[b-hebrew] Genesis 2:6

Yigal Levin leviny1 at mail.biu.ac.il
Sun Sep 25 14:06:03 EDT 2005


Vadim, it is quite obvious that the object of "will rise" in 2:6 is 'ed. Job 
36:27, which is the only other place in which the word is used, makes it 
clear that 'ed has to do with water. Like it or not, Gen. 1:1-2:4 and the 
rest of chapter 2 tell almost opposite creation stories. In chapter 1, the 
world is founded on water, and man comes last. In chapter 2, the story 
begins with man being put into a desert. You can argue about the kind of 
irrigation system God would use, but "mist" is as good a guess as any.

Yigal

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny at mail.ru>
To: <b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2005 4:33 PM
Subject: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:6


> Does anyone know why 'ed in Genesis 2:6 is translated "mist"? This 
> rendering has nothing to do with the root meaning, and both here and in 
> Job "to turn" is more likely translation, assuming a derivation from 
> aleph-holam-dalet.
>
> Genesis 2:5 ends with, "Man was not there to work the ground."
> Genesis 2:6, "He [man] would turn, he would rise out of the earth, would 
> water the whole face of the ground." The man was formed from earth to 
> water it.
> Genesis 2:7, "Lord God begot the man, dust of the earth he [the man] 
> breathed into his nostrils, essence of life; the man was for a living 
> soul."
>
> Translation "the mist" doesn't make much sense: if we assume that the 
> earth was waterless, then where the mist came from? Besides, Genesis 1:7 
> explicitly mentions that the earth included much water.
>
> Vadim Cherny
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