Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Karl Randolph" <kwrandolph AT email.com>]

Steve:

Looking at the context might help. Previous to the phrase in question, the 
person in question claims that he is a slave of the soil, grammatically a 
possessive where the soil owns the person. Often a feminine noun denotes a 
generalized subject, while a masculine of the same refers to a specific 
subject, so in context this could be translated as “this soil” refeerring to 
a particular plot of land. Is this the only example in Tanakh for )DMH / )DM 
אדמה / אדם ?

The verb QNH means to acquire and hold possession of (something) where the 
acquiring part of the action can be by purchase or manufacture. There is no 
equivelant in English, making any translation of this verb defective.

Putting the two together, we get “I am a man who is a slave of the soil, this 
soil has possessed me since I was young.”

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>

> 
> Zech 13:5 but he will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the ground,
> for a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’  (NASB)
> 
> The phrase "a man sold me as a slave" is אָדָם הִקְנַנִי.
> The verb is causitive, literally "caused me to buy", which I don't think is
> reflected in "sold me as a slave".  To sell someone as a slave is not to
> cause them to buy.
> The only translation that retains the causitive meaning is KJV, which says,
> "man taught me to keep cattle", but I don't think that is a causitive
> meaning of "buy", although it is causitive.
> 
> Does "man" have to be the subject? Can it be the object? Could it be
> translated:
> for mankind He has made Me to purchase from My youth.
> or
> for mankind, they have caused Me to purchase from My youth. (treating the
> 3rd masculine singular as the indefinate pronoun as in 13:9.)
> or
> for mankind I have been made to purchase from My youth. (replacing
> indefinate pronoun with passive)
> 
> thanks,
> -Steve Miller
> Detroit
> 
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