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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:5

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  • From: "Vadim Cherny" <VadimCherny AT mail.ru>
  • To: "Martin Shields" <enkidu AT bigpond.net.au>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:5
  • Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 14:22:07 +0300

Gen 2:5 seems to describe the reasons why there were no cultivated

Cultivated? This is your imagination at work. The text says nothing of the sort.

Maybe it does:

1. The context implies that whatever is meant by שיח השדה and עשב השדה, they require work from the man and water to grow.

Siah is universally shrub, wild plants, not cultivated.

2. Why are שיח and עשב qualified here when they need not be?
Elsewhere they appear alone, so it seems likely that adding השדה
modifies the meaning in some way.

Parallelism, a common occurence, is one explanation.
My reading, however, is that siah is "talk": "there was no [farmers'] talk in the field, and no plants grew".


Vadim Cherny




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