Biblical Hebrew Forum

[kgraham0938 AT comcast.net]

This might be an allusion to Exodus 32:25-29.  The "him" here referring to 
the brother, friend or neighbor that the Levite was suppose to kill.
--
Kelton Graham 
KGRAHAM0938 AT comcast.net

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: kenneth greifer <kennethgreifer AT messianicmistakes.com> 

> The blessing in Deuteronomy 33:9 about Levi is usually is translated 
> "...who 
> says to his father and to his mother I have not seen him...", but it does 
> not 
> say who "him" is. I think the quote does not make sense, so I divided the 
> word 
> "who says" into two words that I think make more sense. 
> Do you think it could say "behold H) bitterness MR , to his father and to 
> his 
> mother I have not seen it (bitterness), and his brother it (bitterness) 
> does not 
> recognize, and his son it does not know because they have kept Your 
> word..." ? 
> Or maybe "behold bitterness , to your father and to your mother I have not 
> seen it, and with his brother it is not acquainted (?), and with his son it 
> is 
> not known because they have kept Your word..." 
> The word "behold" H) is also used in Genesis 47:23 and in Ezekiel 16:43. 
> Could 
> "behold" be used to get attention for something that is not actually there, 
> like 
> bitterness? 
> Sincerely, 
> Kenneth Greifer 
> _______________________________________________ 
> b-hebrew mailing list 
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org 
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew 
>From yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com  Wed May 17 06:37:19 2006
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Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 13:37:18 +0300
From: "Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Deuteronomy 33:9
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On 5/17/06, kenneth greifer 'rote:
> The blessing in Deuteronomy 33:9 about Levi is usually is
> translated "...who says to his father and to his mother I have not
> seen him...", but it does not say who "him" is. I think the quote
> does not make sense, so I divided the word "who says" into two
> words that I think make more sense.
>   Do you think it could say "behold H) bitterness MR , to his father
> and to his mother I have not seen it (bitterness), and his brother it
> (bitterness) does not recognize, and his son it does not know
> because they have kept Your word..." ?

MR does not mean "bitterness."  It means "bitter" as an adjective,
while "bitterness" is "mrh".  However, the main problem with this
interpretation is that it still does not make any clear sense and
forces one to follow on with (probably) exegesis which one could
do without this rereading of the words.  The standard reading
makes more sense, even if we don't know of an incident where
Levi did not admit to his parents of not having seen "him."  In
contrast, "bitterness" is not usually thought of as a word which
can employ such verbs as "know" or "recognize".

>   Or maybe "behold bitterness , to your father and to your mother
> I have not seen it, and with his brother it is not acquainted (?), and
> with his son it is not known because they have kept Your word..."

It does not say "your father" or "your mother".  "l) hkyr" does not mean
"it is not acquainted."  Nor does "l) yd(" mean "it is not known."  The
verbs are in the active form, not the separate verb form used for passive
verbs.

Yitzhak Sapir
http://toldot.blogspot.com