Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bill Burks <rwburks AT flash.net>]

George and Bill,

I first want to say that I agree completely with the comments on the 
translation by
George:

He wrote:

> )aK +oWB L:Yi&:Rf)"L ):eLoHiYM
> L:BfR"Y L"BfB
>
> As literalistic as I can make it the passage goes
>
> Surely good to Israel [is] God
> to pure ones of heart.
>

And I also find agreement on his comments concerning parallel ideas in 
Hebrew.  There
are a couple of things I would note here.  If I am reading my BHS codes 
correctly the
word  concerning the word L:Yi&Rf)"l  "It has been proposed" (prp) lay.f$fr   
)l which
would render this word for Israel as "to the straight (one)".  If this 
reading were
correct and the phrase "to the straight one" were to be put into the 
translation
provided by George it would read:

Surely good to *the straight one" [is] God
to pure ones of heart.


Also I would note that verse 2 also seems to be a contrasting parrallel to the
information in verse 1.  The second passage goes like this ( I am using the
rosetta.atla-centr Transliteration Codes for this if not the correct set of
transliteration codes for the list ... please help me pick the correct ones):

wa)Aniy     k.im:(a+    nf+Uy  rag:lfy   k.:)ayin   $up.:kah   )A$urfy


but I like (an) insignificant (one), my feet have turned aside (qere),
like nothing foot steps are poured out (both qere and ketib).

nf+Uy (ketib) qal passive part. masc. singular ... nf+fyU  (qere) qal perfect 
3rd pers
plural  ...
$up.:kah  (ketib) qal passive perfect 3rd person feminine singular ... 
$up.:ku.

The above qere seem to  function .... the first is to correct number and 
gender ...

So it looks as though we may have the following pattern.

(phrase1+restatement of phrase 1) contrasted to (phrase2+restatement of 
phrase 2).

I hope this helps ... I am just learning to use the masorah apparatus and 
thought I
would look at this verse for fun.

Regards,

Bill Burks