Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Again: context, context, context!

The text does not say that the "messenger" killed the whole 
army, it only says that he killed 185,000. With the 
antecedant subject being the Assyrian army, that means that 
"and they awoke" is the remaining members of the army, "and 
behold they all were dead bodies" to the 185,000.

The "ambiguity" is that a literal translation is lousy 
English.

Karl W. Randolph.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>

> Yes.  The clauses in question are as follows:
> 
>               וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ בַבֹּ֔קֶר 
> וְהִנֵּ֥ה כֻלָּ֖ם פְּגָרִ֥ים 
> מֵתִֽים
> 
> The nearest antecedent for the plural subject is the Assyrians, but it's
> fairly apparent that they didn't wake up since they were dead.  Truth be
> told, there isn't a good candidate for the subject of 
> וַיַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ in the
> general vicinity of this verse.  So perhaps that qualifies as one of James'
> passages with ambiguous subjects.
> 
> On Wednesday 10 August 2005 15:53, Ben Crick wrote:
> > On Wed 10 Aug 2005 (10:56:34), dwashbur AT nyx.net wrote:
> > > A much better example of ambiguous subjects would be that wonderful
> > > verse in  Kings - I can't seem to find it right now but I'm not near
> > > any resources and  am just doing this off the top of my head, so to
> > > speak - where YHWH killed a  whole enemy army during the night, and the
> > > KJV gives that delightful  rendering that goes something like "When
> > > they awoke in the morning, they were  all dead."  As the German soldier
> > > said in the movie "Bedknobs and  Broomsticks," ein gute Trick!
> >
> >  2 Kings 19:35 = Isaiah 37:36
> >
> >  Oh, and it's ein guter Trick.
> >
> >  Shalom
> >  Ben
> 
> --
> 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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