"How Many Vessels"? An Examination of MT 1 Sam 2:14/4Qsama 1 Sam 2:16

This chapter presents the 4QSam a version of 1 Samuel 2: 16 and documents its eight variant readings both to provide a context as well as to demonstrate the great deal of scribal activity that is evident in this pericope. It focuses on the list of vessels as found in chief witnesses: the Masoretic Text, 4QSam a , and the LXX. The chapter argues the following point: Lists tend to inflate in the course of their transmission; for example, 4QSam a with its two vessels is preferable to LXX BL with three, or to the MT with four vessels. The author likely recorded a single cooking pot in the primitive version of the narrative, not two, three, or four; the single vessel was a "large pot". Keywords: 1 Samuel 2: 16; large pot; LXX; single vessel; wash-basin