Biblical Hebrew Forum

["JAMES CHRISTIAN READ" <JCR128 AT student.apu.ac.uk>]

Grothe 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?
END QUOTE

'Was' is arguably not the best translation as English 
'was' merely indicates a state. 
The hebrew phrase indicates more than just the state of 
the earth/land. It indicates the process of arriving at 
that state. However, the translators of the LXX used 
the past tense stative 'was' and this is certainly 
evidence that a group of people understood the phrase 
in this way at the time of the LXX translation.

Some feel it better to tranlate as 'became' or 'came to 
be' in an attempt to capture the sense of the process 
of arriving at the new state.

Which translation is 'best' is a matter of debate and 
I'm sure you will hear many diverse opinions on this 
list (some motivated by loyalty to a particular 
translation).

Hope this helped.

James C Read
Somewhere that is not entirely unlike the UK.ow 
do you arrive at the correct translation?
END QUOTE

'Was' is arguably not the best translation as English
'was' merely indicates a state.
The hebrew phrase indicates more than just the state of
the earth/land. It indicates the process of arriving at
that state. However, the translators of the LXX used
the past tense stative 'was' and this is certainly
evidence that a group of people understood the phrase
in this way at the time of the LXX translation.

Some feel it better to tranlate as 'became' or 'came to
be' in an attempt to capture the sense of the process
of arriving at the new state.

Which translation is 'best' is a matter of debate and
I'm sure you will hear many diverse opinions on this
list (some motivated by loy