Right - every strategy has compromises, so it depends on the translation goals. I agree that other options are better at avoiding a non-serious tone. If one prioritizes consistency across instances of a given word, then תהו needs to be rendered "waste" or the like, which limits the options for בהו.

I agree that "waste" is the best English transation of תהו, and I actually really like shwaste lol. Although I'd choose "waste and shmaste" (going full shm-reduplication). If בהו was neologized specifically for wordplay with תהו, why not?

Also... here's how it would look on a sample text:

In the reconstructions I've seen of Iron Age Canaanite, I haven't seen /ɛ/, but segol could obviously be used if there is evidence of it in the dialects and periods I'm interested in.

Also interesting to note that A32.90 has a high concentration of defective spelling - makes me wonder if it preserves an older form of the text as compared to the Leningrad Codex and other mss.

I'm not familiar with Qimhian, but I'm pulling up some info on it and so far it looks nicely systematic. For the past several months I've been trying to read with reconstructed 1TP vowels. There's a lot to keep track of and I have a lot to still learn.

Good stuff! I find it's relatively easy to read the HB with historical consonants, but the vowels are a bit more of a challenge. How do you pronounce the vowels when reading the HB - modern? tiberian? reconstructed?

This is great! Thanks for making and posting it. Do you have sources you'd recommend for pre-exilic pronunciation beyond the work of Huehnergard, Kantor, Suchard, and your own work?

Thanks for the info on that!

Thanks - the date matters. I thought there were Aramaic texts from 9th cent. but maybe that's an old view, and maybe still too late. The ivory comb may support pre-shift Canaanite orthography. I also thought matres lectionis went form Aramaic to Canaanite, but just checked and see this may not be.

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