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Re: 4QLevi b ar
Profs. Goranson and Stone:
Re your posts on the disputed word in 4QLevi ar b:
(1) I read "xsdh" (not "xsyd" as indicated in your post, Stephen), and
translate it as "her shame," or "her revilement."
(2) On a material basis I read the third letter as a dalet. Notes from
my examination of the ms itself are as follows. "A check of the letter
shows a dalet in the third position, although the photograph or
transparency may lead one to believe there to be a yod in the position.
On the leather one can see the left side of the
following he clearly. The right side is absent due to surface loss, and
would anyway be obscured by the crease in the leather (it is nearly a
full-fledged break in the line above . . . ). To the right of the he one
sees the dalet. However, because the crease in the leather has caused a
lip to hang over the left side of the dalet, one can only see its right
side when examining the photograph or transparency, or when looking at
the leather straight on. But when the leather is tilted slightly so that
the surface under the lip is visible, the remainder of the dalet can be
seen." At least that's how I saw things in December 1993!
(3) It seems to me that on contextual grounds this reading is also the
most sensible. After all, the preceding lines leave little doubt that
someone - a woman - stands under rather sever condemnation.
After all is said and done, though, Prof. Stone is most correct when he
observes that with such a badly preserved text things are difficult. And
I agree with him, were we to sit down and visit we might reach a
consensus...or we might not. Oh the fun of the scrolls!
Thanks to both of you for dragging me back to this tantalizing tidbit.
Rob Kugler