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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: FW: [b-hebrew] Re: paraphrases, etc
  • Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 18:31:55 -0600

Dear Peter,

It may be consistent to translate "heart", but it is wrong. As I pointed out before, Hebrew LEB nowhere refers to the heart as an organ.

HH: You can't prove that it doesn't refer to the organ, and there are verses that suggest it, for example Ex 28:29, where the breastpiece is worn over the heart. The Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew gives fifteen verses where they think it means the physical heart, and other five verses where they think it is possible.

The words have only a limited domain of semantic overlap, which certainly does not cover this expression. If you want to preserve the thematic repetition (although a rather weak one if it occurs only one per 8 chapters on average), a better way to do so would be to translate "he said to himself".

HH: In general, LB can be translated heart. That is how the lexicons translate it. But it can cover a lot of ideas and so context is the key. In this concept of "say in the heart" I don't have a problem with "said to himself" or "thought to himself." But I think there are places where heart might be good, even with this phrase.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard







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