Biblical Hebrew Forum

[moon AT mail.sogang.ac.kr]

> 
> Hi,
> 
> Boyarin, in his book "A Radical Jew", translated Psalms 143:2a as follows 
> (p.119):
> 
>  Do not reproach your servant with statue, [for no living being will be 
> justified 
>                                              before you]
> 
> The usual translation is: do not enter into judgement with your servant.
> 
> The original is:
> 
>   AL-TABOAH BEMISFAT ETH-YABDEQA.
> 
> 
> BDB says about ETH:
> 
>  
> ETH marks an accusative in other relations than that of
> direct object to a verb: (a) with verbs of motion (very rare)
> denoting the goal. 
> 
> So AL-TABOAH BEMISFAT ETH-YABDEQA can be taken to mean:
> 
>   Do not come unto your servant with statue.
> 
> So, Boyarin's rendering seems possible. On the other hand, verb BOH seems 
> to 
> go with prep. BE more  naturally. BDB says about BE:
> 
>  with verbs of motion, when the movement to a place results in rest in it,
>  INTO: after BAH, NATAN, SHALAQ.
> 
> Though  MISHFAT is not a place, but a process, I think entering into a 
> process
makes sense as much as entering into  a place. So, the traditional 
translation 
clearly makes sense. 

I am interested in Boyarin suggested his translation because of the way
143:2b is quoted in Rom 3:20a:
 
 No flesh will be justified from works of Torah before him.   

Paul adds "from works of Torah" to the original. But if we take Psalms 143:2a
as Boyarin suggests, this addition makes sense. In the context, Psalms 143:2b
can be taken to mean "no living being will be justified before you [
JUDGED WITH STATUE]". From this, it seems natural for Paul to write
" No flesh will be justified from works of Torah before him."

Any comments?
 
 
> Moon Jung
> Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Moon R. Jung
> Associate Professor
> Dept of Media Technology
> Graduate School of Media Comm
> Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea
> 
> 
> 


Moon R. Jung
Associate Professor
Dept of Media Technology
Graduate School of Media Comm
Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea