Biblical Hebrew Forum

["David Stabnow" <dstabno AT lifeway.com>]

Earlier, I wrote:

> )TH-HW) occurs 12 times.  Here in Ps 102:28 it has no complement.  In 9
> cases it is followed by a noun or noun phrase: 5 times (ha)elohim, 3
times
> YHWH, once malki "my king" (Ps 44:4).  The other two have verb phrases:
> "Are you the one who will be completely acquitted" (interrogative is
> implied; Jer 49:12); "Are you the one of whom I spoke" (Ezek 38:17).
Only
> these last two are from the Lord's mouth.  So statistics, for what it's
> worth, favor having these words in the psalmist's mouth.

> One might also speculate whether the phrase, even when truncated, is some
> sort of confession or praise.  In support of this see )NY HW) "I am He"
in
> Isaiah (41:4; 43:10,13; 46:4; 48:12), which is God's claim to the
> uniqueness of His existence -- possibly related to the all-important
phrase
> "I am."  Here in Ps 102 the psalmist may be confessing, "You, indeed, are
> He; You are the Great I AM."

I also wrote:

| I said that the writer of Hebrews translated it, "You are the same."
| Actually, the Greek (su de (o autos), like the Hebrew, could also be
| translated into English as "You are He."  The rendering "You are the
same"
| is an interpretation in the English translation.

(Later, I discovered that when the article is on the Greek pronoun, it
generally means "the same.")  George Athas responded:

> Actually, both Hebrew HW) and Greek autos can and do mean 'same'. They do
represent the identical
> pronoun. Our confusion comes in that English has a separate identical
pronoun -- the word "same".
> In the contexts mentioned above, both the Greek and the Hebrew imply the
word "same". It actually
> is not an interpretation. Yes, the words themselves are masculine
pronouns, but they occur in a
> context. This context requires us to understand the word "same", both in
the Hebrew and the Greek.

I don't see that this context "requires" such an understanding.  I agree
that it is one possibility.

I can understand how in certain contexts the Hebrew means "the same" -- as
in Jer 49:12 "Are you the same as the one who is to be completely
acquitted?"  That is, "Is your identity identical to the identity of the
one who is to be acquitted?"  Most contexts where there is a complement
following the two pronouns can be thus understood.  However, in Ps 102 and
in the several cases in Isaiah (41:4; 43:13; 46:4; 48:12) there is no
complement -- it is simply "you are he" or "I am he."  I suppose in Isaiah
God may be saying, "I am that identical Person," by which He intends He is
THE Person, the archetype of which all other persons are mere shadows or
images.  Such an understanding is a philosophical-ontological-semiotical
puzzle that goes on over my head -- I don't don't occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.

Perhaps the problem I am having has to do with the two major nuances of the
English word "same."  One is identity, the other has to do with constancy.
I question whether constancy is intended in most of the cases where there
is no complement -- including Ps 102.  However, in Isa 48:12 God says, "I
am He; I am the first; also, I am the last."  In this context He may be
speaking of His constancy: "I stay the same -- I have been thus from the
beginning and will be to the end."

When you say that the context requires "same," do you mean identity,
constancy, or something else?


Dave Stabnow
Bible Translation Editor
Broadman & Holman Publishers
Nashville, Tennessee
615-251-5851
david.stabnow AT lifeway.com

    Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do everything for God's glory.  (1 Cor 10:31, HCSB)