Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 64:4

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "George F. Somsel" <gfsomsel AT juno.com>
  • To: shevaroys AT yahoo.com
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Isaiah 64:4
  • Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 17:02:09 -0000

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
Return-Path: <shevaroys AT yahoo.com>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from web12505.mail.yahoo.com (web12505.mail.yahoo.com
[216.136.173.197])
by happyhouse.metalab.unc.edu (Postfix) with SMTP id 1BA88200A2
for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Tue, 31 Aug 2004 14:41:52 -0400
(EDT)
Message-ID: <20040831184149.20181.qmail AT web12505.mail.yahoo.com>
Received: from [24.150.47.143] by web12505.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP;
Tue, 31 Aug 2004 11:41:49 PDT
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
In-Reply-To: <20060831.130953.-715439.1.gfsomsel AT juno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4
Precedence: list
List-Id: Hebrew Bible List <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
<mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
<mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2004 18:41:53 -0000

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




_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Win 1 of 4,000 free domain names from Yahoo! Enter now.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/goldrush




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page