[b-hebrew] Proverbs 5:16 - a declaration or a question ?
B. M. Rocine
brocine at twcny.rr.com
Thu Dec 30 16:16:01 EST 2004
Dear Karl,
I think whenever `ayin appears in the dual it means "eyes," but whenever it
appears in the plural it means "springs." Hence if we re-vowel the word in
Pro 5:16 to read me`eynoteyka it means "from your springs" not "from your
eyes." When `ayin is singular, context will have to tell whether it means
"eye" or "spring."
I vote leaving the MT as is and wrestling with whether Pro 5:16 is a
question or a hope.
Shalom,
Bryan
you wrote:
Harold:
It is precisely because I had difficulty with the traditional meaning that I
even considered a different reading. That is why I asked if there is a
grammatical reason not to read it as such, not what does tradition say. By
tradition, I include the Masoritic pointing.
There is no grammatical indication that this is a question.
The context indicates that a man should be looking at his wife only, not at
other women, which should "be dispersed from his eyes". My reading keeps the
grammar as standard instead of changing to a grammatically non-standard
question and fits the context. Is there any grammatical point that I
overlook?
Karl W. Randolph.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard at ont.com>
>
> Dear Karl,
>
> > The verb is plural third person, but the subject is PLGY MYM.
> >
> > M(YNTYK cannot be the subject, as it has a prefixed M- short for
> > MN which can never be the subject of the verb.
>
> HH: It only has a prefixed MN in your interpretation. You know that
> you are ignoring the standard meaning for the term given in all
> translations I've seen. So why push such obscurantist logic? The
> word means "spring," and the M is part of the noun, not a prefix.
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
-- B. M. Rocine
Living Word Church
6101 Court St. Rd.
Syracuse, NY 13206
ph: 315.437.6744
fx: 315.437.6766
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