Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Ian Hutchesson <mc2499 AT mclink.it>]

Sorry, but where were comments like the ones below when Peter wrote the
following paragraph?

>PK: Unfortunately it is those newer translations rather than the older 
>ones which are incorrect. We have B:R")$IYT BFRF) ):ELOHIYM... which 
>is a clear example of a temporal phrase with B:- and a time noun 
>followed by a finite QATAL verb, meaning "In the beginning God 
>created.." or perhaps "In the beginning God had created...".

Comment 1:

It is not uncommon for a verb to be bound to a construct noun forming a
subordinate clause.

Comment 2:

>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.  
>
>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".  
>
>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."


Ian