Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

The following excerpt is from http://www.geocities.com/stmetanat/genesis1.htm

It basically relates a theory of vowel pointing to  
support the theory that the author of Genesis 1 ripped 
off Marduk mythology.

Here is the reasoning presented:

BEGIN QUOTE
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” is only one of 
possible translations. When the word ברא is vowel-pointed as בָּרָא (bārā), 
it is a verb meaning “he created”. However, it is probable that the original 
vowel-pointing was בְּרֹא (berō), which is a gerund meaning “creating”; in 
which case the verse translates as “in the beginning of God’s creating the 
heavens and the earth”. This provides a much clearer setting for what comes 
after.

In the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the earth, there was not a 
state of total nothingness or nihilum: there was a primeval realm of water to 
be resolved into the reality of sea and sky we see today. The word tehōm, 
meaning “abyss”, is an allusion to an ancient, pre-Biblical Babylonian myth. 
According to Babylonian mythology, the god Marduk fought the water-goddess 
Tiamat (=tehōm), slew her and cut her into two: the sea and the sky.
END QUOTE

Convinced?


James C. Read
UK