Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Dear Peter,

> > ... The )$R in both clauses is probably substituting for the 
> > people. That's what I'm used to seeing. Fairly literally it is : 
> > "For thus says the Lord God, 'See, I am giving you into the hand of 
> > those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul is 
> > alienated.'"
> Well, fairly literally, but more literally "For thus says the Lord 
> God, 'See, I am giving you into the hand which you hate, into the 
> hand from which your NEPE$ is alienated.'" Your "of those" is an 
> interpretative addition, although the plural MHM, which doesn't go 
> with the singular hand, suggests the plurality. (And as you see, I 
> don't like to gloss NEPE$ as "soul".)

HH: But your "more literal" translation did not include the plurality 
of MHM. If you include that plurality in the translation, you have to 
change the sense of )$R from "which" to "those." Just because 
something is interpretive does not necessarilymake it less literal. 
Also, I have studied NP$ at length, reading a long essay on it in 
addition to encyclopedia articles. NP$ means all sorts of things, and 
one of its meanings is "soul." That is well accepted although 
somewhat out of favor.

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard