Biblical Archaeology Review

Ur ‘of the Chaldees’—A Revised and Updated Edition of Sir Leonard Woolley’s Excavations at Ur, by P. R. S. Moorey (Cornell University Press: Ithaca, New York, 1982), 272 pp. $24.95.

“The Reed Sea: Requiescat in Pace,” Journal of Biblical Literature 102 (1983), pp. 27–35.

The small b indicates the second half of the verse. Scholars divide Biblical verses into colons or parts, designated a and b, and sometimes a third colon designated c.

Much of this evidence comes from the preeminent authority on hieroglyphics, Sir Alan Gardiner; he thus refutes his own conclusion that the connection between p´-twf(y) and Biblical yam sûp is “beyond dispute.” A. Gardiner, Ancient Egyptian Onomastica (Oxford University, 1947) 2, pp. 201–202.

The Revised Standard Version and the New American Bible are examples of Bibles containing this annotation. The New English Bible gives Sea of Reeds as an alternative translation. The editors of the New International Version append a corrective note at each occurrence: “Hebrew Yam Suph; that is, Sea of Reeds.” The New Jewish Publication Society translation and The Jerusalem Bible both translate yam sûp as “the Sea of Reeds.”

It is also referred to as the Song of Moses or the Song of Miriam by some scholars.