Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT SIL.ORG]

The basic issue here is surely of the lexical meaning of the Hebrew 
nouns $IL."$ and RIB."A( (shillesh, ribbea`) which occur together in 
Ex 20:5, 34:7, Num 14:18, Deut 5:9 also shillesh occurs in Gen 50:23. 
In this last reference B.:N"Y $IL."$IYM apparently refers to Ephraim's 
(or Joseph's ?) great-grandchildren, suggesting that $IL."$ is simply 
the Hebrew word for grandchild, and similarly RIB."A( is the Hebrew 
word for great-grandchild. So the expression in Ex. 20:5 and (with 
slight variations) in all of the verses listed above is simply "to 
children, to grandchildren and to great-grandchildren". There is then 
another question of whether to understand "thousands" in the following 
verse as "thousands of generations".

Peter Kirk