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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Interpretation of Biblical Hebrew, or Harold, is this your methodology?

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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Interpretation of Biblical Hebrew, or Harold, is this your methodology?
  • Date: Wed, 7 Jul 2004 21:24:41 -0500

Dear Karl,

In other words, you don’t have a methodology.

HH: I have a methodology. But when I'm critiquing obvious errors in your translation ideas (you didn't usually give a translation of the verse), I don't have to go through all the steps needed in a lexical word study.

What do you do when two or more of the experts that you depend on hold contradictory and mutually exclusive position? How do you determine which position is correct?

HH: I do further research and thinking.

My answers:

1) a good methodology does not depend on whether or not we like the results. In fact, the Biblical PoV is not cherry picking the portions of the Bible that we like, tickling our ears. It is taking the whole text, even the portions that we don’t like. BTW, how many times have you read Tanakh, starting with Genesis and reading through Chronicles? In Hebrew?

HH: I felt that you were wrong. It's not just that I did not like the results. I've read the Bible in Hebrew quite a bit.

BTW what is your take on my application of my methodology on Proverbs 1:19?

HH: You had:

Such are the roads of those who take a cut of the loot; unjust gain takes over the life of its owner.

HH: It's all right. I might use a broader translation applicable to more settings. I might substitute "ways" or "paths" for "roads" and "seek" or "take" "unjust gain" for "take a cut of the loot." The cognate phrase occurs in six verses and seem broader in scope than just taking a cut of the loot, although that could work well here. Also, I think it is better to say that unjust gain "takes away the life." The verb LQX is sometimes used for the removal of life (1 Kings 19:10, 14; Ps 31:14; Jon 4:3).

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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