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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 1:16 (The Tifha accent)
  • Date: Sun, 03 Sep 2006 06:43:26 -0500

Dear Chris and Nel wrote:

The last part of this verse namely: ...ET HaCoCHaViM...is accompanied by a tifha accent. It has been suggested by a pdf document that I found about accents (David Robinson and Elisabeth Levy 2002) that the above verse is in the most part mistranslated into English by saying that "God made the stars also". When it should in fact be translated to indicate that the writer was saying that "The smaller light to rule the night and the The stars to rule the night" implying that the purpose of the tifha is to read the clause: "rule the night" Twice!

I am not trying to be pedantic here, but since I am learning to get to grips with these accents I am more interested in appreciating the use of the tifha at this point.

Personally (before I understood the accents) I read this verse as to mean that God made the lesser light to rule the night 'Along with the stars also' to rule the night based on interpreting the 'ET' before HaCoCHaViM as 'With', and for the fact that it seems to be too much of an awkward afterthought to have it placed at the end of the sentence if it were to mean simply that: "Oh yes and God made the stars also"!


HH: The chapter is talking about creation, and before the stars do anything, they have to be created. That is the thrust of the verse. You could rewrite the verse:

And God made the two great lights -- the greater light to rule the day and the smaller light to rule the night -- and the stars.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


Your comments will as always be appreciated and I will reply,

Thankyou

Chris Watts
S. Ireland.
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