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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] $XR = black?
  • Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:33:25 -0400

Just recall that $XR is like $QR, 'obscure'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 25, 2009, at 9:54 AM, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:


Karl:

You wrote: “I can’t remember off the top of my head any time that $XR
specifically refers to “black”. It refers to darkness, such as just before dawn,
which is said to ascend like a blanket from the land when the light appears,
but I can’t remember any time that it refers to “black”.”

A. Lexicons

HALOT: “to become black” [except, that is, when referencing Egypt]

Gesenius: “to be or become black”

BDB: “be black…and deriv., black, blackness, etc.”

Strong’s: “be black” or “black”

B. Translations of Job 30: 30

As I noted in my first post on this thread, $XR at Job 30: 30 means “black”.
Here are 8 mainstream translations of Job 30: 30, all of which translate $XR
as “black” or “blackened”. I myself know of no translation of $XR at Job
30: 30 to the contrary.

1. New International Version:
“My skin grows black and peels”

2. KJV:
“My skin is black upon me”

3. ESV:
“My skin turns black and falls from me”

4. American Standard Version:
“My skin is black, and falleth from me”

5. Young’s Literal Translation
“My skin hath been black upon me”

6. Darby:
“My skin is become black [and falleth] off me”

7. JPS1917:
“My skin is black, and falleth from me”


8. JPS2003:
“My skin, blackened, is peeling off me”

C. Translations of Leviticus 13: 31, 37

All mainstream translations that I know of see $XR at Leviticus 13: 31, 37 as
an adjective meaning “black”, re “black” hair.

1. New International Version:
“black hair”

2. KJV:
“black hair”

3. ESV:
“black hair”

4. American Standard Version:
“black hair”

5. Young’s Literal Translation
“black hair”

6. Darby:
“black hair”

7. JPS1917:
“black hair”

8. JPS2003:
“black hair”

D. Summary

Can all the lexicons, and all the translations, be wrong in viewing $XR at
Job 30: 30 and at Leviticus 13: 31, 37 as meaning “black”? If you want, we
could go on to review $XR as meaning “black” at Song of Songs 1: 5; 5: 11, and
Zecariah 6: 2, 6.

The problem only comes in, you see, when the Bible appears to refer to Egypt
as “Black”. No Western scholar will permit that. No Western scholar can
stand the thought that the Bible might ever refer to Egypt by referencing the
fertile, “black” earth along the Nile River in Egypt, calling Egypt “Black”,
just as the Egyptians called their own country “Black”/Kemet. That is the
reason why HALOT makes the absurd claim that $XR at Isaiah 23: 3 is not a Hebrew
word at all, but rather is an E-g-y-p-t-i-a-n phrase meaning “pond of Horus”
. No way!

But Western scholars do not deny that $XR at Job 30: 30 and at Leviticus 13:
31, 37 means “black”.

Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois

**************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store? Make dinner for $10 or
less. (http://food.aol.com/frugal-feasts?ncid=emlcntusfood00000001)
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