A Note on כראי in Nahum 3:6

Abstract

It is suggested that in Nahum 3:6 וְשַׂמְתּיִךְ should be revocalized וְשַמֹּתִיךְ, and וְהָיָה כְּרֺאִי, where וְהָיָה is attached from the following verse, should be read הָיָה כְּרָאוּי. The phrase הָיָה כְּרָאוּי, “as it was proper, as it was deserved,” which contains the late רָאוּי, is assumed to be a late scribal comment. Nahum 3:6 would then read שִקֻּצִים עָלַיִךְ וְהִשְלַכְתּי [היה כְּרָאוּי] וְשַמֹּתִיךְ וְנִבַּלְתִּיךְ, “And I threw at you unclean things, I disgraced you, and I made you desolate [as it was deserved]. The suggested emendation preserves the consonantal base, improves the meter of Nah 3:6 and 3:7, and removes the need to extend the semantic field of רֺאִי beyond its supported sense of “seeing, saw, saw me.”