Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lewis Reich" <lbr AT sprynet.com>]

On 7 Jul 99, at 17:04, Matthew Anstey wrote:

> Just wondering what people thought was a good word to use for ger for its
> usual meanings. We want to try to avoid "resident aliens," "aliens," or
> "strangers" if possible. What does NJPS use? The current revisors of the NIV
> are removing the word "alien" from the translation altogether, and we too
> are looking a better word. What do people think of these possibilities:
>       1. immigrant
>       2. outsider
>       3. foreigner
>       4. refugee
>       5. person in exile
>       6. migrant

My own quick and simple reaction is that the same English word 
may not be the most appropriate in all situations.  The problem it 
seems to me is that ger derives from the Heb root with the meaning 
to dwell, and the ger i implicitly contrasted with some one else, 
usually the "you" to whom the instruction is addressed, sometimes 
to the )zeZRaX Ha)aReC (please pardon my imperfect recollection 
of our transliteration scheme) (a term I find equally difficult to 
translate well).  None of the suggested translations of ger seem to 
refer to the root meaning of the word.  As a single word "sojourner" 
strikes me as close,  but it misses the essential contrast the word 
seems to imply with a more "normal" state of affairs.

(I wrote this before I had read Henry Churchyard's comments, with 
which I find myself very much in agreement.)  Ultimately, there is a 
real tension between picking one word to translate the meaning of 
ger, which preserves the unity of the concept across the different 
occurrences, or choosing a synonym which most accurately 
conveys the connotations of each usage.

Lewis Reich
lbr AT sprynet.com