Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Kenneth,

> I would like to ask any Hebrew expert for an opinion about Psalm 40:7. I 
> think the usual translation about ears being opened  does not make sense. I 
> have tried to regroup some of the letters into new words that I think make 
> sense:
>  "They sacrificed a gift offering, You did not desire then their lament, You gave 
> a feast for me, a burnt offering and a sin offering You did not ask then."
>  I moved the letter W to the end of the word "sacrifice" and I divided ears into "then" 
> )Z and "their lament" NYM. Many dictionaries say the noun NY is a variation of the word NHY.
>  I think the writer is saying that G-d did not want sacrifices that involved 
> mourning, so they gave a gift offering only. Does anyone think this makes 
> sense and is this translation grammatically correct? Thank you.
>  

HH: The Hebrew verb you are citing for "gave a feast" only has that 
meaning when there is a cognate accusative noun with it (2 Kgs 6:23), as 
far as I can tell.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard