דת and עין: Two verbs masquerading as nouns in Moses' blessing (Deuteronomy 33:2, 28).

Abstract

Irregular spelling is not normally an obstacle to understanding the biblical text. Nevertheless, when the deviant spelling of a rare word coincides with the normal spelling of a common word, exegetes can be misled. I submit that there are two irregular spellings in Moses' Blessing: דת for דאת (Deut 33:2,מימינו אשדת למו) andעין for ען (Deut 33:28, וישכן ישראל בטח בדד עין יעקב). These spellings have disguised the identity of the forms in question, leading many exegetes to assume that they are nouns or simply scribal errors. I shall argue that they are, in reality, verbs and not in need of emendation.