Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>]

Well, Job 36:27 made me doubt about 'ed as "mist" in the first place. Can't 
be the mist that arises from waterless earth, and the clouds.
I would rather have Job 36:27 as something to do with "turn": he takes drops 
of water *to return* them as his rain.

I cannot believe that anyone was stupid enough to put two creation stories 
together. And I can grammatically reasonably read Gen2 as the story of 
development of the world, not of its creation.

Vadim


> Vadim, it is quite obvious that the object of "will rise" in 2:6 is 'ed. 
> Job 36:27, which is the only other place in which the word is used, makes 
> it clear that 'ed has to do with water. Like it or not, Gen. 1:1-2:4 and 
> the rest of chapter 2 tell almost opposite creation stories. In chapter 1, 
> the world is founded on water, and man comes last. In chapter 2, the story 
> begins with man being put into a desert. You can argue about the kind of 
> irrigation system God would use, but "mist" is as good a guess as any.
>
> Yigal
>
> > Does anyone know why 'ed in Genesis 2:6 is translated "mist"? This 
> > rendering has nothing to do with the root meaning, and both here and in 
> > Job "to turn" is more likely translation, assuming a derivation from 
> > aleph-holam-dalet.
> >
> > Genesis 2:5 ends with, "Man was not there to work the ground."
> > Genesis 2:6, "He [man] would turn, he would rise out of the earth, would 
> > water the whole face of the ground." The man was formed from earth to 
> > water it.
> > Genesis 2:7, "Lord God begot the man, dust of the earth he [the man] 
> > breathed into his nostrils, essence of life; the man was for a living 
> > soul."
> >
> > Translation "the mist" doesn't make much sense: if we assume that the 
> > earth was waterless, then where the mist came from? Besides, Genesis 1:7 
> > explicitly mentions that the earth included much water.
> >
> > Vadim Cherny
> > _______________________________________________
> > b-hebrew mailing list
> > b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew