A Quantitative Study of the Vocalization of the Inseparable Prepositions in the Hebrew Bible

JengZen Huang

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Wycliffe College and the Biblical Department of the Toronto School of Theology In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Theology awarded by Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto

Jengzen Huang

Doctor of Theology

Wycliffe College and the University of Toronto

2015 Abstract

This dissertation presents a quantitative study of the vocalization of the Hebrew inseparable prepositions ( beth , kaf , and lamed ). Both synchronic and diachronic dimensions are addressed.

After a synchronic survey and analysis, a few regularities of the vowels of the inseparable prepositions in the Tiberian text are discovered. These regularities are mostly syntactically, rather than semantically, based. The vowels of the inseparable prepositions tend to be heavy, and light vowels are employed only in a certain syntactical constructions. The observation that these syntactical constructions usually prescribe a lack of definite article indicates a connection between the audio feature of the light vowel and the textual feature of the absence of definite article. This in turn argues for an early dating of the vowels of the inseparable prepositions. The diachronic survey covers the vocalization in the Babylonian and Palestinian traditions, the Greek transliteration in the second column of Origen’s Hexapla, and the Greek translation in Aquila’s recension. The vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the Babylonian, and Palestinian texts is found to adhere closely to that of the Tiberian text. The transliteration in the Hexapla also indicates that a substantial portion of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the

Masoretic Text has an origin as early as the date of the Greek transliteration. In the survey of

Aquila’s translation, although a correspondence cannot be unquestionably affirmed between the

ii vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the Masoretic text and the use of Greek definite articles, the finding that Aquila’s employment of the Greek definite articles depends heavily on the grammatical function of the Hebrew inseparable prepositions suggests the plausibility that some of the ancient perspectives about the Hebrew inseparable prepositions had exercised considerable influence on the fixation of the vocalization. As a whole this study affirms the credibility of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions as preserved in the Masoretic text.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ...... iv

List of Appendices ...... vii

Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1

Chapter 2 Regularities in the Vocalization of the Inseparable Prepositions ...... 16

1 The concept of definiteness and the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions ...... 16

2 The light-vowel approach ...... 19

3 The regularities of the light vowels ...... 22

3.1 Nouns/adjectives conventionally prefixed by inseparable prepositions exclusively with a light vowel ...... 23

3.2 Idiomatic employment of light vowels for distributive reference ...... 24

3.3 The light vowels in the syntax of the “transitional lamed ” ...... 26

3.4 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax ...... 29

3.4.1 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax involving a modifying adjective or participle ...... 30

3.4.2 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax involving a prepositional phrase ...... 35

3.4.3 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax involving an infinitive construct ...... 39

3.4.4 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax involving an implicit relative clause ... 39

3.4.5 The light vowels in the conjunctive syntax involving a short phrase of negation ... 41

3.4.6 The regularity in the conjunctive syntax involving an explicit relative clause (with a relative particle) ...... 42

3.4.7 The regularity in the conjunctive syntax involving a noun ...... 43

3.5 The light vowels in series and parallel constructions ...... 46

3.6 The light vowels for a properly indefinite reference ...... 51

3.7 The light vowels that cannot be confined in the regularities ...... 52

4 Syntactical correspondence beyond the sphere of the inseparable prepositions ...... 56

5 Summary ...... 59

Chapter 3 Consistency of the Vocalization of the Inseparable Prepositions within the Masoretic traditions ...... 61

1 The vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the Babylonian tradition ...... 62

1.1 Available texts of Babylonian vocalization ...... 62

1.2 Preliminary observations on the inseparable prepositions in the Babylonian tradition ..... 66

1.3 Variants and analysis ...... 68

1.3.1 The inseparable prepositions prefixing a construct noun deliver the least amount of variants ...... 69

1.3.2 No prominent Babylonian feature can be attested by the observed variants concerning the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions ...... 70

1.3.3 Several variants are incoherent within the Babylonian texts ...... 72

1.3.4 A survey of the coherence of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions within the Babylonian text as presented in the modern printing ...... 77

1.3.5 A survey of the distribution of variants among the Babylonian manuscripts ...... 80

1.4 Regularities of the lightly vocalized inseparable prepositions in the Babylonian texts ..... 83

2 The vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the Palestinian tradition ...... 85

2.1 Available texts of Palestinian vocalization ...... 85

2.2 Variants and analysis ...... 87

3 The commonality of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions within the Masoretic tradition as a whole ...... 90

4 The vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the reading tradition of the Samaritan Pentateuch ...... 91

Chapter 4 Witnesses of the Pronunciation of the Inseparable Prepositions in Ancient Greek Transliteration and Translations ...... 94

1 The pronunciation of the inseparable prepositions witnessed in the second column of the Hexapla ...... 94

1.1 The general characteristics of the Greek transliterations in comparison with the Tiberian vocalization ...... 97

1.1.1 The generally high level of coherence of sounds between the Greek transliterations and the Tiberian vocalization ...... 98

1.1.2 The more diversified correspondences in the Greek transliterations to the sound prescribed by the Tiberian sh ĕwa ...... 101

1.2 The sound of the Hebrew inseparable prepositions in the Greek transliterations ...... 103

1.3 Conclusion of the survey of the Greek transliteration ...... 107

2 A survey of the distinction between a heavy and a light pronunciation of the inseparable prepositions in the Ancient Greek translations ...... 109

2.1 Methodological considerations ...... 110

2.2 The assessment of the correspondence between the Greek definite article in Aquila’s recension and the Hebrew definite article in the Tiberian text ...... 112

2.3 The assessment of the correspondence between the Greek definite article in Aquila’s recension and the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions in the Tiberian text ...... 118

2.3.1 The correspondence of the inseparable preposition kaf in Aquila ...... 120

2.3.2 The correspondence of the inseparable preposition beth in Aquila ...... 121

2.3.3 The correspondence of the inseparable preposition lamed in Aquila ...... 126

2.4 The result of a similar survey with the Septuagint ...... 130

2.5 Conclusion of the survey of the Greek definite article in both Aquila’s recension and the Septuagint ...... 134

Chapter 5 Conclusions ...... 136

Bibliography ...... 141

List of Appendices

Appendix A: Distribution of the Definite Article and of the Vocalization of Inseparable Prepositions with Hebrew Nouns/Adjectives Occurring More Than 30 Times in the Hebrew Bible ...... 149

Appendix B: Reference List of Nouns/Adjectives Prefixed by an Inseparable Preposition with a Light Vowel in the Hebrew Bible ...... 170

B.1 List of nouns/adjectives conventionally prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel (806 instances) ...... 170

B.2 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel to deliver a distributive sense (120 instances) ...... 177

B.3 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel in the syntactical construction of transitional lamed (636 instances) ...... 178

B.4 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an immediately following adjective (210 instances) ...... 184

B.5 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an immediately following participle (72 instances) ...... 186

B.6 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an immediately following prepositional phrase (56 instances) ...... 187

B.7 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an immediately following infinitive (59 instances) ...... 188

B.8 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an implicit relative clause (45 instances) ...... 189

B.9 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of a short phrase of negation (16 instances) ...... 189

B.10 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel followed by an explicit relative clause (18 instances) ...... 189

B.11 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel due to the influence of an immediately following noun (58 instances) ...... 190

B.12 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel in the syntactical construction of series/parallelism (238 instances) ...... 191

B.13 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel to convey a properly indefinite sense (135 instances) ...... 193

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B.14 List of nouns/adjectives prefixed by an inseparable preposition with a light vowel not conforming to the presented regularities (278 instances) ...... 194

Appendix C: Verses in the Hebrew Bible Where Nouns/Adjectives Prefixed by an Inseparable Preposition with a Heavy Vowel Are Followed by an Adjective or Participle Perfixed by the Definite Article (119 instances) ...... 197

Appendix D: Verses in the Hebrew Bible Where Nouns/Adjectives Prefixed by a Heavily Vocalized Inseparable Preposition Are Followed by a Relative Particle ...... 198

Appendix E: Verses in the Hebrew Bible Where Nouns/Adjectives Prefixed by an Inseparable Preposition Are Involved in a Series/Parallelism Construction ...... 200

E.1 Verses containing series/parallelism of inseparable prepositions with a heavy vowel (403 instances) ...... 200

E.2 Verses containing series/parallelism of inseparable prepositions with a light vowel (363 instances) ...... 202

viii Chapter 1 Introduction

,( lamed) לְ kaf ), and) כְ ,( beth) בְ The three inseparable prepositions in Biblical Hebrew, namely are a feature shared with other Northwest Semitic languages. They are so called because they have never stood properly alone without prefixing another word. 1 The inseparable nature of these prepositions makes them adhere to the prefixed word, and allows nothing to come between. 2 As a result, when these inseparable prepositions are prefixed to nouns, they compete with another

he ) and almost always make it) הַ inseparable particle operating with nouns, the definite article disappear. 3 This philological phenomenon is also observed in the Canaanite branch of the

Northwest Semitic languages (for example Phoenician4 and Moabite 5).

In the vocalized text of the Hebrew Bible as preserved in the Tiberian tradition, the vocalization of the three inseparable prepositions is not uniform. Rather, a clear distinction has been recognized between two different ways of vocalization: a group of heavy vowels

Such a distinction between a .( לְ ל/ כְ ל/ בְ ל ) and a group of light vowels ( לַ ל/ כַ ל/ בַ ל) heavy and a light vowel of the inseparable prepositions has long been recorded and preserved in

from above”) and the“) לעיל the Masoretic tradition, in which the heavy vowel is denoted as

”.also often appears as a prefix, but is not “inseparable ִ ן The preposition 1 Sam 2) לְֵרָ חוֹק such as ,( כְִ - or לְִ -) stands in between ִ ן Except for very few cases in which the preposition 2 .Lev 26:37), etc) ְִפְּ נֵי־חר ב ,(Gen 38:24) ְְִ חִָ ים ,(Isa 7:17) לְִ יּוֹם ,(7:19 remains between the preposition and the noun, such as הַ Except for very few cases in which the definite article 3 ְ הַשַָּׁיִם ,(Neh 9:19) ְ הַר ,( ;Gen 39:11; Deut 6:24; 1 Sam 9:13; Ezra 9:7, 15; Neh 5:11; 9:10; Jer 44:22) ְהַיּוֹם .Chr 25:10), etc 2) לְהַגְּ וּ ,(Sam 13:21 2) לְהַקַּרְ ִֻ ים ,(Ps 36:1) 4 Thomas O. Lambdin, “The Junctural Origin of the West Semitic Definite Article,” in Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William Foxwell Albright (ed. Hans Goedicke; Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, 1971), 326-30. 5 Randall Garr, Dialect Geography of Syria-Palestine, 1000-586 B.C.E (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1985), 54-7. 1 2

from below”). 6 The seriousness with which such a distinction has been“) לרע light vowel maintained can be recognized in some of the carefully compiled lists, such as can be found in

Sefer ʹOklah w ĕ-ʹOklah , where pairs of the same noun prefixed by the same inseparable preposition are provided comprehensively so as to highlight that one in the pair has a light vowel for the preposition, while the other has a heavy vowel. 7

It is widely considered that the distinction between a heavy and a light vowel of the inseparable preposition in the Tiberian text is intended to indicate the presence or absence of the definite article. Thus the definite article in the presence of these inseparable prepositions, does not actually “disappear,” but is “hidden” in the heavy vowel. The mechanism of syncopation is operating: the loss of the Hebrew letter he is compensated by a heavy vowel attached to the prefixed preposition, in contrast to the otherwise light pronunciation of the preposition. This

,ל ,כ ,ב view was attested already in the late twelfth century by David Kimhi: “after the prefixes the article is regularly elided, and its vowel is shifted back under the prefix,” 8 and is openly subscribed in almost all modern grammars of Biblical Hebrew.

6 Aron Dotan, “The Beginnings of Masoretic Vowel Notation,” in 1972 and 1973 Proceedings IOMS (ed. Harry M. Orlinsky; Missoula, Montana: University of Montana, 1974), 23. Elias Levita, The Massoreth ha-Massoret of Elias Levita, Being an Exposition of the Masoretic Notes on the Hebrew Bible, or the Ancient Critical Apparatus of the Old Testament (trans. Christian Ginsburg; London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer, 1867), 204-7.

7 Fernando Díaz-Esteban, Sefer ʹOklah w ĕ-ʹOklah: colección de listas de palabras destinadas a conservar la integridad del texto hebreo de la Biblia entre los judios de la Edad Media (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1975), 31-2, 70-4, 90-1. 8 William Chomsky, David Ḳim ḥi’s Hebrew Grammar (Mikhlol) (New York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1952), 49. are equivalent”; see לָﬠָם in 2 Chr 10:7) and) לְהָﬠָם Also a 10 th century grammarian once recognized that “the form Geoffrey Khan, The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought: Including a Critical Edition, Translation and Analysis of the Diqduq of ↃAb ū Ya Сqūb Y ūsuf ibn N ūḥ on the Hagiographa (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 182. Another Karaite grammarian living in the 11 th century, however, says nothing of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions. See Geoffrey Khan, María Ángeles Gallego, and Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, The Early Karaite Tradition of Hebrew Grammatical Thought in Its Classical Form: A Critical Edition and English

The conviction that the heavy vowel attached to the inseparable prepositions in the Tiberian text indicates a syncopated definite article finds support from several other features of the vocalization. (1) The doubling of the non-laryngeal letter immediately following the inseparable preposition almost always accompanies a heavy vowel of the preposition, as it does the explicit

rafe ) are used to specify the) רפה dagesh ) and) דשׁג definite article. In the Masora, the terms presence and absence of doubling, respectively. 9 The consistent association of the doubling with a heavily vocalized inseparable preposition in the Tiberian text seems to endorse the correspondence between the heavy vowel of the inseparable preposition and the definite article. 10

(2) The variations of the heavy vowel of the inseparable preposition preceding the laryngeals are the same as the variations of the vowel of the explicit definite article. Thus, as we have

(This again attests to the mechanism of syncopation. (3 . לֶחָֽרֶ ב/ בָאָרֶ ץ so we have , הֶחָֽרֶ ב/ הָאָרֶ ץ

With nouns in construct state, the vocalization of the inseparable preposition is always a light one, corresponding to the fact that no definite article is employed in front of a noun in construct state. 11 (4) With some proper nouns that are almost always designated with an explicit definite

All these .( הַלְּבָנוֹן .vs בַּלְּבָנוֹן ) article, the inseparable prepositions are also heavily vocalized

Translation of al-Kit āb, al-Kāfī f ī al-Lu ġa al-СIbr āniyya by ↃAb ū al-Faraj H ārūn ibn akl-Faraj (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 98-109, 240-87.

9 Israel Yeivin, Introduction to the Tiberian Masorah (trans. E. J. Revell. Missoula: Scholars Press, 1980), 116-7. Elias Levita, Massoreth ha-Massoret , 199-202.

10 The doubling of the letter after the heavily vocalized inseparable preposition is not obvious in the Babylonian and Palestinian vocalization systems, and is only sporadically attested in the Greek transliteration preserved in the second column of Origen’s Hexapla. For a proposition concerning the late appearance of the doubling of the first radical of the noun prefixed by a definite article, see Sperber, HUCA (1937), 137. The argument is based on the lack of evidence in the Hexapla. A different argument, however, can be found in William E. Staples, “The Second Column of Origen's Hexapla,” JAOS 59 (1939): 79.

.(Isa 24:2) כַּגְּבִרְ תָּ הּ ,(Prov 16:4) לַֽמַּ ﬠֲנֵהוּ :Exceptional cases are extremely rare 11

features argue strongly for reading the heavy vowel of the inseparable preposition as a syncopated definite article in the Tiberian text.

However, the complete dependency of this syncopated definite article on the vowel, and nothing else, also makes it as “vulnerable” as other audio features of the vocalized Hebrew Scripture. It has to suffer all the suspicion and criticism thrown upon the credibility of the Masoretic vocalization system since the day of Elias Levita. 12 Perhaps this is why the heavy vocalization of the inseparable preposition has not received the same level of recognition as the explicit definite article, as far as the grammatical function of the definite article is concerned. In fact, insisting on reading a heavy vowel of the inseparable preposition as a definite article proper might result in complicating the understanding of the function of the definite article. In many of the scholarly discussions focusing on the grammatical meanings and values of the Hebrew definite article, the heavy vowel of the inseparable preposition has not been taken into consideration in a comprehensive manner. 13 Scholars who insist upon a framework of grammatical categories of determination/definiteness for explaining the meaning of the Hebrew definite article in the text are often occupied by struggling with ambiguous cases of the explicit definite article, but leave many heavily vocalized inseparable prepositions unexplained, which would not easily fit into the

12 To name but a few: Charles Wilson, Elements of Hebrew Grammar: To Which is Prefixed, A Dissertation on the Modes of Reading with or without the Vowel-Points (London: printed for Ogles, Duncan, and Cochran, 1818), 48, remarks that “the vowel-marks are no indications to us of the ancient sounds of the language. The sounds have vanished, like the breath of those who uttered them; and no tradition could either arrest or transmit them.” And Shelomo Morag, “On the Historical Validity of the Vocalization of the Hebrew Bible,” JAOS 94 (1974): 307, says that “for a long time, a strong tendency prevailed in biblical scholarship to regard the vocalization of the Bible superfluous.”

13 For example, in Bruce K. Waltke, and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2004), 241-9, only occasionally are heavily vocalized inseparable prepositions discussed except under the category of “generic article with material.” Similarly, in E. Kautzsch, ed. Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1909), §126, far fewer examples are related to heavily vocalized inseparable prepositions than explicit definite articles, except in §126 n & o.

existing categories. 14 Had the equivalence of the heavy vowel of an inseparable preposition to the definite article been taken seriously, the discussion of the definite article and definiteness would be considerably different in many grammarians’ works.

Another observation that calls for a caution against unconditionally seeing a hidden definite article in a heavily vocalized inseparable preposition comes from the much higher ratio of the heavy vowels in comparison to the ratio of the definite article. Take, for example, the Hebrew

and refer to the following table for the distribution of both explicit definite articles , אֶרֶ ץ noun and heavily vocalized inseparable prepositions.

in absolute state אֶרֶ ץ Hebrew noun Noun entries not prefixed by any Noun entries prefixed by an inseparable preposition preposition Prefixed by a definite Not prefixed by With an heavy With a light vowel article a definite article vowel 664 311 261 21 975 282 Definite article ratio = 664/975 = 68.1% Heavy vowel ratio = 261/282 = 92.6%

not prefixed by an inseparable preposition, 664 (68%) have explicit אֶרֶ ץ Of the 975 instances of definite articles. But among the 282 instances where the same noun is prefixed by an inseparable preposition, 262 (92.6%) have a heavy vowel under the preposition. This incompatibility between the ratios of heavy vowels and the explicit definite articles immediately suggests a reconsideration of full equivalency between these two.

14 Martin Ehrensvärd, “Determination of the Noun in Biblical Hebrew,” SJOT 14 (2000): 301-14, for example, in striving to affirm the validity of the “generally accepted categories of article use” (302), looks into 67 instances that other grammarians render as undetermined and argues for the feasibility to place them back into known categories of definiteness. The problem of this approach is that for the affirmation to be persuasive, a much wider range of survey is required.

as illustrated above is by no means exceptional. Similar אֶרֶ ץ The case of the Hebrew noun calculations with a few other nouns result in the following table, listed in descending order of the ratio of explicit definite articles.

Prefixed by an Not prefixed by inseparable any preposition preposition With a Without Definite Heavy Hebrew Total Heavy Light definite a definite article vowel Noun Occurrences 15 vowel vowel article article ratio ratio 100% 90.5% 0 11 2 19 202 אֲרוֹן 91.9% 78.1% 6 68 28 100 321 שָׂדֶ ה 100% 68.6% 0 46 87 190 421 שָׁמַ י 94.4% 58.6% 1 17 48 68 240 נַﬠַר 79.8% 49.3% 25 99 172 167 560 גּוֹי 40.0% 40.9% 6 4 39 27 120 רֶ כֶב 98.1% 25.3% 1 52 56 19 193 שֶׁמֶ ן 94.1% 15.9% 1 16 53 10 153 מָ וֶת 81.3% 4.2% 3 13 159 7 297 לֶחֶם

In all of the nouns listed, we have a higher heavy vowel ratio. Even with nouns that are

given in the , לֶחֶם and מָ וֶת considerably resistant to an explicit definite article (as in the case of two entries at the bottom of the table above), the heavy vowels still dominate substantially when the nouns are prefixed by an inseparable preposition.

The high ratio of the heavily vocalized inseparable prepositions might not be something very unusual. After all, a high ratio of definite articles can also be observed with nouns after the

are ﬠַל In the Masoretic text, 72% of absolute nouns after the preposition . אֶ ל and ﬠַל prepositions

15 The total occurrences include both absolute and construct groups.

is even higher. 16 It seems that the presence ,80% , אֶ ל prefixed by a definite article. The ratio for of these two prepositions predefines a context which prompts the use of a definite article. The same explanation might apply to the typically high heavy-vowel ratios of the inseparable prepositions.

What is really unusual about the inseparable prepositions is that the high ratio of heavy vowels extends into the poetry. The ratio of definite articles is typically much less in poetry than in

In contrast, the difference 18. אֶ ל and ﬠַל prose. 17 This is so even with nouns after the prepositions between the heavy vowel ratios in those books popularly grouped under the title Deuteronomistic

History (Joshua – 2 Kings) and in the poetic books,19 respectively, is not as significant. This is illustrated in the table below with a few typical examples.

Definite article ratio Heavy vowel ratio

Joshua-2 Kings Poetic Joshua-2 Kings Poetic

44.4% 69.0% 18.2% 92.5% מֶ לֶ 92.7% 100.0% 38.2% 71.9% אֶרֶ ץ 35.7% 86.7% 8.6% 69.6% ֶרֶ 40.0% 87.5% 0.0% 30.0% מִשְׁ פָּט

is 1,129 in the whole Hebrew Bible, of ﬠַל The number of absolute nouns immediately following the preposition 16 there are 973 instances, of which 775 , אֶ ל which 808 (72%) are prefixed by the definite article. For the preposition (80%) have a definite article.

17 This generally known observation has been confirmed specifically by a few quantitative studies such as Y. T. Radday and H. Shore, “The Definite Article: A Type- and/or Author-Specifying Discriminant in the Hebrew Bible,” JALLC 4 (1976): 23-31; David Noel Freedman, “Prose Particles in the Poetry of the Primary History,” in Biblical and Related Studies Presented to Samuel Iwry (ed. Ann Kort and Scott Morschauser; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1985), 49-62; Francis I. Andersen and A. D. Forbes, “ ʻProse Particles’ Count of the Hebrew Bible,” in The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth: Essays in Honor of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His Sixtieth Birthday (ed. Carol L. Meyers and M. O’Connor; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1983), 165-183.

.is 20% אֶ ל in poetry is much lower (17%), and that for ﬠַל The ratio of definite articles for the preposition 18

19 Included in this calculation are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Canticles, and Lamentations.

As can be seen in the table, the gap between the ratios of definite articles in the narratives and in the poetry is usually dramatic. In comparison, although the ratio of heavy vowels in the poetry is lower than in the narratives, the gap in between is much smaller. Even in the case of a more

,we still see 40% of heavy vowels, though none of definite articles , מִשְׁ פָּט abstract noun such as in the poetry.

It is this extensive imbalance between the ratios of definite articles and of heavy vowels that causes some scholars to question the grammatical value of the vocalization of the inseparable preposition. 20 James Barr, in a study of the use of the article in the poetic literature, observes this imbalance and uses it as the basis of his argument against a mechanical imposition of a sense of determination. 21 Barr’s conclusion displays an intriguing hesitation between two opposite attitudes. On the one hand, he recognizes the possibility that “the reading tradition later inserted

‘articles’ into many of these short phrases beginning with the preposition b, k, and l,” and accordingly this would imply that “the article cannot be properly described on the basis of the

Masoretic text.” On the other hand he warns against treating the reading tradition simply as “a sack of unintelligibility into which we thrust things that we cannot explain.” 22 The questions invoked are many. What has actually been intended by the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions? In addition to the obvious link to the definite article as shown in the Tiberian vocalization, is there anything else that can further confirm the relationship between the vowels

20 E. Kautzsch, ed. Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1909), §126 footnote 6; Mayer Lambert, Traitié de Grammaire Hébraïque (Paris: Leroux, 1931-38), 96; Paul Joüon, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (trans. T. Muraoka; Roma: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblio, 1991), 509; Bruce K. Waltke, and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2004), 250; Andersen and, “ʻProse Particles’ Count of the Hebrew Bible,” 165.

21 James Barr, “Determination and Definite Article in Biblical Hebrew,” JSS 37 (1989): 325-7.

22 Ibid., 328-30.

of the inseparable prepositions and the definite articles? To what extent can the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions as preserved in the Tiberian tradition be credited along the diachronic axis? It is the interest of this current study to provide a more comprehensive and solid basis for answering these questions.

Relying on any oral tradition alone to maintain the fidelity of transmission of all the markings of the pronunciation of the inseparable prepositions is extremely challenging. Without vowel points, the process of reading the Hebrew Scriptures involves a continual decision among several options of meaning allowed by the same consonant form, depending critically on the context. 23

For the inseparable prepositions, occasionally the context provides a clear hint of definiteness, as

but for the majority, ambiguity prevails. Considering that , לַמֶּ לֶָוִד or , לָﬠָם הַזֶּה , בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא in there are an extraordinarily large number of inseparable prepositions in the Masoretic Text

(10,387 instances of nominal entries, including nouns, numerics, adjectives, and participles, in absolute state which are prefixed by an inseparable preposition, and 6,219 of them are vocalized by a heavy vowel), 24 and that these vowels have been taken very seriously within the tradition, one wonders how any oral tradition could manage to ensure the fidelity during the transmission

23 For a discussion of how the ancient Greek translators read and interpret the non-vocalized text, see James Barr, “Vocalization and the Analysis of Hebrew among the Ancient Translators,” in Hebräische Wortforschung: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Walter Baumgartner (ed. Benedikt Hartmann et al. Leiden: Brill, 1967), 2-3; and also Stefan Schorch, “The Septuagint and the Vocalization of the Hebrew Text of Torah,” in XII Congress of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies Leiden, 2004 (ed. Melvin K. H. Peters; Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004), 43-52.

24 All the counting of cases in this study are based on the morphological database provided by BibleWorks (Version 7.0), which is in turn based upon the Westminster Hebrew OT Morphology database. The distribution of nominal entries in absolute states prefixed by an inseparable preposition is given below. Lamed Beth Kaf Total Vocalized with a heavy vowel 1,804 3,821 594 6,219 Vocalized with a light vowel 2,128 1,554 486 4,168 Total 3,932 5,375 1,080 10,387

process. Did they rely on sheer memory, or did they make use of some aid of pronunciation? 25

Or much easier, might there be a certain set of rules that enable a reliable and consistent handling of the vocalization of the inseparable prepositions?

This . אֶרֶ ץ For a preliminary assessment of the feasibility, let us come back to the Hebrew noun noun, in absolute state, is prefixed by the inseparable preposition beth 223 times in the Tiberian

( בְ אֶרֶ ץ) The merely 19 instances of light vowels .( בָ רֶץאָ ) text, in which 204 have a heavy vowel are listed here.

Book Chap Verse Text Accent Disjunctive Pashta בְּאֶרֶ֨ ץ֙ ֣ לֹא לָהֶ֔ ם Gen 15 13 Disjunctive Tiphcha בְּאֶ ֖ רֶ ץ נָכְרִ יָּֽה Exod 2 22 Disjunctive Tiphcha בְּאֶ ֖ רֶ ץ נָכְרִ יָּֽה Exod 18 3 Conjunctive Munach בְּאֶ ֣ רֶ ץ מִדְ בָּ֔ ר Deut 32 10 Conjunctive Azla וּבְאֶ֨ רֶ ץ הָרְ חָבָ ֧ ה Neh 9 35 Conjunctive Munach בְּאֶ ֣ רֶ ץ ִֽהַֽחַיּים Job 28 13 Conjunctive Munach בְּאֶ ֣ רֶ ץ ִֽהַֽחַיּים Ps 142 6 Conjunctive Mereka בְּאֶ ֥ רֶ ץ נְכֹח֖ וֹת יְﬠַוֵּ֑ ל Isa 26 10 Conjunctive Mereka בְּאֶ ֥ רֶ ץ ﬠֲיֵפָֽה Isa 32 2 Conjunctive Munach בְּאֶ ֣ רֶ ץ ִ ֑ הַחַיּ ים Isa 38 11 Disjunctive Tiphcha בְּאֶ ֖ רֶ ץ ֥ לֹא זְרוּﬠָֽה Jer 2 2 Disjunctive Rebia בְּאֶ֗ רֶ ץ ֽ לֹא־ﬠָ ֤ בַר בָּהּ֙ ישׁאִ֔ Jer 2 6 Disjunctive Tiphcha בְּאֶ ֖ רֶ ץ ֥ לֹא לָכֶֽם Jer 5 19 Disjunctive Tiphcha בְּאֶ ֖ רֶ ץ ֣ לֹא יָדָ ֑ ﬠְתָּ Jer 15 14 Conjunctive Azla בְּאֶ֨ רֶ ץ תַּחְתִּ יּ֜ וֹת Ezek 26 20 Conjunctive Mereka בְּאֶ ֥ רֶ ץ מִצְרָֽ יִם Ezek 30 13 Conjunctive Maphak בְּאֶ ֤ רֶ ץ תַּחְתִּ ית֙ Ezek 31 16 Disjunctive Tiphcha וּבָ ֥ א בַאֲרָצ֖ וֹת Dan 11 40 Disjunctive Athnach וְיִשְׁלַ ֥ ח יָד֖ וֹ בַּאֲרָצ֑ וֹת Dan 11 42

25 J. A. Emerton, “The Purpose of the Second Column,” JTS 7 (1956): 85, argues that transliterations, specifically those represented by the second column of Origen’s Hexapla, were used together with consonantal Hebrew texts as a reading aid, which then became the basis for the later development of vowel points.

a light vowel , בארץ ,A quick survey of the list gives an impression that in this specific form under the inseparable preposition beth is almost always (except for the last two cases of plural form) accompanied by an immediately following modifier. The prefixed noun most often has a conjunctive accent when the modifier is a single word, but a disjunctive accent when the modifier is longer. 26 In a strong sense, the light vowel of the preposition beth appears to correlate

to what follows immediately. Such a strong אֶרֶ ץ with an intimate relationship of the word correlation suggests a high feasibility of searching and finding a consistent regularity. In the gram