Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dr. Joel M. Hoffman" <joel AT exc.com>]

>> Some languages use a dative in situations where others require the
>> accusative, and that's why we translate the literal "become to" as
>> "become" in English.
>
>So, you suggest that Hebrew dative is consistently accusative in English? 
>('became a living soul' seems ablative to me)

In case you didn't understand, let me try to be clearer.  Hebrew needs
L after "become" for grammatical reasons.  (And I'm pretty sure that
you know enough Hebrew to know that.)  I did not suggest that Hebrew
dative is consistently accusative; but after "become" it most
certainly is.

Also, what do you think "became for a living soul" means?   "He
became.  And the reason he did that is to benefit a living soul"?
Surely not.

-Joel Hoffman
 http://www.exc.com/JoelHoffman