A Fresh Look at Βοσόρ: Textual Criticism in 2 Peter 2:15 109 nymic and the city Βοσόρρα readily accounts for 2 Peter’s idiosyncratic title for Balaam. An understanding of the sordid lexical past of the name Βοσόρ and the intertwining of the Balaam narratives and Edomite king lists elucidates the perplexing text of 2 Peter 2:15. Balaam’s true patronymic (Βεώρ) was conflated with the city of Βοσόρ. Not only are the words Βεώρ and Βοσόρ phonologically correspondent, but Βοσόρ and Βοσόρρα (,) interchangeably identified a single city. Since the latter of these two spell- ings was misconstrued as a matronymic, there is precedence for similar confusion in 2 Peter. This possibility is powerfully corroborated by the fact that the only occurrences of Βεώρ outside the Balaam narratives stand parallel to Βοσόρρα. The continuity between the Edomite king lists and the Balaam narrative was furthered by the LXX identification of Jobab’s predecessor as Balak, the king who hired Balaam to curse the Israelites. Likewise, some Targumic texts confounded Bela with Balaam himself. Thus, it seems likely that the author of 2 Peter inadvertently replaced Balaam’s true patronymic (Βεώρ) with a similar name (Βοσόρ) with which it occurred in close and repeated conjunction24. Whether or not the copyists of Vaticanus understood the origins of the enigmatic Βοσόρ, they were faithful to the apparent authorial intention of 2 Peter when they corrected Balaam’s patronymic to Βεώρ. Christopher M. HAYS 722 Western Avenue Glen Ellyn, IL 60137 (USA) This is comparable to the oversights that occur in Mark 2:26 (“In the days of Abiathar 24 the high proest ...”) and Matt. 1:7, which mistook Asaph the Psalmist (Pss 50,73-83) for Asa the monarch (1 Kgs 15:9).