@ 2022-07-15: NOTES ON THE SYNTAX OF THE HEBREW MASORETIC TEXT

The following notes are not self-explanatory; they require further exploration at another time. - jhw

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TEXT | TEXT /              Introductory
TEXT | TEXT //             Pivotal
TEXT | TEXT ///            Half-cadential
TEXT | TEXT ////           Parallel
TEXT | TEXT /////          Conclusive

This layout is consistent everywhere in principle. Verses may have two, three, four, five, or (rarely) even more clauses.

A clause normally has two phrases. It may have one phrase (even one word in that phrase), but NEVER three (or more).

This fact is key to understanding Ecc 9:10. The Christian versions have one word division, the Jewish versions another. The Jewish division is based on an incorrect understanding of the Masoretic accents as punctuation. This results in one clause having three phrases and the following clause, one phrase. Even Suzanne Haik-Vantoura (SHV), who deciphered the accents, made this error. But take her melodic "key" to the accents in combination with the underlying verbal syntax, and one sees that the Christian division is correct (it makes more inherent sense anyway).

In like manner, Isa 40:3 is mispunctated by the Jewish sources, even SHV. The accentual syntax cannot override the verbal syntax; they must fit hand in glove. Thus the NT division (supported by the LXX) is correct.

For a musical illustration of the above, see my blog post on "The Music of the Bible Revealed" by SHV. ###