Special Issue IOSOT 2013 - Books and Journals

102 D. Pardee / Vetus Testamentum IOSOT (2013) 99-108
his translations he uses expressions such as “wer . . . aussagt” (p. 58), “es atmet”
(p. 66), and “wer Lügen aushaucht” (pp. 66, 76 bis) revealing a strong attachment
to the analysis which sees yāpīaḥ as at best a verbal adjective meaning
“who blows” (this in spite of his citation of Ugaritic ypḥ). McKane is, to my
knowledge, the first general commentator on Proverbs to use consistently “witness”
(or its negative counterpart “perjurer”) to translate yāpīaḥ in Proverbs. He
analyzes the word as a verb only in Prov. xiv 5.13
The Hebrew texts, in order of difficulty, are as follows:
Prov. xii 17 yāpîaḥ ʾḝmûnâ yaggîd ṣedeq a 2 (= x + y) b c
wĕʿēd šĕqārîm mirmâ a′ 2 (= x′ + z) c′
“A truthful witness says what is correct,
A perjuring witness (says what is) deceitful”.
The parallelism leaves little doubt that yāpîaḥ is a substantive, probably in a
genitive relationship with ʾĕmûnâ. This latter point is at least rendered likely
by ʿēd šĕqārîm “a witness of falsehoods” = “one who when a witness tells
falshoods”.
Prov. xix 5 ʿēd šĕqārîm lōʾ yinnaqeh a 2 (= x + y) b 2
wĕyāpîaḥ kĕzābîm lōʾ yimmālēṭ a′ 2 (= x′ + y′) b′ 2
Prov. xix 9 ʿēd šĕqārîm lōʾ yinnaqeh a 2 (= x + y) b 2
wĕyāpîaḥ kĕzābîm yōʾbēd a′ 2 (= x′ + y′) b′
“A perjuring witness will not go unpunished,
A false witness will not get off scot free/will perish”.
The precise parallelism of ʿēd šĕqārîm and yāpîaḥ kĕzābîm in both these verses
indicates the functionel identity of ʿēd and yāpîaḥ.
Prov. xiv 5 ʿēd ʾḝmûnîm lōʾ yĕkazzēb a 2 (= x + y) b 2
wĕyāpîaḥ kĕzābîm ʿēd šāqer a′ 2 (= x′ + z) a″ 2
(= x + z′)
“A truthful witness does not lie
But a false witness (is) a perjuring witness”.
13) Proverbs, pp. 219, 229, 231, 232, 240, 326, 445, 469.