Toward a Reading of Proverbs 30:1b: Tracing the Life of the Text in the Versions

Proverbs 30:1b presents one of the most intractable text-critical dilemmas in the HB. Following Ronald Troxel’s suggestion that text criticism be reimagined as “a commentary on the life of the text,” I suggest the way forward in reading Prov 30:1b lies in carefully engaging with the versions as a wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kirk, Alexander T. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2022
In: Vetus Testamentum
Year: 2022, Volume: 72, Issue: 4/5, Pages: 631-649
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Textual criticism / Mounting (technology) / Bible. Sprichwörter 30,1 / Old Testament
IxTheo Classification:HB Old Testament
HD Early Judaism
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Description
Summary:Proverbs 30:1b presents one of the most intractable text-critical dilemmas in the HB. Following Ronald Troxel’s suggestion that text criticism be reimagined as “a commentary on the life of the text,” I suggest the way forward in reading Prov 30:1b lies in carefully engaging with the versions as a window on its history. Emerging from this process, I argue that Prov 30:1b may have once read *לָאִיתִי וְלֹא אוּכָל, “I am weary and powerless.” Early on, however, this text was conflated with another textual tradition that read a proper name thus producing a double reading. In time, scribes harmonized this double reading which then calcified in MT. The versions and analogous biblical passages suggest the proposed text, while documented scribal practice and lexical usage support it.
ISSN:1568-5330
Contains:Enthalten in: Vetus Testamentum
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685330-00001146