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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Is51:9
  • Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 15:08:38 -0500

Dear Vadim,

hzv, again, has positive, creative connotation. The example you offered, Hos6:5, only proves my point:

I hewed (hzv) them by the prophets

Prophets didn't kill or cut to pieces, they hewed people into good Jews.

HH: Look at the whole verse:

Hos. 6:5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I killed you with the words of my mouth; my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.

HH: Hebrew uses parallelism here, and the words are not positive.

Now, returning to Is51:9,

mahzevet is causative of hzv, so, made the one to hew, therefore,

Are not you the one who made the rahab (Egypt) who hews the stones (made pyramids?), [and the one who] shocks the crocodile (pharaoh; makes him tremble, or empties)

The meaning is that the power of Almighty is two-folded, to give and to empty of, to help and to make tremble.

HH: This is the verse in a standard translation:

Is. 51:9 Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced that monster through?

HH: I don't really have time for this kind of exchange. If you address another question to me, I will not answer it.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




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