Changes of Syntactic Patterns

in the Textual Tradition of the Book of Isaiah

Reinoud Oosting

Introduction

- Differences between syntactic patterns in the Masoretic Text of the Book of Isaiah

- Differences between the text of Isaiah in MT and in the Ancient witnesses, especially the Qumran scrolls

Method of Working

- Definition of the concept of valency

- Short introduction to our method of working

- Syntactic patterns of the verb )rb in the Hebrew Bible

The Concept of Valency

‘Valency is thus to be seen as the

capacity a verb (or noun, etc.) has for combining with particular patterns of other sentence constituents’ (Allerton 2006: 301)

The Program Val2csv

The program val2csv enables us to

search through the WIVU database on clause level for verbal forms and their satellites.

Changes within MT

- Interchange of the Prepositions l) and l in Combination with the verb rm)

Isaiah 1-39• rm) (qal) + l) : to say + to (27 times)• rm) (qal) + l : to say + to (10 times)

Isaiah 40-66• rm) (qal) + l) : to say + to (1 time)• rm) (qal) + l : to say + to (23 times)

Transmission of the Text

Aramaic Influence

Isaiah 2:2 – MT- In days to come the mountain of the

house of Yhwh will be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it (wyl)).

Isaiah 2:2 – 1QIsaa

- all the nations shall stream to it (yhwl().

Conclusions- The program val2csv requires some

improvements

- There is no single explanation for the various prepositional shifts within MT Isaiah

- There is no single explanation for the shifts from l) to l( or vice versa in the textual tradition of the Book of Isaiah