Comments | biblical_hebrew: Hebrew Translation Assignment

lhynard in biblical_hebrew

Hebrew Translation Assignment - week of 9.12.05

Dec 09, 2005 10:43

I Samuel 2:3-4

I thought that last one very fun, but I hear poetry gets more difficult. We'll see....

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Comments 6

1 Sam 2:3-4 talmida December 16 2005, 15:10:02 UTC

Oh yeah, this is waaaaaay more difficult! ;)

3. Do not speak so much so haughtily
----Let the insolence leave (come out from) your mouth

For a God of wisdom is the Lord
----Deeds are not examined (although the BDB gives "By him are actions estimated" which doesn't make much more sense IMO4. Bows of the mighty are shattered ( ... )

Re: 1 Sam 2:3-4 lhynard December 16 2005, 15:34:01 UTC

Oh yeah, this is waaaaaay more difficult! ;)

Yeah it was!

The word לא is said to be a misspelling / alternate spelling of לו. Even so, it is still weird, because it is unheard of in Hebrew to have an agent specified for a passive verb. I suppose it could also be "His deeds cannot be measured." I did not think of this till now.

Usually, the parrallelisms help, but it doesn't here.

Likewise, see how I translated line two of 3. Same meaning basically, but I used a negative from the previous line and you did not. It depends on whether "leave" means "cease" or "come out as speech". At least here, the line above makes it clear that the "bad" speaking must stop.

Re: 1 Sam 2:3-4 talmida December 16 2005, 16:09:15 UTC

I like "His deeds cannot be measured" but then you have both possible meanings (and not + of him/his). Is that possible? Sort of like a pun? Where "v'lo" is both conjunction AND prep+pronoun?

You could probably get a thesis out of that idea. ;)

I agree about line two of 3. I was trying not to put in a negative because there wasn't one in the Hebrew. I thought of exit, but cease is much better. Maybe "Let the insolence of your mouth cease" ....something like that.

I Samuel 2:3-4 lhynard December 16 2005, 15:18:17 UTC

"Do not continuepl to speak1 with such pride2Nor to let forwardness3 go out from yourpl mouths,
Because a god of knowledges4 is YHWH,And by Him5 are measured deeds6.

"The bows of the mighty are broken,7But the ones stumbling gird on strength.

1 or "Do not speakpl so much..." or "Do not multiplypl speaking..."
2 literally, "...to speak pride pride;"
3 One manuscript reads, "opression", or, "contention".
4 One or several Qumran manuscripts read, "knowing".
5 Hebrew, "Nor", a misspelling of "And by Him"
6 usually implies wanton deeds
7 or perhaps, "The bow of the mighty is broken,"; One or several Qumran manuscripts read, "The bow of the mighty is broken,".

Re: I Samuel 2:3-4 lhynard December 16 2005, 15:36:22 UTC

I never learned anything about adjectivally-derived adverbs in Hebrew. Do they exist? Here, the word "proudly" is actually the adjective in the feminine form as if it were modifying a feminine noun, but there are none. So I must conclude that it is being used as an abstract noun -- which sometimes happens -- to mean "pride". This in affect makes it an -ly adverb: "Do not speak proudly."

The word "mouth" is in the singular, though it is modified by a plural pronoun. Is this a collective voice or should it be mouths?

"Knowledge" is oddly plural. Could this be an emphasis on the vastness of God's knowledge? Or is it referring to all kinds of knowledge?

"Bow" is singular, yet its predicate adjective "broken" is plural. The Qumran manuscripts correct this "error" and I had to as well for it to make any sense. But I wonder if it is some sort of emphatic plural -- "The collective strength (bow) of the mighty is broken thoroughly."

thoughts?

Re: I Samuel 2:3-4 talmida December 16 2005, 16:45:23 UTC

I don't know about the derivations of all the words. This was a new word for me, so I looked it up.

G'voha was in my lexicon (Holladay)as the feminine of גָּבֹהַּ. This is how the entry reads after the word and its construct and feminine and plural forms are listed:

high; mountain Gn 7:19, trees Is 10:33; g'boah qomato his tall figure 1S 16:7; what is high Ez 21:31; dibber g'boha speak haughtily 1S 2:3; g'bohim haughty ones Is 5:15; Ec 5:7 see commentaries

(I have transliterated a bit differently since it takes too long to type the symbols)

Holladay lists de'ot as the plural form of wisdom (Is 28:9) as opposed to the plural form of knowledge de'im (Jb 32:9). There is no attempt to distinguish one from the other, so I just went with wisdom since it had the right spelling. I dont really have a problem with it being in the plural. Perhaps it echoes with alilotMouth and Bow, on the other hand made me crazy -- my guess is that there is something about poetry that I don't know. Maybe the bow mirrors strength in the following phrase ( ... )