Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 16:34:10 +0100 "Sesamo m." <sesamox AT hotmail.com>
writes:
> The word for "bruise", shu&#770;ph,  is translated in a different way 
> in 
> other translations:
> 
> "From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring 
> and her 
> offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will 
> strike his 
> heel." (New Living Translation)
> 
> "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy 
> seed and 
> her seed; he shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel." 
> (Darby)
> 
> I'm not a native English speaker, but If I'm not wrong, there is a 
> big 
> difference between "bruise" and "crush". Which is the real meaning 
> (or 
> meanings) in Hebrew?
________________

You are correct to note that in both cases it seems to be the same word. 
BDB connects it with the idea "rub off, away, grind."  The TWOT has 

What, though, is meant by “bruising” or “crushing”? That such would
describe the action of a man with a snake is obvious but would it equally
describe the thrust of a snake’s bite at a man’s heel? The LXX translates
both uses of šûp in Gen 3:15 with tereo “to watch, guard.” The Vulgate,
on the other hand, uses two different verbs. To describe what the woman’s
seed would do to the serpent it uses the verb conterere “to crush.” To
describe what the serpent would do to the woman’s seed, it uses the verb
insidiari “to lie in wait.” This along with other factors has led several
commentators to connect the first šûp with another Hebrew verb ša?ap II,
“to trample under foot” and the second šûp with Hebrew ša?ap I, “to gasp,
pant after.” 

I doubt that there is really any difference at all.

george
gfsomsel
___________
>From jwest AT highland.net  Wed Dec 22 10:55:12 2004
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Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 10:47:28 -0500
From: Jim West <jwest AT highland.net>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 3:15 "bruise"
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At 10:34 AM 12/22/2004, you wrote:
>The word for "bruise", shu&#770;ph,  is translated in a different way in 
>other translations:

I'm not at all sure what "shu&#770;ph" is supposed to be.  Is it some 
reference to Strongs or the like?  If so, Strong's is not exactly the best 
source of information on hebrew and greek word meanings.  Further, to base 
exegesis on it instead of the Hebrew text itself is sort of like eating 
your dinner after someone else has chewed it and spit it in your mouth.


>"From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and 
>her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will 
>strike his heel." (New Living Translation)

A genuinely dreadful "translation".  Its actually a paraphrase and about as 
useful as Strongs.


>"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
>and her seed; he shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel." 
>(Darby)

This is just the KJV.


>I'm not a native English speaker, but If I'm not wrong, there is a big 
>difference between "bruise" and "crush". Which is the real meaning (or 
>meanings) in Hebrew?

The Hebrew word is "shuph" and means "to trample" or "to stomp".  Now, like 
everyone,  I've had my foot stepped on and a bruise left.  It is not, then, 
a question of "either / or" here but rather "both / and".  If you stomp on 
something hard enough you leave a bruise.  "Crush" is a bit of an 
overstatement- but I suppose its possible because if you stomp on something 
hard enough to bruise it you might indeed crush it.

Best

Jim


++++++++++++++++++++
Jim West, ThD
Adjunct Professor of Biblical Studies
Quartz Hill School of Theology

http://web.infoave.net/~jwest Biblical Studies Resources
http://biblical-studies.blogspot.com Biblical Theology Weblog