Notes on the text of the book of Genesis : with an appendix online

their dispositions.

â–¡riTll^^. The meaning of this word, which only
occurs in this passage, is very uncertain, (i) It is commonly
rendered ' sword^ a meaning which was first hinted at by the
Jews, who compared mDD fancifully with the Greek ndxaipa ;
see Bereshith Rabba, c. 99 '•Jl^ pK^i^ pni> '•m nrot^ .Dn^nnDD

n'Tini'lDI T^nDD "IDS* nt^l HDD DnTimaD ' Rabbi Johanan
says the word nilDD is a Greek word, as they {the Greeks)
call swords p"\''iD (fxdxaipai). Others think that n"in3D =
mni^D, comparing Ez. 16, 3.' Hieron. and Rashi also render
^ sword' cf. Ges., Thes., p. 672. But, as Del. points out, n")5P
is no more fxdxoipa, than the Assyr. pilakku the Gk. neXeKvs.
He derives it (after the analogy of '"ll^^' '^l-?' '"'li?.?) from
"1"13 :='to dig' and 'to be round; ' so a weapon which makes
a round gaping wound. But it is very doubtful whether
T\'2 can combine the two meanings that Del. assigns to it.
lL)Q\.,Proleg., p. 121 f., thinks it comes from "ilD = Assyr. kdru,
a synonym of n")3, Assyr. kardtur=z' to cut,' so ^a sword.'
(2) Tuch explains the word as meaning ^plot' or 'con-
trivance,' lit. ' windings^ from "i")D = ' to wind', but, as Del.
points out, 1">D does not mean 'to wind,' but 'to be round;'
while L. de Dieu and Maurer also render ^plots' but get
this meaning from l3D = makaia in Ethiopic and J5Ji in



CHAP. 49, VERS. 5, 6. 371

Arabic, ^ to planl ^contrive' We must then, however, point
the form Dn''ni30, not DH'^rinDrp ; see Ewald, § 260 a. (3) Kn,,
Bottcher, § 791 (though he adheres to the Mass. pointing),
and others render, * marriage contracts^ as though "l^DD = the
Aramaic ;a..Na ' desponsavit ;' "13D in Heb., however, means
' to sell,' and if n3?D can = \^^ (which in Heb. would usually
be rendered by "iHD), the reference to Dinah's brethren would
be hardly suitable — though the next verse certainly refers
to the incident narrated in chap. 34 — and ' marriage contracts '
could scarcely be called U'b^. Knobel alters the reading into
Dn^nnso. (4) Di. derives the word from T\'2 ' to be round'
and says it means a ^ round curved instrument^ perhaps
a 'curved knife' or 'sickle.' Ewald, Hist?, ii. p. 493, Eng.
trans., ii. p. 349, and Wellhausen, History of Israel, Eng.
trans., p. 144, render (also from ^^'2),' shepherds staves' or
as we should say in English, ' shepherds' crooks.' The LXX

have crvvereXeaav dSiKLap i^ alpeareas avTcov, aS though the tCXt

were Dn^nn^P Cipn ^1^3 ^tkey ended the violence of their nature ;'
so Geiger translates, Urschrift, p. 374 f., regarding this
translation of the LXX as intended to tone down the violence
of Simeon and Levi's conduct. The Pesh. has )jL^>? |Ij)l»
yOcHJ^d ^2^ 'instruments of violence from their nature;'
possibly they connected Hi^lT) with n"]^3D ' birth,' ' descent'.

Onq. renders 5