This paper surveys the paragraph divisions in three ancient MSS and two mediaeval MSS in relation to the Abraham Narrative Act in the Patriarchal Narratives (Gen. 12.1-25.11) in order to assess their relevance for critical studies of biblical narratives. The genealogies are to be treated separately on another occasion, not only because they have a different genre, but also because the paragraphing technique applied to them is peculiar. At the outset

The first three chapters of this study engage with issues any student of Hebrew poetry interacts with, that can become limitations of such a study as well, concerning mainly epistemological, terminological and methodological issues. It offers a survey of the most representative scholars who engaged with the qatal//yiqtol verbal sequence in Hebrew poetry, and proposes a verse-line delimitation method. The investigation that follows assesses the utility

The article surveys the samples found in Ugaritic literature. It becomes clear that Ugaritic couplets with qatal//yiqtol (yiqtol//qatal) verbal sequence display a strong tendency towards applying parallelism even at the inner level of the order of constituents, producing very regular expected structures. The Systemic Functional grammar analysis reveals a secondary line that follows in most cases the directions proposed by the primary line in terms

This article surveys the means used from Antiquity to mark the Hebrew verse in Biblical literature. A wide range of manuscripts are included from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the incunabula of late medieval times. Several techniques known even in early times resurface time and again. Among them one can trace blanks, various symbols, and graphemes. These offer enough reason to admit that the ancients had a good impresion of what poetry is and a good sense

This article introduces the reader to the issue of verbal sequence in the poetry of the Hebrew Bible, a topic that was studied in-depth as a doctoral dissertation. After noticing the peculliarities of the poetic discourse, it surveys the solutions offered to this crux interpretum to-date, but concludes that these solutions are insufficient. Several limitations of such a study are assumed from the outset. We confise ourselves to the Psalter for various

The object of this study is represented by the qatal//yiqtol (yiqtol//qatal) verbal sequence, previously known as ‘tense shifting’, as found in couplets of the Hebrew Psalter. One hundred and two couplets of this sort were found. This study attempts to offer a innovatory explanation for such an irregular use of verbal forms in the Hebrew Psalter by means of the M.A.K. Halliday’s Systemic Theory. The data displays evidence both of similarity

The qatal//yiqtol (yiqtol//qatal) verbal sequence in Classical Hebrew Poetry has posed many questions to Bible students, critics, and interprets. One of the most consistent solutions offered to this matter is offered by its rhetorical interpretation that envisage this particular verbal sequence as a poetic device well known among the ancient bards. Several such solutions are surveyed in this article.

The article surveys the linguistic and historical data available in order to assess the identity of the plant called upon in Jotham’s fable as the last of the candidates to kingship, the ’`f`d. Mesopotamian linguistics and literary tradition indicate that the interpretation of the term #D-D#-T% allows one to interpret it as a thorn-tree. Although not always coherent, the historical renderings regarding this plant admit the possibility of multiple