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  • From: Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>
  • To: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Job 6:16, was definite article in Isaiah 7:14
  • Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 23:41:00 -0400

Harold,

I want to use this opportunity to register once more my strong objection to the translation of the first part of Job 6:16 HA-QODRIYM MINI QARAX as "They are dark because of ice". In my opinion HA- QODRIYM is certainly not "They are dark" or "They are black". This translation makes no sense factually, since how can something be dark because of ice, and not linguistically. There is no shred of evidence that QDR is 'dark'. Job describes here a grand and stark scene not a piece of ice casting a shadow over a puddle of water.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jun 20, 2007, at 11:00 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:

Dear Karl,
I had never heard of this translation before, so I spent some time poking
around their translation and site, and to say that I am underwhelmed is an
understatement.

As I stated before to Isaac, "The bottom line, you can't take just one verse
from a highly poetic
use, where you are not even sure of the root being used, to argue
against the clear meaning of a verb in its other
uses." I would extend that even to allowing for a one time use of a
unique meaning to fit a one time occurance.
Like all other translations I have seen, I do not see this one as a source
of scholarly information on the Hebrew Bible, its social climate nor
language.


HH: The NAB also has that translation like "pile":
http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/bible/job/job6.htm

My brethren are undependable as a brook, as watercourses that run dry in
the wadies;
16
Though they may be black with ice, and with snow heaped upon them,
17
Yet once they flow, they cease to be; in the heat, they disappear from
their place.


I am not expert in Job, but I could easily see the more common root (LM
being suitable for this context if the idea of the snow "hiding itself"
was a poetic way of saying that it melted in the water. Several
translations use "melt" in the text.

The NET Bible notes said:

The verb יִתְעַלֶּם (yit'allem) has been translated "is hid" or "hides
itself." But this does not work easily in the sentence with the
preposition "upon them."

HH: This objection does not sustain itself for me because the snow would
be melting "upon them," upon the torrents [ NXLYM ] of Job 6:15. The
snow lands on the water, sits there for a moment, then hides itself by
melting.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard


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