Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Yigal:

In reading Tanakh, I found that the Biblical Hebrew language lacked a 
generalized term for "sin", rather several specific terms were used: the 
three most common are (WH or (WWN with the concept of twisting or perverting, 
P$( with the concept of rebelling and the archery term X+) meaning to miss 
the target (incidently, when the Jewish writers of the New Testament looked 
at Koiné Greek and saw it too lacked a generalized term for "sin", they used 
the archery term referring to missing the target, wonder where they got that 
idea from?).

Come to think of it, I don't think there is a generalized term for "crime" in 
Tanakh, while many specific crimes are mentioned, e.g. stealing, kidnapping, 
murder, etc.

Even in Amos 1 - 2, Amos wrote from a viewpoint that there is only one God 
who made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that there is in them, 
and that all the gods of the nations were nothing, connected with the fact 
that the nations around Israel had heard these claims, so for them to 
continue following their gods was considered the same as rebellion.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yigal Levin" <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>

> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>
> > Look at 2 Kings 1:1, 3:5,7, 8:20, 22 and so forth: these are examples of
> vassal nations rebelling against their overlord. P$( in these verses clearly
> refers to rebellion, and it is often used of man's rebellion against God.
> (It might mean "crime" in modern Hebrew, but that's irrelevant to this
> verse.)
> >
> 
> Karl, while it is true that the verb Pa$a(  b... means "rebel against", it
> can be used to rebel against either a human overlord or God. The noun Pe$a(,
> however, means "crime". It is often paralelled by X+) "sin", because the
> Bible is a book about the raelationship between God and man, and to commit a
> crime against God is to sin, but it still means "crime". Gen. 50:17, or for
> that matter Amos 1 and 2, certainly have nothing to do with rebellion,
> unless you are to consider any crime a rebellion.
> 
> Yigal
-- 
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