houseofdavid.ca
Home page http://www.houseofdavid.ca/
|
רבי
טרפון ... היה
אומרת "לא
עליך המלאכה
לגמור ולא
אתה בן חורין להבטל
ממנה." Rabbi Tarfon … used to say “You are
not required to complete the work but you are not free to desist from it.” Avot 2:21 |
Companion
piece -
History of the Ancient and Modern Hebrew Language
TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS AND
LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS
I The Purpose of this Web Page
Box 4 - The Three Orthographic Elements in the Masoretic
Text
1. Biblical Skeleton, Changing Script and Orthography, Medieval Vowel Signs, Modern Pronunciation
III The Issue – The Oral-Aural Nature of Biblical Hebrew Poetry, and Some Kinds of Wordplay, Require the Closest Approximation to their Original Pronunciation for the Fullest Possible Appreciation and there are Practical Criteria for Reestablishing a Good Approximation of the Pre-Exilic Pronunciation
1. The
Importance of Reconstructed EBHP
2. The Basis for the Reconstruction of an
Approximation to EBHP
IV The
Impact –Wordplay and Reconstructed EBHP
V Problems in Reconstruction of EBHP
Problem
1 – Where was the Stress Placed in Biblical
Hebrew Words in EBHP?
a.
Phonemes that were Distinct and Phonemic in EBHP that have Merged in Modern
Pronunciation
b.
Consonants that Exist in Modern Pronunciation but were Absent in EBHP
c. EBHP and Tiberian Three Way
Consonantal Opposition Reduced to Modern Two Way Opposition
תֵּיקוּ
- Questions that Cannot
be resolved at Present
1. Aims in Reconstructing EBHP
Box
- Identifying
Pre-Exilic Biblical Texts
2. Changes in the Pronunciation
Tradition of Biblical Hebrew Between EBHP and that Recorded in the Tiberian
Masoretic Tradition (early 10th
century CE)
3. Guidelines I Have Used in Reconstructing EBHP
4. Examples of the Reconstructed EBHP Vocalization of Biblical Hebrew Texts
a.
Archaic or Archaizing Poetic Texts
i) Blessing of Jacob (Genesis
49:1-27)
ii) Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:1b-18)
iii) The Oracles of Balaam (poetic
portions of Numbers 23:7-24:24)
iv) Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:1-43)
v) Blessing of Moses (Deuteronomy
33)
vi) Song of Deborah (Judges 5)
vii) Lament of David (II Samuel
1:19-27)
i)
II Samuel Chapt. 22 (Second version Psalm 18)
i) Jer. 1: 11-12; Jer. 1: 18-19; Jer. 19:14-15; Zeph. 3:1-2; Deut 15:1,4
ii) Amos
3:3-6; 3:8; 5:5-7; 5:10-12; 5:16b-17; 6:12;
8:7-10; 9:5-6; 9:13
d. Various Short Poems:
Genesis 2:23; Genesis 3:14-19; Genesis 4:6-7; Genesis 4:23-24; Genesis 8:22;
Genesis 9:6; Genesis 9:25-27; Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 14:19-20; Genesis
16:11-12; Genesis 24:60; Genesis 25:23; Genesis 27:28-29; Genesis 27:39-40;
Genesis 35:10-12; Genesis 48:15-16; Genesis 48:20; Exodus 32:18; Numbers
6:24-26; Numbers 10:35-36; Numbers 21:14,15,17-18; Numbers 21:27-30; Joshua
10:12-13; Judges 9:8-15; Judges 14:14, 18; Judges 15:16; Judges 16:23-24; 1
Samuel 15:22-23; 1 Samuel 18:7; 2 Samuel 3:33-34; 2 Samuel 20:1; 1 Kings
8:12-13; 1 Kings 12:16; 2 Kings 19:21-34.
e.
Prose Texts
ii) Genesis 4:1-3; Genesis 13:4-14;
Joshua 7:1-3
|
File Name |
Title |
Pages |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb.pdf |
Table
of Contents and Bibliography |
36 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_abb_dia.pdf |
16 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_12.pdf |
Introduction and Phases
of Biblical Hebrew and its Antecedents and the Development of the Biblical
Hebrew Reading Tradition of the Tiberian Masoretes |
43 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_34.pdf |
The Basis for the Reconstruction of the
Pronunciation of BH and its relevance to Wordplay |
22 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_5.pdf |
10 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_6.pdf |
31 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_Problem 5.pdf |
6 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_bib_heb_EH.htm |
2 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_bib_heb_history.pdf |
20 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_diglossia.htm |
Background to Dialect, Koine and Diglossia in Ancient
Hebrew Clarification from Colloquial Arabic |
48 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_fingem.pdf |
Words
Ending in Doubled Consonants with the Loss of Case Endings |
5 |
|
anc_heb_forms.pdf |
26 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_forms_hist.pdf |
4 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_tequ.pdf |
158 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_gen2_beyer.pdf |
3 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_gen2_ds |
5 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/gen_josh.pdf |
0 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_anc_heb_biy_t1.pdf |
Blessing
of Jacob Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_anc_heb_biy_t2.pdf |
Blessing
of Jacob Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic
Orthographies |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_anc_heb_biy_t3.pdf |
Blessing
of Jacob Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirym_t1.pdf |
Song
of the Sea Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes |
7 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirym_t2.pdf |
Song
of the Sea Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic Orthographies
|
6 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirym_t3.pdf |
Song
of the Sea Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
5 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_balaam_t1.pdf |
Oracles
of Balaam Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes |
13 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_balaam_t2.pdf |
Oracles
of Balaam Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic
Orthographies
|
9 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_balaam_t3.pdf |
Oracles
of Balaam Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
9 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_haazinu_t1.pdf |
Ha’azinu
Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_haazinu_t2.pdf |
Ha’azinu
Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic Orthographies
|
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_haazinu_t3.pdf |
Ha’azinu
Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_bim_t1.pdf |
Blessing
of Moses Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes |
11 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_bim_t2.pdf |
Blessing
of Moses Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic
Orthographies
|
10 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_bim_t3.pdf |
Blessing
of Moses Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
9 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirdb_t1.pdf |
Song
of Deborah Table 1 - Reconstructed First Temple Vocalization and Transposition into
Tiberian Graphemes |
12 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirdb_t2.pdf |
Song
of Deborah Table 2 - Reconstructed Pre-Exilic Orthographies |
10 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirdb_t3.pdf |
Song
of Deborah Table 3 - Proto-Masoretic Orthography |
9 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_shirdb_t4.pdf |
Song
of Deborah Table 4 - Metrics |
3 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_amos_stuart.pdf |
6 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_amos_ds.pdf |
9 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_gen2_beyer.pdf |
3 |
|
|
anc_heb_gen2_ds.pdf |
3 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_siloam_beyer.pdf |
3 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_siloam_ds.pdf |
3 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_har.pdf |
4 |
|
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_har_ds.pdf |
4 |
|
|
|
Lament
of David (II Samuel 1:19-27) |
0 |
|
|
II Samuel Chapt.
22 |
0 |
|
|
Psalms
23, 114, 121, 122, 130 |
0 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_amos_stuart.pdf |
Amos Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes Based on Stuart |
6 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/anc_heb_amos_ds.pdf |
Amos Reconstructed First Temple
Vocalization and Transposition into Tiberian Graphemes by David Steinberg |
9 |
|
http://www.houseofdavid.ca/siloam.pdf |