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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 37:15

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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: "Peter Kirk" <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 37:15
  • Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2005 11:11:42 +0300

Can we translate Gen37:15:
A man asked him, asking, "What dost thou will?"

Not into modern English, you can't. This should be: A man asked him, "What do you want?"

That blurs the future tense inherent in "will."

Well, according to BDB there seems to be just one case in the Hebrew Bible of BQ$ Piel with just an object meaning "desire, demand", 1 Chronicles 21:3.

Also related, Zeph2:3, PS122:9, 1Sam24:10, Gen43:30, Ex4:24. That is according to Steinberg.

So that meaning cannot be ruled out. But considering the context, a man finding Joseph wandering around looking for something rather than asking for anything, it seems far more probable that the sense here is the commonest one of BQ$ Piel, namely: ..."What are you looking for?"

"What do you want?" sounds no less plausible.

And in either case the sense is entirely present, not future at all.

"What dost thou wilt?" is the closest to the future tense I could find in English. Russian, as I said, allows straight future tense here, and "will" is also future-oriented.

Vadim Cherny




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