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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Syntax of Jeremiah 15:12
  • Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 07:54:36 -0600

Dear Christopher,

Three contemporary commercial translations give three quite different
renderings:
NRSV Can iron and bronze break iron from the north?
NIV Can a man break iron--iron from the north--or bronze?
JPS Can iron break iron and bronze?

It's clear what each translation is doing ... But it's not clear to me which
one, if any of these, is correct, and why. Your thoughts?

HH: The first and third don't make much sense to me, so I favor the second. Israel wasn't particularly iron at this point. Presumably, if all Israel was against Jeremiah (Jer 15:10), then Josiah had already died. So Israel had become a pawn of Egypt and Assyria. A lot of iron from ancient days was made in the north, up in Hittite country. But whichever of the three one chooses, the implied answer to the question is "No."

Yours,
Harold Holmyard






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