Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au>]

Jim West wrote:

> This is rather a literal rendering of the preposition <heb> min </heb>.  But
> it is basically correct.  The suffering servant (Israel's exiles) was
> wounded "from" or "because of", which is the same thing as "for", "for the
> cause of".  I.e., in the exilic period (when Deutero-Isaiah was composed)
> the exilees were suffering due to the transgressions of their forebears.

Isn't there a difference in meaning between "because of" and "for"? The 
former suggests that the
transgressions were the agent of the wounding, whereas the latter suggests 
that the transgressions
are the target to be addressed by this wounding - ie, that by this wounding, 
transgressions are
dealt with. Hebrew, it seems, leans towards the former "because of" 
interpretation.

Best regards,
GEORGE ATHAS
Dept of Semitic Studies,
University of Sydney
- Email: gathas AT mail.usyd.edu.au
---------------------------------------------------
Visit the Tel Dan Inscription Website at
http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~gathas/teldan.htm
---------------------------------------------------