Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

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