Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Hi Brian,

The root $MM, and the related $MH, has  a basic meaning of "empty". An empty
city or country is one that has been either ravaged by war or by plague.
Rats do bring plague. But I would keep my translation as general as possible
(in English I'd prefer "desolate" over "devastated"), and let the context
speak for itself.

Good luck!

Yigal


----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian & Laureen Powell" <PowellBrian AT omf.net>
To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2004 8:18 AM
Subject: [b-hebrew] 1 Sam 5:6 ; devastation


> Hi,
> I'm currently translating 1 Samuel into one of the minority languages of
> the Philippines and have reached the above verse.
>
> I am wondering if the word translated in the NIV as 'devastation',
> shamem in the Hebrew, refers to a destruction of crops (which would be
> quite likely if there were a plague of rats which is mentioned in
> chapter 6) or whether this is some other form of destruction, such as
> death by plague.
>
> I should be grateful if anyone could shed some light on the meaning of
> this word. Thanks
> Brian Powell
>
> --
>
>
> Brian & Laureen Powell
>
>
>
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