Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

John:

I do not list "against" or "opposite" as possible meanings for NGD as
those have connotations that go beyond the meaning of the Hebrew word
(a translator may use those terms when he thinks it will make for a
smoother English rendition, but a strict literal meaning is "before,
in front of").

The verbal meaning of NGD is "to be in front of, to be before" which
in the hiphil with its causative becomes "to cause to be in front of"
or in smoother English "to set before". That which is set before can
be a person or object, but by far the most common things "caused to be
in front of" are ideas, teachings, or other intangible (spoken)
concepts. According to a concordance, it is used only in the
causative, hiphil and hophal, in Tanakh.

Karl W. Randolph.

On 7/24/07, Brak <Brak AT neo.rr.com> wrote:
> I have a question.
>
> Sometimes NGD is translated as "against" or "opposite" or "in front", to
> which I can see the relationship between.
> But other times it's translated as "tell" or "declare".
>
> I don't see the common link between the idea of "opposite" and "telling".
> Can someone please help me understand the relationship between these ideas.
>
>
> --
>
> B"H
> John Steven
>
> "If you don't behave as you believe, you will end by believing as you
> behave."
> -Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.