the reception of the aramaic of the second temple period in biblical text

12 Pages·2015·0.45 MB·English

Clemens Wassermann
T R A
he ecepTion of The RAmAic of The
S T p B T
econd emple eRiod in iBlicAl exT
1. Introduction whose approach (from the Aramaic in the OT
to the Aramaic in the NT) basically has been
Searching for theological literature on the reconfirmed through the discovery of the Dead
topic of “Aramaic in the Bible” is not an easy Sea Scrolls.4
task. One only finds a few useful references
at first sight. In only one column this topic is The Aramaic parts of the Old Testament are
treated in one of the more recent theological classified in the field of Semitic philology into
standard works, whereas the opposite topic the international context of the official Ara-
of „Hellenism“ takes up more than five col- maic language of the Persian empire (= Official
umns.1 Yet we clearly know from the Aramaic Aramaic5 or Reichsaramäisch6), which came
parts of the Old Testament as well as from the to power in the Orient under Cyrus the Great
Gospels that the Aramaic language exerted a in 539 BC with the conquest of Babylon. The
formative influence during the Second Temple name Cyrus is mentioned in the very beginning
Period in the Middle East. Thus Jesus spoke of the book of Ezra (Ezr 1:1f) in the defective
Aramaic several times during his earthly life. spelling krš שרכ which is also documented in
For example in garden Gethsemane, when he extra-biblical sources.7 But the height of the
pleaded in fear of death: „Abba, my father Persian empire was reached only under Dari-
(αββα ὁ πατήρ)“ (Mk 14:36) or when he cried us I. (522-486 BC), who at first was lance
out on the cross: „Why have you forsaken me? bearer of Cambyses during the conquest of
(λεμα σαβαχθανι)“ (Mk 15:34 par.). Despite Egypt (525 BC) and then, after the latter’s
this centrality of Aramaic in the Bible it rarely death, carried out the restructuring of the Per-
appears in theological literature, which in turn sian empire into satrapies (administration
naturally affects the extent to which this topic units).8 On the map below (Fig. 1) we can
is processed within the field of theology. recognize the approximate dimensions of this
empire with the help of selected Imperial Ara-
Nevertheless the question of “Aramaic in the maic textual finds.9
Bible” has occupied previous generations of
theologians. In older German research this
question was investigated starting with the 2. The Aramaic Darius-Correspondence in
Aramaic portions of the Old Testament.2 From Ezra 5f
Gustaf Dalman onward the perspective shifted
in the direction of Rabbinic literature.3 Today Today we want to treat the Aramaic Darius-
I want to remind us of the important Aramaic correspondence in Ezra 5f in detail. In the
Darius-correspondence in Ezra 5f in line with present theological debate11 the authenticity
the example Emil Kautzsch has given, who of this correspondence is again increasingly
stands for the older German research, and doubted. While the retired Old Testament
Stuttgarter theologiSche themen - Band/Vol. VIII (2013) 59
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60 Band/Vol. VIII (2013) - Stuttgarter theologiSche themen
scholar Klaus Koch labels the wider context [translation: “the Aramaic letters of the Book
of the Aramaic Temple-Building-Chronicle in of Ezra do not match the Imperial Aramaic
Ezra 4-6 still cautiously „amtliche Dokumente letter form in major points”] .
mit kurioser chronologischer Verkehrung der
Folge der Perserkönige“12 [translation: “of- After sampling the mentioned papyri this
ficial documents with a strange chronological conclusion is in my opinion not mandatory,
reversal of the line of Persian kings”] the Old since often an alternative allocation of the
Testament scholar Dirk Schwiderski only Imperial Aramaic letter form to the Aramaic
speaks of fictional texts, „die lediglich für letters in the book of Ezra is possible. I would
einen literarischen Kontext geschaffen wur- like to demonstrate this by means of the letter
den“13 [translation: “which only have been of Tattenai to Darius in Ezra 5. Schwiderski
created for a literary context”]. Both scholars subdivides the beginning of the letter in Ezra
evaluate Ezra 4-6 according to the methodol- 5:6-17 as seen in the table below.15
ogy of literary- and form-criticism which is
established particularly in Germany. Basing himself on this sub-division of the
letter Schwiderski argues: „die alt- und reichs-
2.1 Formal Parallels to the Letter Form aramäischen epigraphischen Briefe [marki-
We want to try to follow this evaluation of eren] in keinem einzigen Fall den Empfänger
Ezra 4-6 on the basis of Schwiderski’s form- mit l-, sondern immer mit ’l oder ʽl. Die Präpo-
critical study. After an extensive comparison sition l- begegnet dagegen in dieser Funktion
with extra-biblical Hebrew and Aramaic letters inschriftlich erst in der hellenistisch-römischen
Schwiderski comes to the following conclu- Zeit, nachdem die älteren Formen bereits
sion: „Die aramäischen Briefe des Esrabuches verdrängt worden waren“16 [translation: “the
entsprechen in wesentlichen Punkten nicht Old- and Imperial Aramaic epigraphic letters
dem reichsaramäischen Briefformular“14 do not [mark] the addressee with l- in a single
Opening of The copy of the letter that Tattenai, ינַ תְּ תַּ חלַ שְׁ ־ידִּ אתָּ רְגַּ אִ ןגֶ שֶׁ רְפַּ
letter governor of trans-Euphratene, and
־כְ וּ ינַ זְ וֹבּ רתַ שְׁ וּ הרָ הֲ נַ ־רבַ עֲ תחַ פַּ
Ezra 5:6-7a Schetar-Bosnai and his colleagues,
הרָ הֲ נַ רבַ עֲ בַּ ידִּ איֵ כָ סְ רְפַ אֲ הּתֵ וָ נָ
the ’prskj’, who are in die in trans-
Euphratene, sent to king Darius. אכָּ לְ מַ שׁוֶ יָ רְדָּ ־לעַ
This message they sent to him and
הנָ דְ כִ וְ יהִ וֹלעֲ וּחלַ שְׁ אמָ גָ תְ פִּ
thus was written on its‘ inside:
הּוֵּ גַ בְּ ביתִ כְּ
Wording of
letter
[sender missing],
addressee with To (l-) king Darius. אכָּ לְ מַ שׁוֶ יָ רְדָ לְ
l- [style of hellen.
All peace! אלָּ כֹ אמָ לָ שְׁ
time?],
[salutation too
short],
[transition marker
missing], … אכָּ לְ מַ לְ אוֵ הֱ לֶ עַ ידִ יְ
It shall be made known to the king
content
Ezra 5:7bff …
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case, but always with ’l or ʽl. In contrast the Aramaic inscriptions from the excavations
preposition l- is met in this function epigraphi- carried out between 2005-2009 two ceramic
cally only in the Hellenistic-Roman period, shards22 (TA 3280 and TA 8006) were found of
after the older forms had been replaced”]. which the first contains a clearly legible l- fol-
After weighing the differences marked with lowed by a personal name. It is an annotation
[] he comes to the conclusion that the Darius- of ownership. Presumably one should also in-
correspondence must be fictional.17 Contrary terpret the l- in the salutation of Ezr 5:7b in the
to this opinion I would like to point out the like manner.23 This means that the salutation
following alternative subdivision18 of the letter wishes the king the actual ownership of peace.
in Ezr 5, which corresponds with the Imperial
Aramaic letter form to the larger extent (see The reaction of H. G. M. Williamson from
table below).19 England to Schwiderski‘s book points out in
the like manner, that we have to be cautious
The salutation in Ezr 5:7b in inverted order with detailed comparisons such as the letter
(šlm + [extension] + l- + recipient) is found form and also admit and examine alternative
several times in the Aramaic Elephantine perspectives outside this formal grid.24 In ad-
Papyri.20 The head position of the object in dition it is also important to keep in sight, that
Ezr 5:7b could be explained as emphasis, the official letters in the book of Ezra have
because here a king is addressed, whereas the been embedded into a literary context and
parallels in the Egyptian Papyri mainly come are thus no longer extant to 100% as separate
from private correspondence. Then again also letters. It is therefore not astonishing if we
dialectal differences in Judea/Samaria could find an address form that is slightly adjusted
be responsible for the head position of the to the context. But contrary to older Hebrew
recipient of the salutation.21 The question how letters25, which for example are embedded in
to understand this salutation which begins with 2 Kings 5:6ff or 10:2ff, we can clearly identify
l- is resolved further if we compare the new a complete Imperial Aramaic letter address
epigraphic finds from Tayma. In the Imperial with typical content summary in Ezr 5f.
Outside of [This is the copy of the letter, that he [חלַ שְׁ ־ידִּ אתָּ רְגַּ אִ ןגֶ שֶׁ רְפַּ ]
letter sent:] Tattenai, governor across the
רתַ שְׁ וּ הרָ הֲ נַ ־רבַ עֲ תחַ פַּ ינַ תְּ תַּ
address Euphrat, and Schetar-Bosnai and his
רבַ עֲ בַּ ידִּ איֵ כָ סְ רְפַ אֲ הּתֵ וָ נָ כְ וּ ינַ זְ וֹבּ
colleagues, the government officals,
which are across the Euphrates, to הרָ הֲ נַ
(ʽl) king Darius.
אכָּ לְ מַ שׁוֶ יָ רְדָּ ־לעַ
summary This offical message they sent to יהִ וֹלעֲ וּחלַ שְׁ אמָ גָ תְ פִּ
Ezr 5:6-7aα him.
Transition to [And thus it was written on its‘ [הּוֵּ גַ בְּ ביתִ כְּ הנָ דְ כִ וְ]
inside of letter inside:]
Ezr 5:7aβ
Inside of letter
salutation [also To king Darius all peace!
אלָּ כֹ אמָ לָ שְׁ אכָּ לְ מַ שׁוֶ יָ רְדָ לְ
inner address?], It shall be made known to the king …
content … אכָּ לְ מַ לְ אוֵ הֱ לֶ עַ ידִ יְ
Ezr 5:7bff
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2.2. Parallels to the Tayma Stele as Regards and the mission of Ezra (Ezr 7ff) also includes
Content the rebuilding of the city-walls of Jerusalem
We now leave the form-critical perspective and as well as the separation and sanctification of
move on to a comparison with the Tayma stele the covenant-people.27
regarding content. While going through the
Imperial Aramaic textual finds from Tayma I In consideration of this literary inter-depen-
came across the following parallel between dence, whose middle is Ezra 6:11, it would
the already well known Tayma stele (Tayma therefore indeed be possible, that the root חסנ
1) and the decree of Darius in Ezra 6:11 (see together with his house (התיב) signifies the
table below). eradication of a transgressor similarly to the
eradication of a transgressor and his descen-
The basic point of comparison is the threat of dants (הערז) in the Tayma stele. This is also
eradication expressed with the root חסנ. Even hinted at by Ezra 6:12 with the term people
if this parallel does not become so obvious (םע). But even if this parallel cannot be estab-
from the English translation, the Aramaic lished in the text in the wider sense without
wording of Ezr 6:11 his house (התיב) is am- doubt, still the use of the root חסנ makes clear,
biguous at least in the phrase „and his house that there exists a close overlap as regards
shall be made a dunghill for this“, so that it content between the Darius decree in Ezra
could mean the eradication of the entire fam- 6:11f and the Tayma stele which can be dated28
ily of the transgressor beside the destruction into the Achaemenid period.29
of his house. The former is what is also men-
tioned in the following verse in the farest 2.3. Grammatical Parallels to Old Persian
possible meaning. From the internal, biblical Finally we want to speak about a distinct
point of view, it becomes clear that the decree Old Persian feature in the Aramaic Darius-
of Darius with the repeated emphasis of house correspondence in Ezra 5f. Already more than
(תיב) stands in close literary connection with 100 years ago the historian Eduard Meyer
the rebuilding of the house of God (אהלא־תיב) concluded, based on his broad knowledge of
up to Ezra 6:15, which according to the defini- Oriental languages, that „die Fülle persischer
tion of the Artaxerxes-correspondence (Ezr 4) Fremdwörter … ein günstiges Vorurtheil für
Tayma 1:13ff [And] who damages this stele, may יהלא אז] א[תוס לבחי יז רבגו
the gods of Tēmā eradicate him and
ןמ המש[ו [הערזו יהוחסני אמית
his descendants and his name from
Tēmā.26 אמית יפנא
Ezra 6:11f Also it is ordered by me that: ידִּ םעֵ טְ םישִׂ ינִּמִ וּ
if anyone violates this decree, a beam
הנָ דְ אמָ גָ תְ פִּ אנֵ שְׁ הַ יְ ידִּ שׁנָ אֱ ־לכָ
shall be pulled out of his house, and he
אחֵ מְ תְ יִ ףיקִ זְ וּ הּתֵ יְבַּ ־ןמִ עאָ חסַ נְתְ יִ
shall be impaled upon it, and his house
shall be made a dunghill for this. And הנָ דְּ ־לעַ דבֵ עֲ תְ יִ וּלוָ נְ הּתֵ יְבַ וּ יהִ לֹעֲ
may the God who has caused his name
רגַּ מַ יְ המָּ תַּ הּמֵ שְׁ ןכִּ שַׁ ידִּ אהָ לָ אוֵ
to dwell there overthrow any king or
people that shall put forth a hand to ־הַ לְ הּדֵ יְ חלַ שְׁ יִ ידִּ םעַ וְ ךְלֶ מֶ ־לכָּ
violate this, or to destroy this house of ידִּ ךְדֵ אהָ לָ אֱ ־תיבֵּ הלָ בָּ חַ לְ היָ נָ שְׁ
God which is in Jerusalem.
םלֶ שְׁ וּריבִ
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die Aechtheit der Dokumente“30 im Esrabuch that this element of Imperial Aramaic is due
erweckt [translation: “the abundance of Per- to Persian influence. […] in pre-Achaemenid
sian foreign words … raises a favorable bias Imperial Aramaic the normal word order is
for the genuineness of the documents” in subject-verb-object whereas subject-object-
the book of Ezra]. While occupying myself verb is only found later on…”32.
with the book of Ezra and especially with
the Darius-correspondence I likewise noticed In contrast, in the later Hellenistic-Roman
an unusual and quite frequent word order of period, which is to the larger part covered
object + infinitive at the end of the sentence: by Qumran-Aramaic, the usual West-Semitic
word order in the construction of the infinitive
For a German language feeling (and to some is dominant again. Muraoka describes this in
extent also for English) it seems to be normal his grammar of Qumran Aramaic as follows:
to place the infinitive at the end of a sentence, “Complements which expand an infinitive
but for West-Semitic languages like Hebrew [direct/indirect object or adverbial adjunct]
or Aramaic this is very unusual. Typically the mostly follow the latter”33. This means that
infinitive is placed more towards the beginning the Persian influence on the construction
of the sentence. Also other researchers with of the infinitive disappeared again in the
a feeling for Semitic languages have noticed Hellenistic-Roman period. So if we date the
this peculiar phenomenon of the infinitive Darius-correspondence into the Hellenistic
at the end of the sentence in the Aramaic of period, it becomes difficult to explain where
the Achaemenid period. Thus for example the frequent word order of object-infinitive at
Stephen A. Kaufman, one of the responsible the end of the sentence comes from. In my
persons behind the Comprehensive Aramaic opinion we here see a far-reaching influence
Lexicon (CAL) on the Internet writes31: “The of Old Persian during the period of rebuilding,
construction object-infinitive is … standard which can also be observed in the Hebrew text
in Old Persian […]. It would seem, therefore, of Haggai34 and Zechariah35.
But we asked the elders and said אמָ נֵ כְּ ךְלֵּ אִ איָּ בַ שָׂ לְ אנָ לְ אֵ שְׁ ןיִדַ אֱ
Ezra 5:9 to them: Who gave you the decree
םעֵ טְ םכֹ לְ םשָׂ ־ןמַ םהֹ לְּ אנָ רְמַ אֲ
this house to build and these walls
הנָ דְ אנָ רְשַּׁ אֻ וְ היָ נְבְ מִ לְ הנָ דְ אתָ יְבַּ
to make up?
הלָ לָ כְ שַׁ לְ
Ezra 5:13 However in the first year of Cyrus, ידִּ אכָּ לְ מַ שׁרֶ וֹכלְ הדָ חֲ תנַ שְׁ בִּ םרַ בְּ
king of Babylon, Cyrus the king
־תיבֵּ םעֵ טְ םשָׂ אכָּ לְ מַ שׁרֶ וֹכּ לבֶ בָ
made a decree that this house of
אנֵ בְּ לִ הנָ דְ אהָ לָ אֱ
God should be rebuilt.
Ezra 6:8 Moreover I made a decree regard- ןוּדבְ עַ תַ ־ידִ אמָ לְ םעֵ טְ םישִׂ ינִּמִ וּ
ing what you shall do for these
אנֵ בְ מִ לְ ךְלֵּ אִ איֵ דָ וּהיְ יבֵ שָׂ ־םעִ
elders of the Jews for the rebuild-
ידִּ אכָּ לְ מַ יסֵ כְ נִּמִ וּ ךְדֵ אהָ לָ אֱ ־תיבֵּ
ing of this house of God; the cost
אתָ קְ פְ נִ אנָ רְפַּ סְ אָ הרָ הֲ נַ רבַ עֲ תדַּ מִ
is to be paid to these men in full
and without delay from the royal ־ידִּ ךְלֵּ אִ איָּ רַ בְ גֻ לְ אבָ הֲ יַ תְ מִ אוֵ הֱ תֶּ
revenue, the tribute of the province
אלָ טָּ בַ לְ אלָ
from beyond the river.
64 Band/Vol. VIII (2013) - Stuttgarter theologiSche themen
3. Summary and Outlook I would like to close with the question if we
shouldn’t also turn to the Aramaic salutation
We have seen that the Darius-correspondence in Ezr 5:7, which the Septuagint translates with
in Ezra is formally parallel to Imperial Ara- a corresponding dative (Δαρείῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ
maic letters from the same period in major εἰρήνη πᾶσα), in order to correctly understand
points. In addition there exists a noticeable the salutation of Jesus: „Peace (be to) you!“
parallel to the Tayma stele as regards content (εἰρήνη ὑμῖν) in Joh 20:19ff. Although םוֹלשָׁ
and a grammatical parallel which point to the םכֶ לָ is an indigenous Hebrew40 salutation which
Persian period. Therefore I would like to fol- corresponds exactly with εἰρήνη ὑμῖν in Joh
low the opinion of Margaretha Folmer, who 20:19ff, still the actual meaning of םכֶ לָ in the
- based on her extensive study of the Aramaic sense of for your possession becomes clear
of the Achaemenid period36 - reached the best in comparison with the Imperial Aramaic
conclusion that „die offiziellen aramäischen salutation in Ezr 5:7 and the Imperial Ara-
Schriftstücke in Esra (Briefe und ein Königs- maic annotations of ownership from Tayma.
erlass) höchstwahrscheinlich auf Originale Also Jesus, after his death and resurrection, no
aus der Achämenidenzeit zurück[gehen]“37 more gives a simple salutation to his disciples.
[translation: “that the official Aramaic docu- Rather he bears witness with „Peace (be to)
ments in Ezra (letters and one decree of the you“ that he accomplished peace with God,
king) most likely go back to originals from the Father, by his wounds and that the power
the Achaemenid period]. An origin in the of the Holy Spirit is included in this accom-
Hellenistic period, as Schwiderski supposes, plished peace, which turns everyone who be-
especially for the Darius-correspondence, is lieves in Jesus Christ into a habitation of God
therefore very uncertain. through the Spirit.41
Nevertheless these Aramaic letters of the Thank you!
Persian period have a great significance
for the Hellenistic-Roman period, since
they show the linguistic point of departure
in Judea which continued to be effective
even in Hebrew up to the Bar Kokhba Re-
volt (132-135 AD).38 There exists a greater
linguistic connection between the Aramaic
letters in the book of Ezra and the entire
linguistic era of the Second Temple Period
as was recently summarized very concisely
by Avi Hurvitz: „This branch of Aramaic,
which served as the standard vehicle for of-
ficial communication at that time, played a
decisive role in shaping the linguistic profile
of contemporary LBH“39. This means that
the book of Ezra (-Nehemiah) especially
with its Aramaic parts is a very realistic
CLEMENS WASSERMANN, protestant
textual collection for the investigation of
Theologian, is a research fellow at
the general langauge situation in Judea
EUSEBIA School of Theo logy (EST)
during the entire Second Temple Period
with main research in Semitic lan-
and therefore also for the Semitic back-
guages and New Testament.
ground of the Gospels.
Stuttgarter theologiSche themen - Band/Vol. VIII (2013) 65
xt)
e
uage cont Ar. SVD شروكَُ َِشوريوشحأ َُْ َاتسشترأ َََْْْ ِسويراد َُ َاتسشترأ َََْْْ
g
n
a
c l
miti
n king (Se Syr. PES ܫܪܘܟ ܫܪܝܫܚܐ ܬܫܫܚܛܪܐ ܫܘܝܪܕ ܬܫܫܚܛܪܐ
a
si
r
a 4-7 Name of Pe TAD/CAL שרכ שראישחשרישח שסשחתרא ? שוהוירדשוהירדשוירדשוהירד שסשחתרא
r
ng to Ez MT 24שֶׁרֹכּׁשֶרוֹכּ שׁוֹרֵוְשַׁחֲא אְתְּשַׂשְׁחַתְּרַא שֶׁוָיְרָדּ אְתְּסַשְׁחַתְּרַא
i
d
ngs accor ge context) LXX Kῦρος Ασουηρου Αρθασασθα Δαρεῖος Αρθασασθα
i a
k u
ist of Persian ng (Western lang Josephus Cyrus(559-530 BC)Ant 11:1ff - Cambyses, son of Cyrus (530–522 BC)Ant 11:21ff Darius, son of Hystaspes (522-486 BC) Ant 11:31ff Xerxes, son [of Darius] (486–465 BC)Ant 11:120ff
Appendix: L Name of Persian ki Luther-Bible Cyrus(559-530 BC) to Ahasveros(=Xerxes, 486-465 BC) Artahsasta(=Artaxerxes, 465-424 BC) Darius(522-486 BC) Artahsasta(= Artaxerxes, 465-424 BC)
Event Hinderance of the re-building of the temple to Complaint (śṭnh) of the Samaritans (ǀǀ Book of Esther) Official writing 43(nštwn) from the Samaritans to the king; Official decree 44) of the king (ptgm’and suspension of the rebuilding of the temple 45) from Letter (’grt’the satrap to the king after resumption of the rebuilding of the temple;Order (ṭʽm) of the king to continue the rebuilding of the temple after find-ing a memorandum (dḵrwnh); Completion of the Second Temple and dedication; celebra-tion of Passover Mission of Ezra Decree of king
Reference Ezra 4:4ff Ezra 4:8ff (from Ezra 4:8 on in Aramaic) Ezra 5:6ff (from Ezra 6:19 on in Hebrew) Ezra 7:1ff (Ezra 7:12-26 again in Aramaic)
66 Band/Vol. VIII (2013) - Stuttgarter theologiSche themen
BIBLIOGRAPHY Ziony Zevit, 265-279. Winona Lake IN:
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fornia Press, 1968. ENDNOTES
Rosenthal, Franz. A Grammar of Biblical
Aramaic (Porta Linguarum Orientalium 1 Cf. Ernst Axel Knauf und Georg Schelbert,
5). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 61995. „Aramäisches in der Bibel“, RGG4 1 (1998):
Schwiderski, Dirk. Handbuch des nordwest- 676f as well as Dieter Timpe et al., „Hellenis-
semitischen Briefformulars: Ein Beitrag mus“, RGG4 3 (2000): 1609-1615.
zur Echtheitsfrage der aramäischen Briefe
2 As e.g. still E. Kautzsch, Grammatik des
des Esrabuches. Berlin/New York: De
Biblisch-Aramäischen: mit einer kritischen
Gruyter, 2000.
Erörterung der aramäischen Wörter im Neuen
Stein, Peter. Die reichsaramäischen Inschriften
Testament (Leipzig: Vogel, 1884).
der Kampagnen 2005-2009 aus Tayma’
3 Cf. G. Dalman, Die Worte Jesu mit Berück-
(in preparation)
sichtigung des nachkanonischen jüdischen
Stein, Peter. Ein aramäischer Kudurru aus
Schrifttums und der Aramäischen Sprache
Taymā’? in Babylonien und seine Nach-
erörtert (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 21930).
barn in neu- und spätbabylonischer Zeit.
Wissenschaftliches Kolloquium aus An- 4 Cf. my article “The Biblical-Semitic Backg-
lass des 75. Geburtstages von Prof. Dr. round of the New Testament Part 2: Grammati-
Joachim Oelsner. Jena, 2. und 3. März cal Semitisms, STT 7 (2012): 21-32.
2007, hrsg. von M. Krebernik und H. 5 Cf. Joseph Fitzmyer, “The Phases of the Ara-
Neumann. Münster (Alter Orient und maic Language” In: A Wandering Aramean:
Altes Testament (in preparation) Collected Aramaic Essays (Chico, Calif. [u.a.]:
Timpe, Dieter et al. „Hellenismus“. RGG4 3 Scholars Press 1979), 58-84.
(2000): 1609-1615.
6 Cf. K. Beyer, ATTM, 59ff.
Ulrich, Eugene et al. Qumran Cave 4 (Discov-
7 Cf. my list of Persian kings (appendix).
eries in the Judean Desert 16). Oxford:
8 Cf. Bezalel Porten, Archives from Elephan-
Clarendon Press, 2000.
tine (Berkley and Los Angeles: Univ. of Cali-
Wassermann, Clemens. „Der Biblisch-Semiti-
fornia Press, 1968), 21-24.
sche Hintergrund des Neuen Testaments
Teil 2: grammatikalische Semitismen“. 9 Cf. Est 1,1: שׁוּכּ־דעַ וְ וּדּהֹ מֵ = „from India to
STT 7 (2012): 7-19. Sudan/Ethiopia“.
Williamson, H. G. M. “The Aramaic Docu- 10 Cf. for Elephantine/Hermopolis: Bezalel
ments in Ezra Revisited”. Journal of Porten, and Ada Yardeni, Textbook of Aramaic
Theological Studies 59 (2008): 41-62. Documents from Ancient Egypt 1-4 (Winona
Williamson, H. G. M. Ezra, Nehemiah (WBC Lake IN: Eisenbrauns, 1986-99); for Tayma:
16). Waco TX: Word Books Publisher, Peter Stein, Die reichsaramäischen Inschriften
1985. der Kampagnen 2005-2009 aus Tayma’ (in
preparation); for Qumran/Murabbaʽat/
Naḥal Ḥever: Klaus Beyer, Die aramäischen
Texte vom Toten Meer, Hauptband, Ergän-
zungsband u. Bd. II (Göttingen: Vandenhoek
& Ruprecht, 1984, 1994, 2004); for Wadi
Daliyeh: Douglas M. Gropp, Wadi Daliyeh
II: The Samaria Paypri from Wadi Daliyeh
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001); for Sardes:
CAL 28200 (LydBil) as well as Enno Lit-
tmann, Sardis: Publications of the American
Society for the excavation of Sardis – Vol
68 Band/Vol. VIII (2013) - Stuttgarter theologiSche themen