Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 23/04/2005 06:19, tladatsi AT charter.net wrote:

> ...
>
> Of course, the phrase *visit inquity upon* is pretty 
> archaic terminology but it clearly means *punish*. 
>
>  
I think it would be better to say that it is meaningless in English, and 
it is from the context that we understand it as punishment. For this is 
a Hebrew idiom which has been translated literally into English - for 
"visit" is used fairly concordantly for PQD in older Bible versions. It 
is hard to know exactly what this idiom meant, although there do seem to 
be cases where it must mean some kind of punishment. But the meaning of 
the Hebrew verb is more like "pay attention to", so perhaps "deal with" 
might be more appropriate that "punish". Of course dealing with sin does 
often involve punishing it, but that is not necessarily what is made 
explicit in this particular verse.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/



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