Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Tenses - Deut 6:4

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Bob MacDonald <bobmacdonald AT shaw.ca>
  • Cc: 'b-hebrew' <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Tenses - Deut 6:4
  • Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 07:58:48 -0500

Bob.
Until an informed, grammar-versed, member comes up with an authoritative textbook answer to your question, I will tell you how I, naively, yet effectively, look at these grammatical matters. Keep in mind that language is technically a primitive device. We understand what is being said partly by dint of grammar, but mostly by dint of intelligence and circumstantial understanding.

Take (KJV) Exodus 21:5: "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free". The Hebrew word is AHABTI, which in my opinion is AHAB-TI (- is a hyphen in place of a +), with TI being the obsolete stand-alone personal pronoun ATI=ANI, the English 'I'. Thus the servant is plainly saying "love-I (love-servant) master-I, wife-I, and children-I".

If you look up AHABTI in a table of Hebrew verbs you will be informed that it means ‘I loved’ (once upon a time), from the root AHB. But this is certainly not what the servant is saying. How do we know that? By dint of intelligence and understanding. We know (?) the infinite nature of love, and we are aware of the emotional ties that bond a family together (if not, there are hundreds of books written to sharpen our understanding). What we hear is not "I loved" but rather "I loved, I am loving, I will love forever". This is the difference between local (isolated word) grammar and global (contextual) grammar. Indeed, the KJV translation of ‘I love’ is correct in the contextual sense, but not in the narrow tabular grammatical sense.

In Genesis 22:2 we read: "Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest". The Hebrew word is AHABTA=AHAB-ATA=AHAB-ATAH, 'love-you'.

In Proverbs 8:36 we read: "all they that hate me love death". The Hebrew word is AHABU=AHAB-U=AHAB-HU, 'love-they'. But not *AHABHEM=AHAB-HEM.

In Deuteronomy 10:19 we read: "Love ye therefore the stranger". The Hebrew word is VA-AHABTEM=VA-AHAB-ATEM. 'and-love-you (plural)'.

In Isaiah 43:4 we read: "and I have loved thee". The Hebrew word is AHABTIKA=AHAB-ATI-AKA, 'love-I-you', where AKA is an obsolete equivalent to ATA. It is used here to avoid the clumsy *AHABTITA=AHAB- ATI-ATA, or *AHABNITA=AHAB-ANI-ATA. Theoretically: AHABTINI=AHAB-ATI- ANI, 'love-I-I', not to be confused with AHABTANI=AHAB-ATA-ANI, ‘love- you-I’.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Feb 24, 2007, at 4:10 PM, Bob MacDonald wrote:

The Blue Letter Bible http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/c.pl? book=Deu
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/c.pl? book=Deu&chapter=6&verse=5&vers
ion=KJV#5> &chapter=6&verse=5&version=KJV#5 shows the tense of Deuteronomy
6:4 'ahavta as Qal perfect



Other online resources confirm that a general present might be a suitable
literal translation



Any thoughts - 1. why is it always future, implying imperative and 2. what
is the ta suffix - I have a new Hebrew book of verbs but it is all in Hebrew
so its rather tough slogging at the moment but I can't find the ta suffix as
a verb part



Thanks for your patience with the questions



Bob MacDonald

Victoria BC

http://gx.ca

http://bmd.gx.ca





_______________________________________________
b-hebrew mailing list
b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page