Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Polycarp66 AT aol.com]

In a message dated 11/21/2002 3:51:08 PM Eastern Standard Time, chosefu_chemorion AT wycliffe.org writes:

> Dear all. I have two requests.First,Kindly help me to understand the 
>    role of repetition in Hebrew narratives.May I also know the authors 
>    that I could refer to, if I needed to know more about this topic.
>    Secondly, Is it necessary to keep all the repeated paragraphs in my 
>    vernacular translation, for example in Numbers 7:12-83? Would 
>    summarizing the contents into a table interfere with accuracy?


If all you're interested in doing is conveying the information contained in the narrative, that can be done.  It was, however, the style of ancient epic tradition to have such repetitions.  In some cases (e.g., Homer and the Bible) you will find accounts where something is foretold (the gods declare it or God announces his intent -- through prophecy or otherwise -- to bring about an event; the event is then reported as happening; finally, there is a report to another actor in the narrative that the event occurred.  So while you would not lose information, you would most definitely lose the style.

gfsomsel