Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Don Grothe" <grothe AT uniontel.net>]

What is the proper translation of the word "was" in Genesis 1:2 - "Now the 
earth was unformed and void"?  How do you arrive at the correct translation?
>From kwrandolph AT gmail.com  Sun Jul  2 09:47:17 2006
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Date: Sun, 2 Jul 2006 06:47:17 -0700
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
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Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 1:2
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Don:

I translate the verb as "come into existance" making the verse say,
"And the earth came into being lifeless and still and darkness [was]
upon the face of the deep and God's spirit coming to rest upon the
face of the waters."

In this I try to bring out the dynamic nature of Biblical Hebrew,
instead of the static emphasis of Into-European languages.

Karl W. Randolph.

On 7/2/06, Don Grothe <grothe AT uniontel.net> wrote:
> What is the proper translation of the word "was" in Genesis 1:2 - "Now the
> earth was unformed and void"?  How do you arrive at the correct translation?