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b-hebrew - Re: Re[2]: Genesis 1:1: independent clause or subordinat

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  • From: "Lewis Reich" <lewreich AT javanet.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Re[2]: Genesis 1:1: independent clause or subordinat
  • Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 10:07:38 -0500



On 8 Dec 99, at 1:11, somi wrote:

> I would be curious to know which translations render it this way.

The Jewish Publication Society translation of 1962 (and, I believe, a more
recent version) translated Gen 1:1-2 as : (1) When God began to create
the heaven and the earth - (2) the earth being unformed and void, with
darkness over the surface of the deep. It footnoted create and the note
read "Or 'In the beginning God created'". I believe that Fox's new
translation is similar, but do not have a copy at hand.


> Also, how is it that BRH can be translated as a noun...it seems to
> be an obvious verb.

The translation I'm describing would have it as a gerund or an infinitive -
"when God began to create", or "in the beginning of God's creating".

> Thus, the addition of the genitival characteristic "of" at the end
> does not seem to be given much weight when set against the context
> of the functioning of the words in the rest of the sentence. Those
> are my thougts, anyway.

The significance of the necessary ending of "of" is that the first verse
cannot stand alone as a single sentence, but is really an introductory
phrase; it is not "In the beginning (or "at first") God created the heaven
and the earth" but "in the beginning of God's creating the heaven and the
earth."

Lewis Reich



  • Re: Re[2]: Genesis 1:1: independent clause or subordinat, Lewis Reich, 12/08/1999

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