Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- alep [2025/04/30 13:51] – created ken
+++ alep [2025/04/30 15:33] (current) – ken
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 "//do not send all the people but about two thousand men or three thousand men to the battle//"
+The relevant phrase is transliterated:
+ alep ais ao seles alepim ais.
+Most of the words are easily translated:
+"(something) men or three (something) men."
+Here's where we run into a problem. First, note that this particular text does not include a word to indicate "two". We should expect to see one of the several words normally interpreted as two, but none of them appear here.
+Somebody somewhere probably decided that "two or three" sounds better than "one or three", but there is no indication in the original text to support the inclusion of "two". But that is not the worst error we see here.
+According to the standard numerical patterns examined [[numeric#multiplication|here]] the appellation of the 'im' suffix acts as a ten((or possibly twelve)) times multiplier.
+According to standard mathematics of the Hebrews, the text here clearly states that whatever numeric value 'alep' represents, this particular verse indicates "one or thirty" times that value. It is definitely not "two or three thousand".
+Remember that we do not know the exact value of 'alep', yet.
+FIXME does alep always refer to people? Might it be a "squad" rather than a number.