Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jerry Shepherd" <jerry.shepherd AT taylor-edu.ca>]

Hi Chris,

 

I understand your confusion.  But this is actually a fairly standard way 
Hebrew narrative talks about “being” in the past – by the use of hayah, 
either in the perfect or with wc+impf.  Without it, the sentence could 
mistakenly be taken as present.

 

Jerry

 

Dr. Jerry E. Shepherd

Associate Professor of Old Testament

Taylor Seminary

11525 - 23 Avenue

Edmonton, AB T6J 4T3

CANADA

Office: (780)431-5250

Home: (780)434-1164

Fax: (780)436-9416

Email: jerry.shepherd AT taylor-edu.ca

Internet: http://www.taylor-edu.ca 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Chris and Nel
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 11:09 AM
To: B-Hebrew
Subject: [b-hebrew] Judges 16:30 - Verb with no use, MY PROBLEM!

 

Judges 16:30

 

Sorry Folks, but for those who are bemused at my 'daft'? question please

allow me to indulge.  For someone who is still young at the art of trying

to understand the hundreds of ways to translate without looking at the

english,  YES, Judges 16:30, does present a minor confusion for me.  The

context and the word RaBaH (many) seem to me to translate just as well

without the verb "to be"?  Now it is obvious that I am utterly wrong -  that 

I

know! There are myriads of sentences where the verb "to be" is not used and

yet 'known and correctly assumed' from the translation.  My problem is that

beginning this particular sentence with that verb actually threw me off

course, when I continued to translate it as if the verb was not there then

to my shock I actually translated it correctly (Mmmm, now that's a miracle). 

This shows that I am doing something wrong (even though I got the answer 

correct).  I am so used to

reading sentences without "to be " in them that I still can not fathom its 

purpose here, considering that without it I actually arrived at the correct 

translation without looking at the English.

 

Now can someone be kind enough pleeeease..... to relieve me of my making a 

fool of

myself on this board?

 

Chris

 

Ireland.

 

 

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