Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Tory Thorpe <torythrp AT yahoo.com>]

--- Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu> wrote:

> 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. 

Perhaps an observation from G. Dalman will help:
"Dies Schwellwasser ist niemals klar" (Arbeit und
Sitte in
Palästina, I/2 [Gütersloh, 1928], p. 308). The
Jordan river will
swell in late spring (late April-early May) if enough
of the 
precipitation in the form of snow and ice on Mount
Hermon 
melts. This increases the river's flow and churns up
the earth
in its bed, which darkens the water. Thus, the water
does 
actually become "dark" as a result of (melting) "ice".

Tory Thorpe