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  • From: "Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Eccl 4:10 plural
  • Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2005 10:46:03 -0500

> As the text stands, the subject of YIP.OLW. is HA$.:NAYIM in the previous
verse. Note the zaqef over YIP.OLW.

Syntactically, I don't see how this can be. First, there's a verse (sentence)
break indicated. I know those are somewhat artificial in places, but it must
be considered. Second, the whole thing is inside the KIY )IM subordinating
structure, which helps separate it from the previous clause/verse. The NIV
translates as though HFEXFD is the subject of YIP.OLW. where the RSV goes the
way you suggest. 'Twould appear that others have had the same problem with
it.

The verse is not without its problems, though: if both fall, how can "the
one" help the other to get up again?

Agreed. In practical terms, the contrast in the second half of the verse has
to do with a second companion who, apparently having NOT fallen, can help the
first one up, whereas the one who is walking alone doesn't have that
advantage. In that context, if they're both down, they're not going to be
much help to each other.

HH: This is a good point, and one thought is the ease with which Hebrew shifts from the plural to the distributive singular (GKC #145 l, m) or from the collective singular to the plural (GKC #135 p; #145 b-g). It may be that the Hebrew reader would have been able to understand "if they fall" to mean "if either one of them falls," given the context of the rest of the verse.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


--
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Well, if I'd wanted a safe life, I guess I wouldn't have
married a man who studies rocks." - Betty Armstrong (Fay Masterson)
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