Book of the Covenant (30:1-31:40) 493REB). Giesebrecht translates the MT, noting that the words are well attested
in the Vrs (Aq, Symm, Theod, GL, T, S, and Vg). The article on "the valley
land" (ha'emeq) requires that "the corpses and the ashes" be terms of apposi-
tion (not part of a construct chain; pace AV; RSV; NRSV; NAB; NJV). They
specify what has defiled the valleys in days past and also more recently.
and all the terraces. Sense can only be made of the Q, hassedemot ("the ter-
races"); the Kt hasseremot appears simply to be a scribal error, writing r for d
(LXX transliterates Kt as a proper noun). Aquila translates kai panta ta proas-
teia ("and all the environs"), and Symm kai sumpan kata ton choron ton taphon
("and all throughout the place of burial"). The Vg supports Symm with re-
gionem mortis ("area of death"), dividing the Heb into two words: sedeh mawet,
the first apparently being the common sadeh ("field") with a sin, not a sin. In
any case, what are being referred to are the terraced fields on the slopes of Jeru-
salem, above the Ben-Hinnom and Kidron Valleys. The question is whether
they were used for agriculture or burials, or for both. Lehmann ( 1953) accepts
the renderings of Symm and Vg, and takes "field of Death" or "field of Mot"
(the Canaanite god of death) as evidence for a Canaanite death cult in the
Kidron, in connection with which was a burial area for (human) sacrificial vic-
tims. See also Croatto and Soggin 1962. The relevant Ugaritic texts employ a
noun sdmt, meaning "field(s)" (UM 327 #1811; UT 488 #2388), which could
explain Heb sedemot (with a sin) here and in 2 Kgs 23:4. It should be remem-
bered that in all ancient inscriptions and MSS, no distinction is made between
the sin and sin. But a "field of Mot" in the Kidron is by no means proved. The
terraces may have been nothing more than agricultural plots. Excavations by
Kenyon and Shiloh above the Kidron show agricultural terracing there from
the fourteenth century B.C. until the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in
586 B.C. (Stager 1982; P. J. King 1993: 157-59).
up to the Brook Kidron. Hebrew 'ad-na~al qidron. One Heb MS reads 'al
("above") for 'ad ("up to"), and some commentators therefore want to emend
(Volz; Rudolph; Bright; Holladay). This would put the terraces "above" the
Brook Kidron, where some are located, but the narrator may still be wanting to
delineate the boundary as he does in what follows: "up to ('ad) the corner of
the Horse Gate."
up to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east. We are now on the eastern
boundary of Jerusalem, where the Horse Gate is located. This gate is usually
placed at the southeastern corner of the Temple complex (Cornill; Weiser;
Simons 195 2: 232; Bahat and Rubinstein 1990: 30-31 ), where it served both
the Temple and the palace quarter (Avi-Yonah 1954: 247). This would be south
of the East (Golden) Gate, close to Ophel (Dalman's map in Bahat and Rubin-
stein 1990: 31; Vincent 1934-35: x; cf. Neh 3:28). Horses would have come
into the palace through this gate, and it was where the infamous Athaliah was
killed (2 Kgs 11:16; 2 Chr 23:15).
holy for Yahweh. Hebrew qodes layhwh. The most unclean areas surround-
ing the city must be made holy for Yahweh. The words "holy for Yahweh"