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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] One scholar's' opinion
  • Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2006 14:27:02 -0500

Dear Don,

Can the word "was" in the verse "Now the earth was unformed and void" be translated
"became"?

This is one response from a Hebrew Scholar:

When the word hayah refers to a change in state, then it takes a le- before the noun;
here we have no le- so this is a report of a state that was, not that became something
from something else. At this stage in the Creation story, we are just getting the
first reports on the initial state of chaos (an early mix of time/space/energy/matter),
which only later "became" something else more ordered.


HH: That's a good comment.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard





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