Note 719 — Chapter VII · THE BABYLONIAN “EVIL DAYS” AND THE SHABATTUM
Reading edition
Most Assyriologists (Jeremias, Delitzsch, Lagrange, Pinches, Clay) make this sentence read: “The day is unsuitable for any business,” a translation which, if correct, converts the seventh day into a veritable Sabbath. To this translation Professor Morris Jastrow now adds the great weight of his authority, pointing out that we must read ana epasch la na-ṭu, “‘für Arbeit (oder Ausführung) nicht geignet’ ... und nicht, wie man früher annahm, epesch arrati, ‘zum Fluchen,’ was ja ein eigentümliches Verbot wäre” (Die Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens, Giessen, 1905-1912, ii, 533 n.¹).