Yam Suph

In the Exodus narrative, the Yam Suph (), sometimes translated as Red Sea, is the body of water where the Crossing of the Red Sea happened in the story of the Exodus. This phrase appears in over twenty other places in the Hebrew Bible, following the Septuagint's rendering of the phrase. However, an appropriate translation remains a matter of dispute, as is the exact location.

Heinrich Karl Brugsch suggested that the Reed Sea is Lake Bardawil, a large lagoon on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula. More recently, Manfred Bietak and James K. Hoffmeier have argued for an identification with the Ballah Lakes. Hoffmeier equates the Yam Suf with the Egyptian term ''pꜣ-ṯwfj'' "the papyrus marsh" from the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt, which refers to lakes in the eastern Nile Delta. He also describes references to ''pꜣ-ṯwfj'' in the context of the Island of Amun, considered modern Tell el-Balamun. Reeds tolerant of saltwater flourish in the shallow string of lakes extending from Suez north to the Mediterranean Sea, which Kenneth Kitchen argues are acceptable locations for the Yam Suf.

Translation and location

The Hebrew word '' yam'' means 'sea', and the word '' suph'' by itself means 'reed', e.g. in ; hence, a literal translation of ''yam suph''—with the two words combined in construct state—yields 'sea of reeds'. This was pointed out as early as the 11th century by Rashi, who nonetheless identified the ''yam suph'' mentioned in the locust plague as the saltwater inlet located between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula—known in English as the Red Sea. The term was rendered as 'Red Sea' in the King James Version, the most widely utilized English translation of the Bible. More recently, alternative understandings of the term have been proposed for passages in which it refers to the crossing the Red Sea as told in ; as such, ''yam suph'' is sometimes rendered as 'sea of reeds' or 'sea of seaweed' in modern translations, rather than as 'Red Sea'. If the vowel is placed differently "Soph" could be translated "Sof" which means 'end' and this passage has also been translated as "Sea at the End."

There are many proposals for the location of the ''yam suph'' of Exodus. It may refer to Lake Timsah, which has since become part of the Suez Canal. Lake Timsah was in Lower Egypt, specifically in the Suez valley next to the Sinai Peninsula, and north of the Gulf of Suez. It could also be the Gulf of Aqaba, which is referred to as the ''yam suph'' in the Books of Kings (). The Lake of Tanis, a former coastal lagoon fed by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, has also been proposed as the place Moses parted the waters.

Heinrich Karl Brugsch suggested that the Reed Sea is Lake Bardawil, a large lagoon on the north coast of the Sinai Peninsula. More recently, Manfred Bietak and James K. Hoffmeier have argued for an identification with the Ballah Lakes. Hoffmeier equates ''yam suf'' with the Egyptian term ''pa-tjufy'' (also written ''p3 ṯwfy'') from the Ramesside period, which refers to lakes in the eastern Nile delta. He also describes references to ''p3 ṯwfy'' in the context of the Island of Amun, thought to be modern Tell el-Balamun. Reeds tolerant of salt water flourish in the shallow string of lakes extending from Suez north to the Mediterranean Sea, which Kenneth Kitchen argues are acceptable locations for ''yam suf''.

More conjecturally, it has also been suggested that ''suph'' may be related to the Hebrew ''suphah'' ("storm") or ''soph'' ("end"), referring to the events of the Reed/Red Sea escape itself:

Occurrences

(The following translations are used in this section: KJV, Authorized King James Version of the Christian Bible; NJPS, New Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Tanakh