Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Bill Ross" <wross AT farmerstel.com>]

Hello, my name is Bill Ross. I'm new to B-Hebrew. I'm just learning Hebrew. 
I joined this list because I often have questions of a translation nature 
and hope to tap into your collected expertise.

I have a question regarding the proper translation (and hence, 
interpretation) of Psalm 51:5. Here are some popular translations:

NIV 
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
RSV 
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive 
me.
KJV 
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. 
DBY 
Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive 
me.
YLT 
Lo, in iniquity I have been brought forth, And in sin doth my mother 
conceive me.

I know enough from my tools to know that the NIV is *highly* interpretive.

My theory is that this verse is not teaching anything about David, but is 
rather David expressing loathing for himself by criminalizing his own 
birth. I would paraphrase it:

"My mother screwed up when she had me - it was a sin for her to conceive 
me!"

...and thus David "curses his day" as did Job in Job 3:

3:1  After this opened Job his mouth, and cursed his day.
2  And Job spake, and said,
3  Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was 
said, There is a man child conceived.
4  Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let 
the light shine upon it.
5  Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon 
it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6  As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto 
the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7  Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8  Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their 
mourning.
9  Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, 
but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
10  Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow 
from mine eyes.
11  Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I 
came out of the belly?
12  Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13  For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: 
then had I been at rest,
14  With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places 
for themselves;
15  Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16  Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never 
saw light.
17  There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18  There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the 
oppressor.
19  The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his 
master.
20  Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the 
bitter in soul;
21  Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for 
hid treasures;
22  Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23  Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged 
in?
24  For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like 
the waters.
25  For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I 
was afraid of is come unto me.
26  I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet 
trouble came.

Does the Hebrew support or preclude this interpretation??

Thanks in advance:

Bill Ross
http://members.xoom.com/woundedego
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