Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>]

At 06:15 PM 9/24/99 -0500, you wrote:
>That reminds me, I wonder when we're going to get an honest English
>translation of Judges 5:30, where _rah.am rah.amathayim_ may not
>exactly be "coarse soldiers' slang" (Holladay), but probably has
>some connotation of that nature.  "Maiden" (RSV) is an utterly
>laughably inadequate modern English translation, considering the
>word's connotations of medieval chivalry and courtly love (not to
>mention virginity), while "damsel" (JPS) goes even one step beyond
>in absurdity.  "Girl" (NRSV, NIV, Jerusalem) is kind of neutral and
>bland, and does nothing whatever to capture the specificity of
>_rah.am_ with respect to a more usual and general Hebrew word such
>as _na`arah_.

Well its just kind of hard for folk who read the Bible to swallow the word
"slut" or its cognates in their sacred texts.  On this topic (but not
specifically this passage) see Pinchas Lapide's 2 volume "Ist die Bibel
Richtig Uebersetzt?"  A book I heartily recommend to everyone.

Jim

+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
email- jwest AT highland.net
web page-  http://web.infoave.net/~jwest