Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 24/04/2005 21:36, Michael wrote:

> My syntax is a little rusty. I have been reading through my Hebrew New 
> Testament and I believe the version I am reading of John 1:1 has an 
> example of both a classifying clause and an identifying clause. But I 
> am not sure what the difference in meaning between the two is.
> The passage in question reads:
> W:HU) HADFBFR HAYFH  )"CEL  HF):ELOHIYM,  W")ELOHIYM  HFYFH HU) HADFBFR
What translation of the NT is this? It doesn't look to me like good 
biblical Hebrew - but of course this might not have been the 
translator's intention. For it appears that HU) is being used before the 
noun as some kind of demonstrative adjective, or as an additional 
article; whereas in biblical Hebrew HU) as a demonstrative adjective 
always follows the noun and almost always takes the article itself (see 
BDB sv HU) 7).

But I notice that this translation corresponds word for word, in the 
same order, with the original Greek here, if HU) is taken as a rendering 
of the Greek article hO. So perhaps this is simply an over-literal 
translation of the Greek. If so, if you want to understand the phrase 
you should look at the Greek - or at one of the many good English 
translations of the Greek.

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



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