Reading with the Masoretes: The Exegetical Utility of Masoretic Accent Patterns

The Masoretic accent system remains one of the most exegeticallyrelevant and least understood dimensions of the Hebrew Bible. Thishistoric system fulfills multiple purposes in the reading tradition; mostprominently the system provides a thorough syntactic map of theHebrew text. The Masoretes employ certain accent patterns to consistentlymirror grammatical and discourse features. These patterns exhibitoccasional and intentional divergence. Such divergence often spotlightsareas of semantic interest in the text.This study examines four accent patterns throughout the book ofJudges: (1) Etnachta after direct speech, (2) Etnachta before ve'atah,(3) accents framing conditional sentences, and (4) accents at contraststructures. Each case study provides a statistical overview, numerousexamples to illustrate the pattern, and evidence for intentional diversionfrom the pattern.