B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Isaiah 5:17 seems to have a few (at least) readings, I wonder if there are more?

The Aleppo Codex and Leningradensis both say:

ורעו כבשים כדברם וחרבות מחים גרים יאכלו

The Great Isaiah Scroll has (as far as I can make out (thanks Ken)):

ורעו כבושים כדברם וחרבות מיחים גרים יאכלו

which seems to give a contrast to the preceding verse, so would be translated “and as those who act shamefully do displeasing (things) according to their expressions (expression in word, deed or both), and sojourners eat what knives scrape out.” I definitely am not sure of the translation of the second part of the verse.

The LXX seems to be a free translation: “και βοσκηθησονται οι διηρπασμενοι ως ταυροι και τας ερημους των απειλημμενων αρνες φαγονται”

Any other versions? Any thoughts?

Karl W. Randolph.

Karl,
I see where you get "according to their expressions" from כדברם
and knives from חרבות
and strangers eat from גרים יאכלו

but where to you get the rest from?

Steve:

SteveMiller wrote:Karl,
I see where you get "according to their expressions" from כדברם
and knives from חרבות
and strangers eat from גרים יאכלו

but where to you get the rest from?

The form רעו can be from either רעה meaning “to feed (on)” or רעע “to act in a displeasing manner” as a verb, or as a noun רעו meaning “his neighbor”. We’ll need the context to disambiguate this.

On the Great Isaiah Scroll, כבושים can be read as a participle used as a noun, with a prefixed כ on the plural noun בוש referring to those who act shamefully.

While חרבות usually refers to the physical object, namely knife or sword, it also refers to the action of desolating. When I originally asked the question, I was thinking about the physical object, but could it refer to the action?

The word מיחים in the MT is found only in Ps 66:15 where the context indicates a well-fed animal suitable for sacrifices. When I originally asked the question, I took it as a derivative of מחה “to scrape off ⇒ to erase with a sharp instrument scraping off a written entry”, but now I’m not so certain.

The reason I ask these questions is because I’m not certain, and someone else may clarify the answer.

Karl W. Randolph.