Gen 8:4–5: the seventeenth or the twenty-seventh day; the tenth or the eleventh month

Editorial decision: print the MT (confidence medium).

Says At 8:4 the MT has בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּשִׁבְעָה־עָשָׂר יוֹם לַחֹדֶשׁ, "in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month." Swete has ἐν μηνὶ τῷ ἑβδόμῳ, ἑβδόμῃ καὶ εἰκάδι τοῦ μηνός, "in the seventh month, on the twenty-seventh of the month"; in Swete's notes one manuscript lacks the "seventh" of the day.

Says At 8:5 the MT has עַד הַחֹדֶשׁ הָעֲשִׂירִי בָּעֲשִׂירִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ, "until the tenth month; in the tenth, on the first of the month," the tops were seen. Swete has ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ μηνί, τῇ πρώτῃ τοῦ μηνός, "and in the eleventh month, on the first of the month," with no entry in Swete's notes. At 8:14 both have the twenty-seventh of the second month.

Says The Samaritan text (von Gall, p. 12) has the MT's figures: the seventeenth day of the seventh month at 8:4, and the tenth month at 8:5.

Uncertain Which figures are original. (1) The MT: the Hebrew and the Samaritan text agree. Objection: two Hebrew texts can share a change. (2) Swete: the twenty-seventh matches its own date at 7:11, so the ark rests five months to the day. Objection: a translator could have made the dates agree. No lean is taken here.