Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear David and Liz,

> *lizfried AT umich.edu wrote:*
> **
> "So now, accordingly, qn' (qana')is translated as
> "zealous" when the subject is God (e.g. Exod 20:5)and as "jealous" when a
> human is the subject (e.g., Gen. 26:14).  Yet, I would maintain that it is
> YHWH's very jealousy that has maintained the Jews over 3000 years of
> persecutions, nothing else. Jews do not worship other gods, for that simple
> reason, that YHWH is a jealous god. Nevertheless, Christians tend to
> translate the term as "zealous" in Exod. 20:5 because jealousy is seen as a
> negative emotion. It seems to me that the god that Christians see in the OT
> tends to be a Platonic idealization of YHWH, which is fine, but it is
> different from the god that Jews see when they read the Hebrew Bible."
>
> ---------------------End Original Message-------------------------
>
> I do not know about other Christians, but we Catholics do not see jelousy in
> a negative connotation, we believe that the word is highly misunderstood
> though. You have really got me thinking about what the true image of YHWH
> ought to be in my mind though, never thought about my philosophical
> upbringing as changing what the OT is truly saying.
>
> I know that you did not say all Christians translate the term as zealous.
> Anyway, I figured it would aid the discussion to see a Christian
> translation:
>
> "you shall not bow down before them or worship them. For I, the LORD, your
> God, am a *jealous* God, inflicting punishment for their fathers' wickedness
> on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth
> generation" (NAB). - Exodus 20:5
>
>  
HH: Protestants, too, understand God's jealousness in a positive way. 
Here are a few Protestant translations of the same verse:

KJV Ex. 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: 
for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the 
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them 
that hate me;

NIV Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the 
LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of 
the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

NRSV Ex. 20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the 
LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of 
parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

Yours,
Harold Holmyard