Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal-Levin AT utc.edu>]

At 07:56 AM 1/10/2003 -0500, Sergio Saavedra wrote:
>This question might seem frivolous, since it comes just from my desire to
>visualize the scene.
>What Jeremiah saw in Jer 1:11, 12 was an almond branch, according to some
>Spanish translations (Biblia de Jerusalén, Biblia Latinoamericana), a rod
>or staff according to others (Reina-Valera, Biblia de las Américas) and an
>offshoot according to another (New World Translation).
>What about the original word? What is the idea? Did he just a rod made of
>almond wood, a small tree sprouting, a flowered branch?
>Thanks
>

In thoery, Maqel $aqed could be "a rod made of almond wood", but I find it
hard to see how he was supposed to know that it was almond, which is the
whole point ($aqed/$oqed), unless it was actually a branch with either
flowers or fruit.

Besides, why think he "saw" anything? Isn't this just a word-play, meant to
draw the listeners' attention to the message? 



Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.