Biblical Hebrew Forum

["George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com>]

I won't argue with you regarding the fact that "replenish" is not a
proper representation of the meaning of ML) in these passages.  I'm
wondering though regarding your use of the word "earthlings" and its
placement in quotations (It was necessary for me to do so since I was
referring to a word, but not for your usage).  Who would you suppose was
intended -- Martians, Venusians?  Or am I reading too much into this?

gfsomsel
_________

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 10:15:11 -0500 "Joshua AT can-do.net" <joshua AT can-do.net>
writes:
> Herman,
> 
> "Earthlings" were not instructed to, "REPLENISH the Earth". I 
> believe you
> are deriving this (correct me if I am wrong) from the KJV which has
> "replenish" in Gen 1:28:
> 
> 
> KJV Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be 
> fruitful,
> and multiply, and replenish (ûmil’û) the earth, and subdue it: and 
> have
> dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and 
> over
> every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Also see Gen 9:1 
> which uses
> "replenish" for the same construction and instruction).
> 
> 
> The word translated "replenish" in the KJV of Gen 1:28 is __ûmil’û__ 
> (Waw
> conjunction + Qal Imperative mp of ML’). Yet ML’ is found in the 
> same form
> and construction (ûmil’û followed by DDO + maqqef + def. article and
> absolute noun) six verses earlier in Gen 1:22, and is translated 
> "fill":
> 
> 
> KJV Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and 
> multiply,
> and fill (ûmil’û) the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in 
> the
> earth.
> 
> 
> The Lexicons and Dictionaries I have (HALOT, BDB, TWOT, NIDOTTE, 
> TDOT) give
> no indication of "replenish" being an accepted meaning for the verb 
> ML’ in
> the Qal (or any other stem for that matter).
> 
> So, why did the KJV translators translate the same word/construction 
> with
> two different words within 6 verses of each other? Why "replenish" 
> in v.28
> and "fill" in v.22? It appears that "replenish" had a broader 
> meaning in the
> 1600's and could be used with no indication of the action being a 
> repetitive
> or recurring action; the use of "replenish" instead of "fill" in 
> v.28 was
> simply a stylistic decision by the translators. The American 
> Heritage
> Dictionary confirms this:
> 
> =====
> Middle English replenisshen, from Old French replenir, repleniss-  : 
> re-,
> re- + plenir, to fill (from plein, full, from Latin plenus. See 
> pele- in
> pean Roots).
> 
> FROM: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 
> Fourth
> Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by 
> Houghton
> Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
> =====
> 
> The modern translations agree with this analysis that ML’ in these 
> verses
> means "fill". The NIV, NASB, YLT, NRS, and so forth all have "fill" 
> in these
> two verses instead of "replenish". This is an example of how words 
> change
> over a SHORT period of time. In this case, "fill" gives the correct 
> sense to
> the modern reader, while "replenish" is misleading to those 
> unfamiliar with
> the archaic usage.
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Joshua Luna
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen 1:2 (3)
> Herman (Ephraim49 AT aol.com) said:
> 
> <SNIP>
> 
> > Remember, God tells the earthlings to REPLENISH the Earth
> > on the Sixth day (of the second restoration week).
> >
> > Does it begin to make more sense now?
> 
> <SNIP>
> ------------------------------
> 
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