Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 08:53:02 -0700 (PDT) Sujata <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>
writes:
> Dear Harold and George,
> 
> I did mean Is 64:4 in the English Bible and my
> question particularly is about the phrase "O God". In
> KJV I have "O God" in NKJV and others I have "A God",
> in JPS (Is 64:3) "A God" and in the Qumran scroll
> translation "O God". So I am wondering what is the
> exact translation from Hebrew, is it "a God" or "O
> God". 
> 
> I truely appreciate your help.
> 
> God Bless,
> Sujata
> 
___________

This specific question is difficult, if not impossible to answer
definitively.  Van der Merwe in _A Biblical Hebrew Reference Grammar_
notes

3. Syntactic functions of the article??
(i) The article is sometimes used in the construction of the vocative to
designate a specific addressee. (Cf. §34.4.)
X"Y_NaP:$:Kf HaM.eLeK: As your soul lives, O king (1 Sam. 17.55).

It may be omitted. 
L"K_)eL_N:MfLfH (fC:L Go to the ant, O sluggard (Prov. 6.6).

In your passage )e:LoHiYM (God) has no article, but according to Van der
Merwe's example this does not preclude it's being a vocative.  It is the
context which must determine its usage.  This is why you have a
discrepancy between the KJV together with the translations which stand in
its tradition and the JPS Tanach -- they understand the text differently.
 In other words, it's not simply a grammatical decision.

george
gfsomsel
>From shevaroys AT yahoo.com  Tue Aug 31 14:41:52 2004
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Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:41:49 -0700 (PDT)
From: Sujata <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 64:4
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
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Dear George,

Thank you. That is very helpful.

God Bless,
Sujata


--- "George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com> wrote:

> On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 08:53:02 -0700 (PDT) Sujata
> <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>
> writes:
> > Dear Harold and George,
> > 
> > I did mean Is 64:4 in the English Bible and my
> > question particularly is about the phrase "O God".
> In
> > KJV I have "O God" in NKJV and others I have "A
> God",
> > in JPS (Is 64:3) "A God" and in the Qumran scroll
> > translation "O God". So I am wondering what is the
> > exact translation from Hebrew, is it "a God" or "O
> > God". 
> > 
> > I truely appreciate your help.
> > 
> > God Bless,
> > Sujata
> > 
> ___________
> 
> This specific question is difficult, if not
> impossible to answer
> definitively.  Van der Merwe in _A Biblical Hebrew
> Reference Grammar_
> notes
> 
> 3. Syntactic functions of the article??
> (i) The article is sometimes used in the
> construction of the vocative to
> designate a specific addressee. (Cf. §34.4.)
> X"Y_NaP:$:Kf HaM.eLeK: As your soul lives, O king (1
> Sam. 17.55).
> 
> It may be omitted. 
> L"K_)eL_N:MfLfH (fC:L Go to the ant, O sluggard
> (Prov. 6.6).
> 
> In your passage )e:LoHiYM (God) has no article, but
> according to Van der
> Merwe's example this does not preclude it's being a
> vocative.  It is the
> context which must determine its usage.  This is why
> you have a
> discrepancy between the KJV together with the
> translations which stand in
> its tradition and the JPS Tanach -- they understand
> the text differently.
>  In other words, it's not simply a grammatical
> decision.
> 
> george
> gfsomsel



                
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