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רְאִי reʾī – mirror

Semantic Fields: Utensils   
Author(s): Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen
First published: 2011-11-01
Last update: May 2025 (Marten van Dam)
Citation: Archibald L.H.M. van Wieringen, רְאִי reʾī – mirror,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (update: May 2025 (Marten van Dam)) (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

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

  • Ketubim: Job 37:18
  • Sir 12:11

Text Doubtful

A.1
On the authority of Smend1 HALAT2, seems to accept the reading ראי in Sir 12:11. Lévi3 and Beentjes4 read רז כמגלה, ‘like someone who betrays a riddle’ in MS A. However, the Greek text differs considerably from the Hebrew one in MS A and probably presupposes ראי כמגלה, ‘like someone who polishes a mirror’. LXX Sir 12:10-11 describes how the wickedness of an evil opponent is like rust that has to be removed (√גלה Pi.) time and again. The word used for ‘mirror’ is ἔσοπτρον, as in Wisdom 7:26; Testament of Job 33:8; 1 Cor 13:12; Jac 1:23.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1
Semitic. The root occurs in several Semitic languages.5 See → מַרְאָה where also derivatives meaning ‘mirror’ have been listed.

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1
[Discussion will be added later.]

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

4. Ancient Versions

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

  • LXX (with obelos, from θ´ and α´) ὅρασις, ‘appearance’: Job 37:18.

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • Skips רְאִי: lmsmkw ʾkjdʾ, ‘to hold (it) together’: Job 37:18.

c. Targum (Tg):

  • 11Q10 (11QtgJob XXIX.9) עקה כמחזיה, ‘[like a] pressed [mir]ror’.
  • The rabbinical Tg: סנינא אספלירא היך וחזותהון, ‘and their (i.e. the clouds’) appearance like a glistening mirror’ (as usual, different readings are attested6).
  • אספלירא is a loanword from Latin specularia, ‘window panes’, cf. specularius, ‘mirror-maker’.7

d. Vulgate (Vg):

  • Also omits רְאִי: quasi aeri fusi sunt ‘which are cast like bronze’: Job 37:18.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Literal Use

A.1 רְאִי in Job 37:18 is again a hapax legomenon skipped by both Cohen8 and Greenspahn.9 God invites Job to hammer out (√רקע) the high sky which is מוּצָק כִּרְאִי חֲזָקִים ‘hard like a cast רְאִי’. Apparently he challenges Job to imitate his work as the Creator to form the רָקִיעַ, ‘firmament’ (Gen 1:6-8, etc.). The tertium comparationis is the hardness of the firmament.10 Since it seems likely that the word רְאִי means ‘mirror’ (see below), it is apt to recall that mirrors were cast from extremely hard (cf. חֲזָקִים) and pure metal, usually bronze, because pitting would make them useless. See further → גִּלָּיֹון and → מַרְאָה.

6.2 Figurative Use

A.1 Not attested.

6.3 Pictorial Material and Archaeology

A.1 See → גִּלָּיֹון, 6.2 Pictorial Material and Archeology.

7. Conclusion

A.1 On the basis of the context as well as the use in Ben Sira and the versions, the meaning ‘mirror’ can be accepted with confidence.

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

All dictionaries of Biblical Hebrew recognise the meaning ‘mirror’ in Job 37:18. Other literature cited:

Clines 2006
D.J.A. Clines, Job 21-37 (WBC, 18A), Nashville 2006
Lévi 1951
I. Lévi, The Hebrew Text of the Book of Ecclesiasticus (SSS, 3), Leiden 1951
Smend 1906
R. Smend, Die Weisheit des Jesus Sirach erklärt, Berlin 1906
Stec 1994
D.M. Stec, The Text of the Targum of Job (AGJU, 20), Leiden 1994.

  1. Smend 1906. ↩

  2. HALAT, 1084. ↩

  3. Lévi 1951, 18. ↩

  4. Beentjes 1997, 39. ↩

  5. Leslau, CDG, 458-9; Klein, CEDHL, 600; Beeston, SD, 113; Biella,
    DOSA, 474. ↩

  6. Cf. Stec 1994, 262*. ↩

  7. LD, 1739. ↩

  8. Cohen, BHL. ↩

  9. Greenspahn, HLBH. ↩

  10. Clines 2006, 882-3. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database