Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 1:1 R)$YT

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Kevin P. Edgecomb" <kevin AT bombaxo.com>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 1:1 R)$YT
  • Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:38:23 -0700 (PDT)

Personally, I've always read BR)$YT as an adverbial phrase. In translation
to English, we can't really use a literal adverb "Beginningly,..." as it is
simply awful English. On the other hand, "In the beginning..." is a fine
enough gloss, since the alternatives have always seemed to focus on the
indeterminancy of the timing for whatever other reasons, be they logical or
related to parallelomania. "In a beginning..." is just wrong in English as
well, leaving open other "beginnings," which is illogical. One might go with
"Firstly,..." but that's simply not on the traditional translational radar,
so to speak. Keeping some relation to the classic King James Version's
phraseology seems expected, by including "beginning" somehow.

Consequently, I've seen the whole issue related more to a matter of tradition
on the part of translators and the particular limitations of English in this
instance. The Hebrew itself is perfectly clear.

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page