Biblical Hebrew Forum

[David Bell <davidbbell AT ono.com>]

Greetings:

I was looking recently at Job 28:26. The text states God made a path 
for lightning thunders.
(WDRK LXZYZ QLWT).

I'm afraid that I don't quite understand the grammar here.

The KJV ASV and RSV all treat these two nouns as a construct absolute 
chain (lightnings of the thunder). But that doesn't really seem to be 
what is happening with these two words. The majority of the other major 
translations take them together to refer to a thunderbolt (NASB) or a 
thunderstorm (NEB, NIV). The Message understands a waw between the two 
of them and translates thunder and lightning.

Could someone give me an idea about what is really going on with this 
construction! Thanks!

David Bell
davidbbell AT ono.com
En MMV civitatem fundamenta habentem expectans
> From abuian AT access4less.net  Tue Feb  8 12:57:45 2005
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Date: Tue, 08 Feb 2005 12:58:17 -0500
From: Trevor Peterson <abuian AT access4less.net>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Job 28:26
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David Bell wrote:
> Greetings:
>
> I was looking recently at Job 28:26. The text states God made a path for 
> lightning thunders.
> (WDRK LXZYZ QLWT).
>
> I'm afraid that I don't quite understand the grammar here.
>
> The KJV ASV and RSV all treat these two nouns as a construct absolute 
> chain (lightnings of the thunder). But that doesn't really seem to be 
> what is happening with these two words. The majority of the other major 
> translations take them together to refer to a thunderbolt (NASB) or a 
> thunderstorm (NEB, NIV). The Message understands a waw between the two 
> of them and translates thunder and lightning.
>
> Could someone give me an idea about what is really going on with this 
> construction! Thanks!

I think probably all the translations are taking them as a construct 
phrase, which is what they appear to be, but rendering it into English 
is not always a straightforward task. Part of the problem is determining 
what xaziz means. There are few occurrences to go by, and whatever it's 
doing has to somehow be connected with the thunder that follows. If it 
can mean something like a gust when used of wind, the most reasonable 
idea is that it means something like a bolt when used of thunder. Hence, 
thunderbolt. But perhaps it contributes somewhat more to the meaning 
than that, which gets us to the natural association between thunder and 
lightning. There is probably not a clear answer as to the precise 
meaning, but the grammar is more straightforward.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics