Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

Dear Dale,
Hebrew has a lexical passive, the niphal form of the verb.
While this form does not have a passive meaning in some
verbs, it does in others, such as "to find."
The word nimtsa, NMC), is passive in meaning.
Everyone who was found written in the book.
Best,
Liz Fried

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of daleofberkeley
> Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 1:03 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] translation help
> 
> Hello Biblical Hebrew,
> 
> I have been recommended to you by the helpful folks at the Biblical
> Studies Group.
> 
> I was asking for some assistance with the translation of a phrase in
> the book of Daniel.  At the end of the first verse of chapter 12, the
> KJV has: "everyone that shall be found written in the book."  I was
> wondering if it would be possible to translate this as: "everyone
> that finds the writing in the book." or "everyone that has found what
> is written in the book."  I was informed that the problem with such
> alternatives as these is that the original language requires that
> the "found" be in the passive voice, which, if so, I can take as a
> final answer to my question.  All I need to know now is what the
> indicator is, in the original text, which determines a passive voice
> for this verb.