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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] That piece of halibut was good enough for YHWH

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  • From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] That piece of halibut was good enough for YHWH
  • Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:20:57 +0000

On Jan 25, 2008 4:59 AM, Jane Peters wrote:
> Hi there!
>
> My friends and I were discussing how we would translate a famous line
> from Monty Python's 'Life of Brian' into biblical Hebrew.
>
> The line was:
> 'All I said was, "That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah."'
>
> (Actually, the exact line is "All I said *to my wife* was ...", but we
> were making
> it more generally applicable.)

Your Hebrew translation doesn't really translate that sentence. The
question has to
be asked: why Biblical Hebrew? During the time of Jesus, a form of
Mishnaic Hebrew as
well as Aramaic and Greek were spoken.

In any case, I think the following would have passed for Mishnaic
Hebrew, but I'm not sure:
rak ?amarti $e?oto dag dayyo haya liyahweh.
I only said that that fish was enough for Yahweh.

Yitzhak Sapir




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