Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>]

On 28/03/2007 22:13, Rolf Furuli wrote:
> ... One example of this is 
> Hebrews 11:17, where the force of the perfect is difficult. When the NIV 
> render the perfect "offered," this is factually wrong and contradicts its 
> rendering "was about to sacrifice". ...

No, Rolf, NIV is not factually wrong. Neither the English word "offer" 
nor the Greek word PROSFERW used in both cases here implies that the 
offering was accepted and the sacrifice completed. As you should 
certainly know, "offer" can mean "To present for acceptance or rejection 
... To exhibit readiness or desire (to do something)" (selection of 
definitions from http://www.answers.com/offer&r=67). Abraham offered or 
presented Isaac and expressed his readiness to sacrifice him, but God 
did not allow him to complete the action. So NIV is factually correct, 
although "to sacrifice" is an unwarranted addition and "was about to 
sacrifice" is a poor rendering. As for Greek PROSFERW, here are the 
definitions from Louw and Nida: "(a) ... to carry or bring something 
into the presence of someone, usually implying a transfer of something 
to that person - to carry to, to bring (to). ... (b) ... to bring or 
lead into the presence of someone - to lead before, to bring into the 
presence of, to bring to. ... (c) ... to present something to someone, 
often involving actual physical transport of the object in question - to 
bring to, to present to. ..." So there is no suggestion in the Greek 
either that the action of PROSFERW was incomplete. The lexical meaning 
of the verb seems to imply a recipient, and in this case the implied 
recipient must be God.

Now I don't know what the distinction between perfect and imperfect is 
in this verse, but I don't think your claim that the action was 
incomplete is helpful in that respect. Here is my rather too literal 
rendering of the verse, with the additions which I would make for 
clarity in [...]:

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, brought (PERFECT) Isaac to [God]. 
He who received the promises was bringing (IMPERFECT) to [God] his one 
and only son.

It was of course part of the assumed background knowledge for this story 
that God's acceptance of this offering meant Isaac's death, and so that 
Abraham was offering to sacrifice Isaac. The NIV rendering, while not 
very literal, accurately portrays the actual scenario as the original 
readers would have understood it.

--
Peter Kirk
E-mail:  peter AT qaya.org
Blog:    http://www.qaya.org/blog/
Website: http://www.qaya.org/