Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jack Kilmon" <jkilmon AT historian.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Kirk" <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 5:02 AM
Subject: RE: [b-hebrew] Did they turn red?


> I suspect that Ezekiel was deliberately using language that shocked. So
> translators should also use language that shocks, but maybe limit that
shock
> to what would be acceptable. Another example is the phrase which KJV
> rendered "that pisseth against the wall" (1 Sam 25:22,34, 1 Ki 14:10,
16:11,
> 21:21, 2 Ki 9:8) which is generally rendered now as the more euphemistic
> "male" - which gives the intended meaning without the strangeness of the
> idiom. But somehow this euphemism misses something, some nuances in this
> idiom which is used only in the context of killing all the males.

In the ancient Middle East, the ultimate injury to an enemy, after death,
was also the execution of "he that pisseth against the wall" which was the
idiom for the enemy's male heirs and progeny.  Thusly you destroy his name
and memory.

JK