Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Maurice A. O'Sullivan" <mauros AT iol.ie>]

At 02:02 08/07/02, Polycarp66 AT aol.com wrote:

> I might quote the JPS TANAK translation
>
> 5 As a youth espouses a maiden,
> Your sons shall espouse you;
> And as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
> So will your God rejoice over you.

As long as you are quoting the JPS translation, shouldn't you also perhaps 
point out  that it footnotes " your sons" with << Change of vocalization 
yields “He who rebuilds you.”>>?

"Change of vocalization" is surely the key issue here -- which is why I 
don't think citing Westcott and Hort on " a choice of two readings " ( as 
another posting has it ) is particularly helpful; Tov's volume [ Tov, 
Emmanuel. Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Minneapolis: Fortress, 
1992. ( and 2nd revised edition 2001 ] is a lot more relevant.

Surely Liz's contention re puns has merit?
To read an unvocalized text in two different ( but coherent ) ways is 
altogether different to the strained and tortured nature of too many puns 
in English.





And I see support for  Liz's remarks on the _verb_ involved:

<<< I think we have here a couple of puns: it's both "builders" and
"sons," and it's both "marry" and "take ownership of"/"possess".
>>>

in HAL:

1. to own, rule over (gods over a nation) Is 26:13,  to prove oneself 
master Jr 3:14 31:32; —2. to take possession of a woman as bride or wife, 
to marry ( Neumann 231ff; deVaux 1:48ff) Dt 21:13 (Neumann 90) 24:1 Is 62:5 
Mal 2:11;
[Koehler, L. (1999, c1994-1996). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old 
Testament. Volumes 1-4 combined in one electronic edition. (electronic 
ed.). Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill.]




Regards
Maurice




Maurice A. O'Sullivan  [ Bray, Ireland ]
mauros AT iol.ie