Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Oun,
> Typically Gen 3:10 reads
>
> KJV:
> I heard thy voice in the garden,
> and I was afraid,
> because I was naked; and I hid myself.
> ESV:
> I heard the sound of you in the garden,
> and I was afraid,
> because I was naked, and I hid myself.
>
>
> I like to see the phrase 'because I was naked' be connected to 'I hid'
> rather than 'I was afraid'.
>
> to read the text as
> 'I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid.
> Because I was naked [and] I hid myself.'
>
> What prevents me to see this way syntactically in Hebrew text?
>   

HH: First, "I was afraid" is linked with the second half of the sentence 
by the Hebrew accents, not the first half. Second, the accents link "I 
was afraid" with "because I was naked." Third, I don't think you can put 
the word "and" in brackets like that; it is in the text.

HH; However, thee is no need for the comma after "afraid" such as the 
KJV and ESV have above. There is a disjunctive accent between them 
(tebhir), but it is a weak accent.  The text can read:

And he said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because 
I was naked, so I hid myself.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
>