Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Evgeny Ivanov <evi7538 AT yahoo.com>]

I'm trying to understand the relation of two parts of
Ps.51.6 "Against Thee I have sinned ..." and "You will
be just in Thy word ...". The connecting gword is
Le-MaAN, translated as "so that". Now, BDB says that
Le-MaAN "is always "in order that", not merely "so
that", but sts. in rethorical passages, the issue of a
line of action, though really undesigned, is
represented by it ironically as if it was designed".
But I'm still puzzled about the relation here.
Obvoiusly even literal translation gives at least two
meanings - "ironical" (I sinned in orer that You would
be just in Thy word) and "causative" (I sinned, so Thy
will be just ...). "Ironical" meaning doesn't make
much sense here, so it is usually translated
causatively. However, other meanings of LeMaAN,
according to BDB, are: "in wiew of" (I sinned, but in
vief of this be (still) righteous in you word ...), or
"to the intent" (I sinned, but (still) be righteous in
thy word according to your intent). If there woud be
He at the end of LeMaAN, it could perhaps even be
translated as "in responce" (I sinned, but in
pesponce, be righteous ...). Any thoughts on this?

Thanks,
Eugene

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com