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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen 3:10 afraid of what?
  • Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:20:51 -0600

Dear Oun,
Typically Gen 3:10 reads

KJV:
I heard thy voice in the garden,
and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.
ESV:
I heard the sound of you in the garden,
and I was afraid,
because I was naked, and I hid myself.


I like to see the phrase 'because I was naked' be connected to 'I hid'
rather than 'I was afraid'.

to read the text as
'I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid.
Because I was naked [and] I hid myself.'

What prevents me to see this way syntactically in Hebrew text?

HH: First, "I was afraid" is linked with the second half of the sentence by the Hebrew accents, not the first half. Second, the accents link "I was afraid" with "because I was naked." Third, I don't think you can put the word "and" in brackets like that; it is in the text.

HH; However, thee is no need for the comma after "afraid" such as the KJV and ESV have above. There is a disjunctive accent between them (tebhir), but it is a weak accent. The text can read:

And he said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard






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