Gen 8:7: the raven, returning or not returning

Editorial decision: print the MT (confidence medium).

Says The MT has וַיֵּצֵא יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב, "and it went out, going out and returning," and no clause of purpose. Swete adds τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ κεκόπακεν τὸ ὕδωρ, "to see whether the water had abated," and has ἐξελθὼν οὐχ ὑπέστρεψεν, "having gone out, it did not return." No manuscript in Swete's notes lacks the "not"; their entries at this verse touch only the article before "to see," a rewritten ending of the first "water," and the form of "until."

Says The Samaritan text (von Gall, p. 12) has "going out and returning" with no "not," as the MT.

Uncertain Which reading is original. (1) The MT: the Hebrew and the Samaritan text agree, and the wording is the harder one. Objection: two Hebrew texts can share a change. (2) Swete: the raven that does not return is set against the dove that does (8:9). Objection: a translator could have read "returning" as a return to the ark and denied it, to explain the second bird. No lean is taken here.