Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Karl,

> Dear List Members:
>
> This root appears only five times in Tanakh, four times as a hiphil 
> verb and once as a hiphil participle in a noun context. Any thoughts 
> on its definition?
>
> I looked up a dictionary and the definition given was to brighten up 
> as in making cheerful, however all the contexts where it is used 
> imply a destructive definition as in being consumed or destroyed.


HH: Try Job 9:27; 10:20; and Ps 39:14:

KJV:

Job 9:27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my 
heaviness, and comfort myself:
Job 10:20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I 
may take comfort a little,
Psa. 39:13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go 
hence, and be no more.

NIV:

Job 9:27 If I say,  'I will forget my complaint, I will change my 
expression, and smile,'
Job 10:20 Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can 
have a moment's joy
Psa. 39:13 Look away from me, that I may rejoice again before I 
depart and am no more."

Also note the cognate MBLYG in Jer 8:18:

Jer. 8:18 O my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me.

HH: BDB lists an Arabic cognate for the verb.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard