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  • From: "Edward Andrews" <edandrews AT adelphia.net>
  • To: "'b-hebrew'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] English to Hebrew?
  • Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2006 10:20:29 -0500

Steve:



I would like to thank you and the others for your thoughts, all of them are much appreciated. I have noticed it is only of recent times 30-50 years [fifty probably being to long], that, both Biblical Hebrew and Greek have focused on the idea of going both ways in their grammars. Even Mansoor expresses that this is not the norm, but he chooses to take this approach. There are two small principles I have gathered in the beginning of my studies: 1) be concerned with maintaining a limited vocabulary of most often occurring words and focus your energy on the grammar and; 2) This is not a language which you will be using in interchange of conversation, thus going from the RL into the SL is not the primary concern. However, as you pointed out Steve, there are times when that will be the case. Focusing on English, it would be far more difficult for the English mind to read a paragraph and then simply write it out how it would appear in Biblical Hebrew with no tools. However, it would not be as difficult, in fact, much easier for the scholar of Biblical Hebrew to take a verse in Biblical Hebrew and render it into English.



The reason for my question is this; a man was on trial over 50-years ago. The prosecution was attempting to humiliate him. The man had claimed he could read and write in several languages, Biblical Hebrew being one of them. The prosecutor asked the man if he would take Genesis 2:4 in English and please render it into Biblical Hebrew. The man said he would not attempt it, for he could not in such a setting. He was cut off from being allowed to explain why. The prosecution left the lay audience with the thought: 'and you call yourself a scholar of Biblical languages, a translator?'



My concern is this; a lay audience does not know that what was being asked of this man was not the norm. That it is no easy task in that type of setting to do what he was being asked to do. The lay audience is still being hit with this same slight of hand in that many persons who attack this man and the translation he worked on. These critics say that during the trial this man was asked to translate Genesis 2:4 and he could not. As you can see, they leave out the fact; it was from English into Biblical Hebrew. Moreover, most Christians would have no idea just how difficult it is to go from the TL to the SL. Thus, I wanted to pose the question as plain as I could, to see what I already knew to be true. Again, I thank everyone for their responses.



Edward Andrews

----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>
To: "'Edward Andrews'" <edandrews AT roadrunner.com>; "'b-hebrew'" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2006 9:21 PM
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] English to Hebrew?



From: Edward Andrews Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:23 AM

I have noticed that most grammars I have used, work from Hebrew to
English, not English to Hebrew. However, Menahem Mansoor goes both ways.
Would the members of b-hebrew agree that, in general, most Hebrew scholars
do not speak Biblical Hebrew or are able to take an English paragraph and
translate it into Hebrew (at least not very easily)?

[Steve Miller]
I think it is important to be able to translate in both directions in order
to interpret the Hebrew Bible. In digesting the Bible, we should be like
cows, chewing the cud, chewing, regurgitating, rechewing, questioning, and
considering. Not like a pig, just chewing and swallowing.

When I am testing an interpretation of a verse, I like to ask the question:
If I was writing the Tanach and that interpretation was what I wanted to
say, how would I say it in b-hebrew? Then I look at the differences between
how I would have said it, and how God actually did say it in the Bible. This
may show a fallacy in the interpretation, or it may shed new light.

Another reason for translating back into b-hebrew is in comparing a NT quote
or the LXX translation of a verse with the MT.

-Steve Miller
Detroit
www.voiceinwilderness.info






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