| APPENDIX
C - A SAMPLE OF PESHER HERMENEUTICS
A Sample from Pesher
Habakkuk[1]
Page 1
1. ... shall I cry and not
(part of verse 1:2)
2. ... this generation
3. ... oth (fem pl.) upon them
4. ... his about me
5. ... m ... iyt ...
(a portion of 2 words in verse 1:3)
6. ... to (or God) by exploitation
and from
7. ... (fragmented word) and many
8. ... (2 fragmented words) he
9. ... therefore the Torah fades
away (portion of verse 1:4)
10 ... which is his burden in the
Torah of God
11 ... (direct object) the righteous
12 ... He is the Moreh ha-tsedek
13 ... therefore the judgement
goes out (part of 1:4)
14 ... and not the
Page 2
1. it be told him ... the
treacherous with a man (1:5)
2. all the liars ... the Moreh Tsedek
from the mouth
3. of God and concerning the trai(tors)
... the new (fragmented word)
4. our belief in the covenant of
God ... those possessing ... and
5. truth. Pesher of the word ...
..gadiym to the last (aleph)
6. days. They are aro... ... ..oth
which they will not believe
7 when they hear all the b...
... of the final generation from the mouth (1:5)
8. of the priest which God gives
in ... to explain to all
9. the words of His servants coming
... hands God tells
10. all coming to his people and.
... (be)cause behold I am raising up (1:6)
11. the Chaldeans, the nation
the bit(ter) ... ... (the has)ty (1:6)
12. Pesher about how the Romans a...
..h speedy ones and mighty men
13. in war to destroy r.. .... from
the government of
14. the Romans to do evil ... ...
and we do not say
15. according to their laws ...
Page 3
1. and in contending and going to
strike and to loot the cities of the land
2. because as he says: to possess
inhabited areas that are not theirs. (1:7) Dreadful
3. and terrible they are and their
judgement and pride proceeds from themselves. (1:7)
4. Pesher about the Romans by which
their fear (...) upon all
5. nations and in fact all their
thoughts to do evil and (...) to defraud
6. and to come with all the peoples.
Their horses are lighter than leopards and more alert (1:8)
7. than the evening wolves. Their
horsemen spread themselves from afar (1:8,9)
8. and they fly as an eagle hastening
to eat. (1:8) All of them coming for violence multiplying(1:9)
9. by their faces the east (wind).
Pesher about the Romans who
10. possess the earth with horses
and with their beasts and extend themselves
11. and they come from the isles
of the sea to destroy ...
and (..)iyl the peoples as an eagle
12. and they are not sated and in
them and their beasts ... and even their raging
13. faces and they speak with ...
... as he
14. says: ma(gemet) ...... ....
as sand the captivity (1:9)
Page 4
1. they shall mock (kings) and
laugh at the princes (part of 1:10) Pesher that
2. they mock about many and despise
the glorified kings
3. and rulers and they deceive and
scorn many peoples. And he
4. (scorns) every fort and laughing
at them he heaps up dust and captures them (part of 1:10)
5. Peshru about the rulers of the
Romans who despised
6. the forts of the peoples mocking
and laughing at them
7. and at many other peoples, imitating
and making them foolish to hold them in fear
8. and take them in their hand to
destroy them because of the sins of those dwelling
9. there. Then shall he change
his spirit and he shall pass over attributing this, his power
(most of 1:11)
10. to his god (end of 1:11) Peshru
about the rulers of the Romans
11. who by the counsel of the house
of Ishm(ael) and the servants of men
12. who rule in the presence of their
neighbor ...afterward and they go
13. to slay the ..... ... ... his
strength to his god. (part of 1:11)
14. Peshru about ....................
.... (...)l the peoples
Page 5
1. you have set them for judgement
O Rock, you have established them for correction. (You have) purer
eyes( parts of 1:12 and 13)
2. than to view evil and you are
not able to consider wickedness (part of 1:13)
3. Pesher about the saying that God
is not able to (to save) his people from the hand of the Gentiles
4. and God gives judgement in the
hand of his "Chosen one" (to) all the Gentiles and in
their reproaches
5. and their guilt to all those doing
evil to my people which keep my commandments.
6. in and enemy to whom because that
which says you are of purer eyes to behold
7. evil (part of 1:13) Peshru
that their eyes do not hunger after the evil end (time).
8. Why do the traitors look and
plough evil swallowing (part of 1:13)
9. righteousness away from us.
(part of 1:13) Pesher about the House of Absalom
10. and the men of their council
which fall silent in reproaching of the Moreh Tsedek.
11. But they do not help him against
the lying man who does violence to
12. The Torah among all the nations
and makes men as the fish of the sea (part of (1:14)
13. as creeping things to watch
over it. (part of 1:14) All of them take up into their
net (part of 1:15)
14. and they gather them .....
in their seine. Therefore they are happy (part of 1:15)
15. .............. their portion.
Page 6
1. The Romans, the ones gathering
wealth from all the spoil
2. as fish of the sea, wherefore
he says: (Begin 1:16) Therefore they sacrifice to their net
3. and offer incense to their
seine (end part of 1:16) Peshru about them
4. sacrificing to their symbols and
all the wars they
5. are showing because in them they
fatten their portion. They eat from my table
6. Pesher about their dividing of
the world and
7. their violence in devouring the
peoples year after year
8. destroying with the sword many
lands. (begin 1:17) Therefore they draw out their sword and
continue
9. to murder the nations without
compassion (end 1:17)
10. Peshru about the Romans who destroy
many by the sword
11. youths, mature men, old men,
women, infants, and on the fruit
12. of the womb they have no mercy.
(begin 2:1 Let me stand fast on my watch tower
13. and present myself on the
fortress and I will keep watch to see what He will say
14. to me and w(hat ... I will
answe)r when he corrects me (end part of 2:1) (begin 2:2)
And YHWH answered me
15. (and said write the vision and
make it clea)r on tablets so that the one runn(ing) (end
part of 2:2)
NOTES
[1]
Translation from Moellerhaus Publishing, http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/peshtran.htm
The bold print is text from the book of Habakkuk, the rest is
commentary. The character of the "Wicked Priest." Is
translated (koheyn ha-rasha') and the "Teacher of Righteousness"
Moreh Tsedek. Return to Text.
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