The Samaritan Version of the Book of Numbers With Hebrew Variants: A Close Textual Study

329 Pages·2014·107.381 MB·English

by  David Lee Phillips

THE SAMARITAN VERSION
OF THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
WITH HEBREW VARIANTS
A Close Textual Study

THE SAMARITAN VERSION
OF THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
WITH HEBREW VARIANTS
A Close Textual Study
David Lee Phillips
The Edwin Mellen Press
Lewiston• Lampeter
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013956077
Phillips, David Lee.
The Samaritan version of the Book of Numbers with Hebrew variants : a
close textual study I David Lee Phillips.
I. Religion--Biblical references--language study. 2. Religion--Biblical
commentary--Old Testament. 3. Religion--Biblical studies--Old Testament.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7734-4317-4 (hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-7734-4317-7 (hardcover)
I. Title.
hors serie.
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Front Cover Photo: Servant of the King Sargon II, found in the middle of the 19th
century wall at the Assyrian site ofKhorsbad in Iraq.
Copyright © 2014 David Lee Phillips
All rights reserved. For infom1ation contact
The Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press, Ltd
Box450 Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales
Lewiston, New York UNITED KINGDOM SA48 8LT
USA 14092-0450
Printed in the United States of America
To the memory ofmy mother

Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction ii
1,1 -36,13 Numbers: Hebrew Variants and English Translation 2
The Schism Passages repeated at
Deuteronomy
10,10b Go to the mountain of the Amorites. i,6-8 55
12,16b Go as far as the mountain of the Amorites. 1,20-2Ja 69
13,33b We even saw the sons of giants there. 1,27-33 73
14,41 Tell them! Do not climb up and tight. 1,42 81
20,13b That Good Mountain. 3,24-28 111
Your brothers, the sons of Esau. 2.2-6 113
21,12a I have given 'Aar to be the property. 2,9 119
21,13a 1 have given the property to the sons of Lot. 2,17-19
21,21a SIYYON the Amorite, the king ofHeshbon. 2,24.25 121
21,21b The sons ofEsau who live on Sha'er. 2,27.28.29
21,23b Begin the conquest of his land! 2,31
27,23b Yahweh your God will protect you. 3,21-22 159
31,21 a Moses said to Elaazar the priest. repeated at Nu 31,22-24 175
Appendices of Variant Words
L. Samaritan Hebrew Attested in the Greek Old Testament 206
M. Samaritan Hebrew Attested in MT Manuscripts 227
U. Samaritan Hebrew Unattested 269
Chronology 287
Bibliography 291
Index 300

Preface
My first book was all about 4Q22, the finest scroll of Exodus. This book
presents its textual twin, 4Q27, the most important extant witness of Numbers.
These scrolls from the fourth cave of Qumran preserve the Samaritan text-type at
the same time that they lie at the foundation of Judea-Christian culture.
Half the effort is to determine the autograph Hebrew letters for each word,
the grammar of its pronunciation, and the end of each sentence. A critical text
approaches the autograph by comparing all extant manuscripts of Numbers, and
this is done in practice by comparing the variants of three text-types. Because
Biblical Hebrew is a language that has been extensively studied in all major
universities and has been made widely available in Protestant culture, it is useful
to present the critical Samaritan Hebrew text in the form of each and every word
that varies from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia.
The second half is to express ancient Hebrew in modem English. Previous
renderings have relied on literal phrases marked by semi-colons or have featured
paraphrases. This translation seeks to stay as close as possible to the voice of the
verbs and non-verbs of the Hebrew sentence. A good example of the literary style
of the autograph is the extensive use of the imperative aspect of the verb.
Ultimately, Hebrew sentences should be expressed in clem· American English.
February 25, 2014.