1QDeuta 1 2 hmkm
Q8 MT Deut 1:23 Myn# OV(l) – Difference in grammati-
1QDeuta 1 2 yn# cal form.^767
Q9 MT Deut 1:24 ht) SV(2) – The object is clarified in
1QDeuta 1 3 Ct)h 1QDeuta.^768
Q10 MT Deut 9:28 wnt)cwh OV(l) – Difference in grammati-
1QDeuta 5 2 w]n)cwy cal form.^769
from surviving archaic spellings, following F.M. Cross, The Ancient Library of Qumran (Minneapolis: For-
tress Press, 1995^3 ) 175-76, E.Y. Kutscher, Language and Linguistic Background, 438-39, and D. Talshir,
"Habitat and History," 265. This stands against the Massoretic spelling that reflects a system of orthogra-
phy based on the ‘proto-Rabbinic’ vernacular. The latter, as noted by Cross (see F.M. Cross, Ancient Li-
brary, 176, and "Some Notes," 4-5), was edited back towards the former by the Massoretes who applied, in
most situations, vowel points that retained the pronunciation of long endings. See further B.K. Waltke and
M. O'Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990) 302, esp. note
46, and R. Steiner, "From Proto-Hebrew to Mishnaic Hebrew: The History of K 7 f- and h@f-," Hebrew Annual
Review 3 (1979). Incidentally, it must be said that the designation ‘Late Biblical Hebrew’ used above can
be either chronologically or stylistically defined, for which see I. Young, R. Rezetko, and M. Ehrensvaerd,
Linguistic Dating of Biblical Texts: An Introduction to Approaches and Problems (Bible World 28; 2 vols.;
London: Equinox, 2008). 767
This variation reflects different forms of a cardinal number in construct. By far the most common writ-
ing of the numeral ‘twelve’ in the MT is r#( Myn# (occurring over 60 times) though the form r#( yn# does
occur twice (in Joshua 3:12 and I Kings 7:25). 768
The pronominal object suffix in MT seems to refer to the valley: ht) wlgryw lk#) lxn d( w)byw, “... and
they came to the valley Eshkol, and they explored it.” In contrast 1QDeuta makes the object of the verb “the
land”: 769 Cr)h [w]lg[ryw] l[k#), “[ ... Eshko]l, [and they expl]ored the land.”
The verb √)cy, “to go out,” is written as imperfect (probably durative) in 1QDeuta against the perfect in
MT Deut 9:28.