Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JoeWallack AT aol.com]

In a message dated 7/9/2007 5:13:14 AM Central Daylight Time,  peter AT qaya.org 
writes:

On  08/07/2007 22:03, JoeWallack AT aol.com wrote:
>  
>  ...
>  
> You are also proof-texting as you haven't even  considered the full context 
 
> of 7:14 here. ...

No,  Joseph, I have considered the context, which is well known to me. 
Just  because I don't take time to explain everything in a short post 
here, that  doesn't mean that I am ignoring the context.
 
No,  Peter, you did proof-text in what I was responding to:
 
"Seriously, and if we are talking translation rather than exegesis,  it  
doesn't work in English to translate "the young woman", or "the  virgin".  
According to English usage of the article, this would imply a  young  
woman previously identified in the text, and there is no such  young  
woman, so the sentence is effectively ungrammatical. In English  we have  
to say "a young woman", or perhaps "this young woman"  referring to only  
one present at the time although not previously  mentioned - which is a  
possible understanding of the Hebrew  article.

I say this despite  many English translations using "the"  here."



JW:
> ... If I claimed at this point that the combination of use  of the  
> Hebrew definite article along with a prophecy to the  immediate Hebrew 
audience  
> forces a translation of "the" ( a  position that a relatively high percent 
of  
> correspondents here  probably have) and the proper question than is not 
whether 
>   "the/a" is the proper translation but rather if "a" is even a possible   
> translation, you would be likewise unimpressed. 
 PQ:
I would be unimpressed because your translation (even if it  is also that 
of most published translations) is bad English, although the  original is 
good Hebrew, because the definite articles are used in different  ways in 
Hebrew and English. But let's stop arguing about English and stick  to 
Hebrew.
 
JW:
Yes, that is the problem with translations. The Translator is forced to  
choose a word that is different than what was written. Regarding English  
translations of Hebrew though, no one has yet figured out how to do this 
without  the 
use of English.
 
It's your suggested translation of "this" which is bad English which is why  
no one has used it. I'll explain why when I get to your related post.
 
 
 
Joseph Wallack
 
 
 







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