The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: The ... - josephprestonkirk

JAMES C. VANDERKAM 477
letter of the alphabet, and which as a verb in the pi(el means ‘to teach.’” 36
That pê line is the last preserved one in the Cave 11 poem. As Sanders
observed, the medieval Hebrew copy (ms B), “presented grave uncertainties
in the verses )alef-lamed both in the alphabetic sequence and in
numerous readings.” 37 The Greek had the correct sequence for these
verses (vv. 13–18) and the Cave 11 ms, which offers the lines from ) to
k, verifies the point. In his edition, Sanders sets out the textual evidence
in parallel columns, with the Greek on the left and the Hebrew on the
right, and with the distinctive—that is, nonparallel—words and phrases in
each underlined.
The well-preserved lines in the Cave 11 manuscript furnish some
insights into the development of the text. For example, in 51:13, in the
second stich, the Greek has e0zh&thsa sofi/an profanw= j e0n proseuxh|~
mou where the Hebrew reads only hyt#qbw. It seems likely that the
Hebrew is short here and has lost a word, possibly from the #qb root,
which would correspond with e0n proseuxh|~ mou. If the omitted word was
yt#qbb, it could easily have been the trigger for haplography with
hyt#qbw and thus for loss of any intervening words. Geniza ms B reads
hyt#qbw hb ytcpxw. In this case, the Greek would preserve the superior
and longer text. However, in v. 14a, the Hebrew seems preferable
and shows how the inferior Greek reading arose: e1nanti naou= h)ci/oun
peri\ au)th=j; Hebrew has hrtb yl h)b. As Sanders observed, e1nanti
naou= translates the first letters of the Hebrew, but divided as ylh)b. 38
One wonders whether h)ci/oun peri\ au0th=j is not another reflection of
hyt#qb and whether the unusual form hrtb = hr)tb (?; so Sanders)
represents a corruption of the original reading. In v. 18, where Greek
reads ai0sxunqw~ the Cave 11 manuscript has bw#); here the Greek
reflects the same consonants rearranged (#wb)). 39
3. Psalm 151
The LXX differs from the MT not only in having a series of additional
books but also by having different forms of several works that are shared
36. Patrick Skehan, quoted in Patrick Skehan and Alexander A. Di Lella, The
Wisdom of Ben Sira (AB 39; New York: Doubleday, 1987), 576.
37. Sanders, Psalms Scroll, 79.
38. Ibid., 81.
39. Ibid., 82. Manuscript B reads Kph), which can only be a reflection of something
like bw#), not of ai0sxunqw= .