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מִשְׁפְּתַיִם / שְׁפַתַּיִם mišpetàyim / šepattàyim – layered fabric, sack, sheepfold

Semantic Fields: Utensils   Cloth   
Author(s): Eric G.L. Peels
First published: 2011-05-11
Last update: May 2025 (Raymond de Hoop, Marten van Dam)
Citation: Eric G.L. Peels, מִשְׁפְּתַיִם / שְׁפַתַּיִם mišpetàyim / šepattàyim – layered fabric, sack, sheepfold,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (update: May 2025 (Raymond de Hoop, Marten van Dam)) (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

מִשְׁפְּתַיִם

Grammatical type: noun masc.

Occurrences: 2x HB (1/1/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 2)

  • Torah: Gen 49:14.
  • Nebiim: Judg 5:16.

שְׁפַתַיִם

Grammatical type: noun masc.

Occurrences: 2x HB (0/1/1); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 2)

  • Nebiim: Ezek 40:43.
  • Ketubim: Ps 68:14.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Root. On the basis of Ugaritic and Arabic the Semitic root can be determined as ṯpd ‘to put one thing on another’. This root may have developed into שׁפת in biblical Hebrew under the influence of nouns like אַשְׁפַּתֹּות (Lam 4:5) and שְׁפַתַיִם (Ezek 40:43; Ps 68:13) which suggest the development ʾašpadtu > ʾašpatt > ʾašpat and šapadtu > šapatt > šapat.1 E. Klein hesitates between ‘dual ash heaps’, ‘sheepfolds’, and ‘hook-shaped pegs’, but accepts the derivation from שׁפת.2

A.2 Ugaritic. The word occurs as mṯ pdm, a metaphor for ‘folded layers’ of rock.3 Also the verb ṯpd G ‘to place one thing on another’ is attested.4

A.3 Postbiblical Hebrew. As the context betrays, שְׁפַתַיִם ‘border-mounds’ (?) and שׁפת ‘to place, pile’5 have apparently been borrowed from Biblical Hebrew.

A.4 Classical Arabic. taffada ... ‘Doubler, garnir en dedans une cuirasse de drap’; ṯafāfīd ‘1. Nuages blancs qui s'amoncélent et chevauchent les uns sur les autres. 2. Doublure, piéces de drap dont on garnit en dedans. 3. Choses cachées sous d'autres’; maṯāfīdu Voy. le précéd. 2.’6 So the basic meaning in Arabic seems to be ‘to fold one side over the other, make double, provide with a lining’, from which developed ‘to pile, pack (said of cumulus)’, ‘to hide one thing under another’.

2. Formal Characteristics

[Discussion will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

[Discussion will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

מִשְׁפְּתַיִם:
* Gen 49:14 LXX and α´: ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν κλήρων, ‘in the middle of the inheritances’ (GELS-L, 258). ἀλλος: λιβάδων, ‘streams, pools’;7 σ´ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν γειτόνιων , ‘in the middle of the neighbours’.8 Graeco-Venetus: ἀνὰ τὰ ἠμιφόρτια ‘to the half-packs’.
* Judg 5:16 LXXA simply transcribes the Hebrew: μοσφαθαιμ. LXXB has ἀνὰ μέσον τῆς διγομίας , ‘in the middle of the double burden’.9 α´ ἀνά μέσον τῶν κλήρων. σ´ ἀνά μέσον τῶν μεταιχμίων, ‘in the middle of the frontiers’. ἀλλος: ἐν μέσῳ χειλέων, ‘in the middle of ‘lips’ (rims)’.10

שְׁפַתַיִם:
* Ps 68 [67]:14 LXX ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν κλήρων, as in Gen 49:14.
* Ezek 40:43 LXX γεῖσος ‘cornice, coping’.11 α´ ἐπιστάσεις ‘stoppers (?)’

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

מִשְׁפְּתַיִם:
* Gen 49:14 bêt šbīlê ‘between roads’.
* Judg 5:16 baynat šbīlayyā ‘between the roads’.

שְׁפַתַיִם:
* Ezek 40:43 sêp̈wāthōn ‘and their rims, ledges’.12 * Ps 68:14 bêt špāyê ‘between the clearings’.13

c. Targum (Tg):

  • TgSmr: The basic text J has בין כרניה ‘among the nations’.[^14:] Some other manuscripts have לשׁוניה or לשׁונאיה, apparently etymologizing with Hebrew שָׂפָה ‘tongue’, also ‘language’. Manuscript A has בספיואתה, probably with the same meaning.15

מִשְׁפְּתַיִם:
* Gen 49:14: TO has a double translation: אחסנתיה בין תהומיא ‘his inheritance between the borders’. TN ביני תרין תחומייא ‘between two borders’ (so also some other Palestinian targums). TPsJ ביני תחומי אחוי ‘between the borders of his brothers’.
* Judg 5:16 בין תחומיא ‘between the borders’. A variant reading has בפרשׁת אורחא ‘at a cross-road’.16

שְׁפַתַיִם:
* Ezek 40:43 עונקלין, a Greek loanword (ὄγκινος or ἀγκάλη), not ‘eine mit Widerhaken versehene Stange’,17 but rather ‘hook, rack’. No doubt this was based on the iron ‘hooks’ of m. Midd. 3:5, a passage, however, which bears a hypothetical character itself.
* Ps 68:14 ביני קילקלתא ‘between dunghills’.19

d. Vulgate (Vg):

מִשְׁפְּתַיִם: * Gen 49:14; Judg 5:16 terminus ‘border, boundary’.20

שְׁפַתַיִם:
* Ezek 40:43 et labia earum ‘and their rims’.
* Ps 68:14 in medios cleros, after LXX.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

[Discussion will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Literal Use

A.1 The word מִשְׁפְּתַיִם occurs only twice. In Gen 49:14-15 Issachar is compared to a strong ass (חֲמֹר גֶּרֶם) resting (רֹבֵץ) between הַמִשְׁפְּתַיִם. The direct context provides not much of a clue for a specific identification although the article suggests that the connection between הַמִשְׁפְּתַיִם and an ass was not uncommon. Moreover, the dual would seem to indicate that the ass was resting between two more or less identical objects called *מִשְׁפָּת. And finally, the relation with v. 15b is not without relevance (see below). However, neither the material applied nor the shape of the מִשְׁפְּתַיִם is indicated.

A.2 In recent research three solutions have been suggested most frequently:
1. מִשְׁפְּתַיִם as ‘campfires, fire-places, ash-heaps, hearths’. This interpretation rests on a derivation from the verb שׁפת which in texts like 2 Kgs 4:38 and Ezek 24:3 is thought to mean ‘to put a cooking pot on the fire’; so e.g. BDB; W.F. Albright; BDB, 1046, מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘prob. fire-places or ash-heaps (viz. of the villages or encampments of the tribes)’; W.F. Albright, ‘A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems (Psalm 68)’, HUCA 23 (1950-51), 22; E.E. Carpenter, NIDOT, vol. 2, 1144. However, שׁפת does not have this specific meaning and although ‘fireplace’ might be fitting in Judg 5:16, it is certainly out of place in Gen 49:14. 2. מִשְׁפְּתַיִם as ‘sheepfolds’, ‘pastureland’ or ‘pens’. So many older dictionaries which were apparently inspired by the use of the term in Judg 5:16 (cf. Ps 68:16) where this meaning is indeed fitting because there is also talk of listening to the flute-playing (of shepherds) with the flocks.21 In this connection O. Eissfeldt has pointed to the prong-shaped sheepfolds in East-Jordan.22 3. The third, most plausible, rendering of מִשְׁפְּתַיִם is ‘saddle-bags, donkey-packs’. This has been defended in the past23 and was corroborated by new comparative linguistic evidence by J.C. de Moor.24 The noun should be derived from √ṯpd (so still in Ugaritic) which became √שׁפת in Hebrew. The basic meaning of the verb is ‘to put one thing on another’ (see Root and Comparative material). The noun is more or less an equivalent of אַמְתַּחַת - the Ugaritic cognates of the two words are used in synonymous parallelism. The dual form of the noun points to the fact that a sack is made of fabric folded in two and stitched around the edges. As a donkey-pack, several such sacks were interconnected in the middle and hung down the sides of the animal.25

A.3 This background explains the imagery of Gen 49:14-15. When the ass lies down (רבץ) with his heavy load, the bags on both sides rise up over him. This evokes Issachar's residential area: the plain of Jizreel, on both sides bordered by mountains. The ass is willing to do heavy work, provided it feels good. That this is indeed the case shows the sequel in v. 15: his resting place is good, and the land is pleasant; so he bows his shoulder (וַיֵּט שִׁכְמֹו) to bear (סבל) his burden (the מִשְׁפְּתַיִם). In other words, Issachar (‘man of wages’) is willing to take upon himself the unpleasant chores of a corvée worker.26 Exactly the relationship between vv. 14 and 15 renders it plausible that the term מִשְׁפְּתַיִם refers to a real utensil, the equipment with which the pack animal hauls on his heavy load.

A.4 However, the interpretation of מִשְׁפְּתַיִם as ‘donkey packs, donkey bags’ in Gen 49:14 encounters a problem in Judg 5:16, the only other place where the word is used. The meaning proposed does not seem to fit the context there. In the middle of the Song of Deborah (Judg 5:1-31), which sings the praise of the vigour and fighting spirit of Israel's tribes with captivating dynamics, the tribes of Reuben, Gilead, Dan and Asher are criticised because of their inertion (vv. 15b-17). Reuben is asked why he remained sitting (ישׁב) among the מִשְׁפְּתַיִם without taking part in the action. The singer gives the answer himself: because Reuben preferred ‘to listen to the piping for the flocks’ (לִשְׂמֹעַ שְׁרִקֹות עֲדָרִים). The herds are gathered by the piping of the shepherds, Reuben simply continues the daily routine of going out and comming in. Reuben hears the shepherd's flute, but not the trumpet of war. It seems likely that מִשְׁפְּתַיִם must be rendered ‘sheepfolds’ here, not ‘donkey packs’ or the like. Yet a relation between the two may be suspected in two different ways. One might assume that the poet wants to evoke the everyday scene of a mule lying down between his double burden - the very picture of peaceful rest in general. Or, one might assume that the V-shape of the sheepfold in ancient Israel resembled the shape of a donkey pack with its multiple layers of bags.27

In view of the analogous wording and function in the context, most scholars assume that שְׁפַתַיִם in Ps 68:14 is a variant spelling of the term מִשְׁפְּתַיִם in Judg 5:16 - without preformative מ־ and with geminated ת.28 Moreover, some of the ancient versions translate the two terms identically. Ps 68:14 is a crux interpretum; both the position of v. 14a and the meaning of v. 14b are a riddle to many. Often it is stated that v. 14a is a stray gloss from Judg 5:16.29 Indeed the similarity between Judg 5:16 and Ps 68:14 is striking, but there are more parallels between Ps 68 and the Song of Deborah. The circumstance that in Ps 68:14 the verb שׁכב is used instead of ישׁב (so Judg 5:14) does change nothing in the meaning of the phrase - the lying down or sitting בֵּין שְׁפַתַיִם points to an undisturbed, acquiescent, passive attitude. Commentators disagree, however, on the meaning of the clause: are we dealing with a reproof, an adhortation, a promise, a wish, or an observation? An exegetical decision on this matter is possible only if the function of the ‘dove’ in v. 14b is clarified.30

A.5 The meaning of the technical term שְׁפַתַיִם in Ezek 40:43 is as uncertain as it is controversial. This verse too has been a crux interpretum from antiquity (see Ancient Versions c) to the present day. The context is a description of a room in the neighbourhood of the north gate. The vast majority of commentators agrees that the present sequence of cola in vv. 42-43 is illogical. It is thought that on the tables (שֻׁלְחָנֹות) not both the slaughtering instruments (הַכֵּלִים) and the flesh of victims (43b) can have been laid. Moreover, the function of the שְׁפַתַיִם in v. 43a is missing in MT and v. 43a breaks off rather abruptly at אֲלֵיהֶם. It seems most natural to relate v. 43b and v. 42a, and to reverse the order so that on both sides of the building concerned (בַּבַּיִת סָבִיב סָבִיב) the שְׁפַתַיִם are attached (מוּכָנִים, Ho. part., v. 43a). They are assumed to serve for storing the slaughtering instruments (v. 42b).31 Following various ancient versions (cf. Ancient Versions), scholars render שְׁפַתַיִם as ‘hooks, pegs’ or ‘ledges, shelves’.

A.6 However, no lucid explanation for the text in its present form has been given. Is it necessary to emend it so drastically as has been proposed? First of all, it should be observed that the emendation into a plural, proposed by BHS and others, does not recommend itself. Since adjectives do not have a dual, it is normal in Hebrew that מוּכָנִים is in the plural.32 Furthermore it is illuminating to study the evidence from Egypt with regard to the tools and furniture used by butchers in antiquity,33 because this seems to prove that the text of Ezek 40:42-43 is perfectly acceptable as it stands. In view of their small dimensions, the ‘tables’ of Ezek 40:41-43 are rather the slaughtering blocks which in Egypt too could be of both wood and hewn stone, often used simultaneously in the same chamber. The problematic אֲלֵיהֶם simply means that the stone slabs which were only one cubit high (v. 42b) were on four of the tables mentioned in v. 41 (cf. v. 41b אֲלֵיהֶם).34 Since the slaughtering instruments, mostly knives and scrapers, were used on these blocks, there is no valid reason to assume that they could not be lying on these ‘tables’ when not in use (v. 42b). The שְׁפַתַיִם which were fastened all around in the building (v. 43) can only be the sacks in which the butchers used to suspend joints of meat for drying.35 Apparently the fabric served to keep away flies. The circumstance that they were only one handbreadth (טֹפַח אֶחָד) wide in the case of Ezekiel's temple (v. 43a) can be explained on the basis of the Egyptian practice to hang out long, narrow strips of meat for drying, somewhat resembling the South African ‘biltong’.36 The sacks sometimes had a tapering shape to accommodate the shape of the cut, not unlike the European custom to sell hams in a tapering sack or net.

6.2 Pictorial Material

A.1 A good drawing of the type of sack described above is offered by C.W. Wilson (PICTURE BELOW), lower right corner;37 but see also the photographs by S. Avitzur and T. Bolen.38

7. Conclusion

A.1 The ancient versions are clearly at a loss how to interpret מִשְׁפְּתַיִם and שְׁפַתַיִם, words that apparently had become obsolete by the time the translators started their work. On the basis of context, etymology and iconography it may be assumed that מִשְׁפְּתַיִם and שְׁפַתַיִם designated objects made of fabric folded in two and stitched together at the edges to form a sack (→ אַמְתַּחַת). As such it could designate a sack to dry freshly slaughtered and washed meat (Ezek 40:43). Two or more such folded sacks could be connected and hung over the back of a donkey as a ‘donkey-pack’ (Gen 49:14). Very few versions seem to have preserved a vague notion of this meaning, viz. LXXB, which translates ‘in the middle of the double burden’ in Judg 5:16, and the Graeco-Venetus rendering ‘to the half-packs’ in Gen. 49:14. In a metaphorical sense both words could designate a sheep-fold (Judg 5:16; Ps 68:14) whereas the equivalent in Ugaritic (mṯ pdm) became a metaphor for multiple layers of rock and the Arabic cognate could designate cloud-packs, cumulus.

A.2 Actually the English ‘fold’ underwent a similar semantic development. The verb denotes bending a thing over itself, or ‘double’. Then also ‘to undergo bending or curvature’, said of rock strata, and ‘to enclose, envelop’. As a noun, it may denote ‘a part doubled or laid over another part’, but also curved or undulating layers of rock (Merrian-Webster), and of course also the ‘(sheep)fold’ has survived, the enclosure in which sheep are driven from the grazing land via its wide V-shaped entrance.

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

Albright 1950
W.F. Albright, ‘A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems (Psalm 68)’, HUCA 23 (1950-51), 22.
Begg 1987
C. Begg, ‘The Messenger Dove in Ps 68,12-14’, EThL 63 (1987), 117-8.
Block 1998
D.I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48 (NICOT), Grand Rapids 1998, 534.
BRL
K. Galling, Biblisches Reallexikon, Tübingen 21977, 317 (hesitates to accept Eissfeldt's hypothesis).
CHALOT
W.L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden 1971, 221: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘the two saddle-bags (of pack-animal)’; 382: שְׁפַתַיִם ‘(rim) of slab? Ez. 40,43; (panniers or) saddle-bags Ps 68,14 (oth.: sheepfolds)’.
Crown 1967
A.D. Crown, ‘Judges V 15b-16’, VT 17 (1967), 240-2.
Curtis 2001
R.I. Curtis, Ancient Food Technology (Technology and Change in History, 5), Leiden 2001, 165-73.
Darby 1977
W.J. Darby et al., Food: The Gift of Osiris, vol. 1, London 1977, 147, 152-3.
DBHE
L. Alonso Schökel (ed.), Diccionario Bíblico Hebreo-Español, Madrid 1994, 443: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘Alforjas Gn 49,14; aprisco?’; 761: שְׁפַתַיִם ‘apriscos ... repisas’.
DCH
D.J.A. Clines (ed.), The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (vol. 1-8, Sheffield 1993-2011), vol. 5, 564-5: leaves all options open --
De Hoop 1999
R. de Hoop, Genesis 49 in its Literary and Historical Context (OTS, 39), Leiden 1999.
De Moor 1981
J.C. de Moor, ‘Donkey-packs and Geology’, UF 13 (1981), 303-4.
De Moor 1985
J.C. de Moor, ‘Ugaritic Smalltalk’, UF 17 (1985), 221.
De Moor 1993
J.C. de Moor, ‘The Twelve Tribes in the Song of Deborah’, VT 43 (1993), 491, n. 33.
De Moor 1997
J.C. de Moor, The Rise of Yahwism (BEthL, 91A), Leuven 21997, 121.
Dercksen 2009
J.G. Dercksen, ‘Sattel’, RLA, Bd. 12, Lief. 1/2, Berlin 2009, 90-93.
Eissfeldt 1949
O. Eissfeldt, ‘Gabelhürden im Ostjordanland’, FuF 25 (1949), 8-10 (= Kleine Schriften, Bd. 3, Tübingen 1966, 61-6).
Eissfeldt 1954
O. Eissfeldt, ‘Noch einmal: Gabelhürden im Ostjordanland’, FuF 28 (1954), 54-6 (= Kleine Schriften, Bd. 3, Tübingen 1966, 67-70)
FHAWAT
G. Fohrer et al., Hebräisches und aramäisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Berlin 1971, 167: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘Sattelkörbe’; 293 שְׁפַתַיִם ‘Ez 4043 Gabelhaken?; Abstellplatten?; Ps 6814 Hürden?; Packsattel?’.
Flashar 1912
M. Flashar, ‘Exegetische Studien zum Septuagintapsalter’, ZAW 32 (1912), 183.
GB
W. Gesenius & F. Buhl, Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, Leipzig 171915, 473: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘wahrsch. Viehhürden’; 859: שְׁפַתַיִם ‘Ps. 68,14: Hürden; Ez. 40,23 erklärt man gew.: gabelförmige Pflöcke’.
Gese 1957
H. Gese, Der Verfassungsentwurf des Ezechiel (Kap. 40-48) traditionsgeschichtlich untersucht (BHTh, 25), Tübingen 1957, 158-60.
Gibson 1994
J.C.L. Gibson, Davidson's Introductory Hebrew Grammar: Syntax, Edinburgh 1994, §42.
HAHAT
H. Donner et al. (eds.), Wilhelm Gesenius Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament (6 Lieferungen, Heidelberg 181987-2010), 761: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘Gabelhürde(n)’.
HALAT
W. Baumgartner et al., Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexikon zum Alten Testament, Leiden 1967-1995, 616: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘Sattelkörbe d. Packesels’; 151 שְׁפַתַיִם ‘Trotz des ug. bleibt das Wort mit seinen zwei verschiedenartigen Belegen unsicher: Rand, Abstellplatte, Gabelförmige Pflöcke, hürdenartige Pflockreihen (am Tische), Gabelhaken’.
Hamilton 1995
V.P. Hamilton, Genesis (NICOT), Grand Rapids 1995.
HAWAT
E. König, Hebräisches und aramäisches Wörterbuch zum Alten Testament, Leipzig 2-31922, 255: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘Hürden, wahrscheinlich wegen der zwei Hauptseiten in Dualform, durch die der betreffende Weideplatz von den beiden Nachbargrundstücken abgegrenzt wurde’; 524: שְׁפַתַיִם ‘Doppelgestelle, Hürden (Ps. 68, 14); Hürdenartige Pflockreihen (um Tische), Hes. 40,43’.
HCHAT
J. Fürst & V. Ryssel, Hebräisches und chaldäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament (2 Bde, Leipzig 31876), Bd. 1, 802: ‘Hürde, d.h. offener Sommerstall’; Bd. 2, 492: ‘Haken, in den Wänden, um geschlachtete Thiere daran zu hängen Ez. 40,43 ... Hürde Ps. 68,14’.
Heck 1986
J.D. Heck, ‘Issachar: Slave or Freeman?’, JETS 29 (1986), 390-1.
Hogg 1927
J.E. Hogg, ‘The Meaning of הַמִשְׁפְּתַיִם in Gen 49,14 and Judg 5,16’, AJSL 43 (1926-27), 299-301
Hossfeldt 2000
F.-L. Hossfeldt & E. Zenger, Psalmen 51-100 (HThK.AT), Freiburg i.B. 2000, 253.
Ikram 1994
S. Ikram, Choice Cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt (OLA, 69), Leuven 1994, 41-108.
Ikram 1995
S. Ikram, ‘Did the Ancient Egyptians Eat Biltong?’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 5 (1995), 283-9.
ISBE
G.W. Bromiley (ed.), International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids 31979-88), vol. 2, 326.
Isserlin 1971
B.S.J. Isserlin, ‘Psalm 68, Verse 14: An Archaeological Gloss’, PEQ 103 (1971), 5-8.
KBL
L. Koehler & W. Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti libros, Leiden 1953, 580: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘die beiden Sattelkörbe ... both saddle-bags’; 1006: ‘Abstellplatten (aus Stein? slabs? places where to set down things Hs. 40,43; Packsättel, pack-saddles Ps. 68,14’.
Kraus 1989
H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen (BK, 15/1). Neukirchen 61989, 627.
LHA
F. Zorell, Lexicon hebraicum et aramaicum Veteris Testamenti, Roma 1962, 486: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘saeptum duplex, i.e. locus (caulae, castra, urbs) duplici saepto cinctus ideoque tutus, quietus’.
LMHC
G.B. Winer, Lexicon manuale hebraicum et chaldaicum in Veteris Testamenti libros, Lipsiae 1828, 1019: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם ‘stabula vel crates, caulae, quibus pecus noctu includitur’; שְׁפַתַיִם: ‘vulgo canales, stabula’.
Macchi 1999
J.-D. Macchi, Israël et ses tribus selon Genése 49 (OBO, 171), Fribourg 1999.
Pehlke 1985
H. Pehlke, An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28, Ann Arbor 1985, 191-6.
Saarisalo 1927
A. Saarisalo, The Boundary between Issachar and Naphtali: An Archeaological and Literary Study of Israel's Settlement in Canaan, Helsinki 1927, 92.
MHH
M.Z. Kaddari, אוצר לון המקרא: מילון העברית המקראית, 680: מכלאות צאן, 1137: מקום האש הבוערת.
Skinner 1930
J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC), Edinburgh 1930, 526.
Smelik 1995
W.F. Smelik, The Targum of Judges (OTS, 36), Leiden 1995, 459.
PLBL
T. Bolen, Pictorial Library of Bible Lands, 10 vols. on DVD, Grand Rapids 2005.
PPSE
C.W. Wilson, Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, 4 vols, London 1880-1884.
TPC
G. (= W.) Gesenius & A. Roediger, Thesaurus philologicus criticus lingvae hebraeae et chaldaeae Veteris Testamenti, 3 vols., Lipsiae 1829-1858, 1472: מִשְׁפְּתַיִם: ‘caulae pecorum palis septae’; שְׁפַתַיִם ‘paxillus bifidus’ (Ezek 40:43); caulae pecorum palis (et cratibus) constructae (Ps 68:14).
Vlaardingerbroek 1973
J. Vlaardingerbroek, Psalm 68, Amsterdam 1973, 59-67.
Waltke/O'Connor 1990
B.K. Waltke & M. O'Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Winona Lake 1990, §14.2b.
Zimmerli 1969
W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BKAT, 13/2), Neukirchen 1969, 1022.
Zobel 1965
H.J. Zobel, Stammesspruch und Geschichte (BZAW, 95), Berlin 1965, 16.

  1. Cf. SLOCG, §27.3; Joüon & Muraoka, GBH, §§ 100b and 18l. ↩

  2. CEDHL, 394, 677. ↩

  3. Del Olmo Lete & Sanmartín, DLU, 605-6. ↩

  4. Cf. Del Olmo Lete & Sanmartín, DLU, 925. ↩

  5. Jastrow, DTT, 1620. ↩

  6. Kazimirski, DAF, t. 1, 226; similarly Freytag, LAL, t. 1, 220. ↩

  7. LSJ, 1047. ↩

  8. LSJ, 341. ↩

  9. GELS-L, 258; LSJ, 960. ↩

  10. GELS-L, 1982. ↩

  11. GELS-L, 87; LSJ, 341. ↩

  12. Cf. Payne Smith (Margoliouth), CSD, 385. ↩

  13. Cf. Payne Smith (Margoliouth), CSD, 590; Brockelmann, LS, 794 ‘offensa’; Costaz, DSF, 376 ‘pierre d'achoppement, stumbling-block’. ↩

  14. Tal, DSA, 411. ↩

  15. Tal, DSA, 445, 693. ↩

  16. Cf. W.F. Smelik, The Targum of Judges (OTS, 36), Leiden 1995, 459. ↩

  17. So Levy, CWT, Bd. 2, 230. ↩

  18. Jastrow, DTT, 30. ↩

  19. Jastrow, DTT, 1368; Dalman, ANHT, 377). ↩

  20. LD, 1859. ↩

  21. See for adherents to this opinion R. de Hoop, Genesis 49 in its Literary and Historical Context (OTS, 39), Leiden 1999, 153, n. 449. ↩

  22. O. Eissfeldt, ‘Gabelhürden im Ostjordanland’, FuF 25 (1949), 8-10 (= Kleine Schriften, Bd. 3, Tübingen 1966, 61-66); idem, ‘Noch einmal: Gabelhürden im Ostjordanland’, FuF 28 (1954), 54-56 (= Kleine Schriften, Bd. 3, Tübingen 1966, 67-70). ↩

  23. J.E. Hogg, ‘The Meaning of הַמִשְׁפְּתַיִם in Gen 49,14 and Judg 5,16’, AJSL 43 (1926-27), 299-301; A. Saarisalo, The Boundary between Issachar and Naphtali: An Archeaological and Literary Study of Israel's Settlement in Canaan, Helsinki 1927, 92; J. Skinner, Genesis (ICC), Edinburgh 1930, 526. ↩

  24. J.C. de Moor, ‘Donkey-packs and Geology’, UF 13 (1981), 303-04; idem, ‘Ugaritic Smalltalk’, UF 17 (1985), 221; idem, ‘The Twelve Tribes in the Song of Deborah’, VT 43 (1993), 491, n. 33; idem, The Rise of Yahwism (BEthL, 91A), Leuven 21997, 121. ↩

  25. Cf. S. Avitzur, אדם ועמלו׃ אטלס לתולדות כלי עבודה ומיתקני ייצור בארץ־ישראל, Jerusalem 1976, 189-91; J.G. Dercksen, ‘Sattel’, RLA, Bd. 12, Lief. 1/2, Berlin 2009, 90-93, 92. ↩

  26. Thus e.g. De Hoop, Genesis 49, 160-61; J.-D. Macchi, Israël et ses tribus selon Genése 49 (OBO, 171), Fribourg 1999, 152-55 both with nuances approaching the ‘labouring worker’ others prefer, e.g. V.P. Hamilton, Genesis (NICOT), Grand Rapids 1995, 668. ↩

  27. Thus De Moor, ‘Song’, 491, n. 33; idem, Rise, 121, n. 80. The proposal of A.D. Crown, ‘Judges V 15b-16’, VT 17 (1967), 240-2, to render ‘to squat on one's haunches’ failed to convince. ↩

  28. GB, 859; HAWAT, 524; HCHAT, Bd. 2, 492; KBL, 1006. ↩

  29. E.g. B.S.J. Isserlin, ‘Psalm 68, Verse 14: An Archaeological Gloss’, PEQ 103 (1971), 5-8; cf. H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen (BK, 15/1). Neukirchen 61989, 627. ↩

  30. For various proposals see e.g. C. Begg, ‘The Messenger Dove in Ps 68,12-14’, EThL 63 (1987), 117-8; F.-L. Hossfeldt & E. Zenger, Psalmen 51-100 (HThKAT), Freiburg i.B. 2000, 253; De Moor, Rise, 174. The last-mentioned believes that in Ps 68:14 too the rendering ‘sheepfolds’ is appropriate. ↩

  31. Cf. H. Gese, Der Verfassungsentwurf des Ezechiel (Kap. 40-48) traditionsgeschichtlich untersucht (BHTh, 25), Tübingen 1957, 158-60; W. Zimmerli, Ezechiel (BK, 13/2), Neukirchen 1969, 1022; D.I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel: Chapters 25-48 (NICOT), Grand Rapids 1998, 534. ↩

  32. Cf. B.K. Waltke & M. O'Connor, Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Winona Lake 1990, §14.2b; J.C.L. Gibson, Davidson's Introductory Hebrew Grammar: Syntax, Edinburgh 1994, §42. ↩

  33. Cf. S. Ikram, ‘Did the Ancient Egyptians Eat Biltong?’, Cambridge Archaeological Journal 5 (1995), 283-89; R.I. Curtis, Ancient Food Technology (Technology and Change in History, 5), Leiden 2001, 165-73. ↩

  34. Such a stone slab is lying on the slaughtering block in a miniature model of an ancient Egyptian butcher's shop, LÄ, Bd. 1, 1081-82. ↩

  35. W.J. Darby et al., Food: The Gift of Osiris, vol. 1, London 1977, 147, 152-53; S. Ikram, Choice Cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt (OLA, 69), Leuven 1994, 41-108, 77, Fig. 16; 82-83, with Fig. 17; 85, Fig. 18; Curtis, Ancient Food Technology, 170-2. ↩

  36. Cf. Ikram, ‘Ancient Egyptians?’, 283-89. ↩

  37. Wilson, PPSE, vol. 2, 24. ↩

  38. Avitzur, אדם ועמלו, 89-91; Bolen, PLBL, tb060503203. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database