Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Evgeny,

> Is.45:7 says "I (God) make peace and create 
> evil" - BoRe Ra. LXX translates Ra here as êáêá 
> (kaka) - "bad". English NIV translates "I bring 
> prosperity and create disaster". I guess the 
> "correct" translation really depends on 
> exegesis. But from the linguistic point of viev, 
> is Ra always means "evil", or it is legitimate 
> to translate it also as "disaster" for example? 
> Another note - the verb here is BaRa that 
> usually applies to God creating something that 
> didn't exist before. The translation echoes to 
> theology - did God created evil, or He just 
> allowed the creatures with free will to do evil?


HH: Yes, it is perfectly legitimate lexically to 
translate RA( as "disaster." The word does not 
always refer to what is morally evil.

                                        Yours,
                                        Harold Holmyard