Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

Dear all,

Ps. 144:13a reads "Our larders are full, producing 'mizan el zan'". This is 
my translation, attempting to render the Hebrew as literally as possible. 

I know that the precise translation of the word that I rendered "larders" is 
disputed, but I want to focus on the second part. The word "zan" appears only 
in this phrase, and maybe in 2 Chr. 16:14 (although I'm not convinced that 
it's the same word). Most translations understand the word "zan" as "kind" or 
"sort". Many commentaries cite "zan" here (and in 2 Chr. 16:14) as either an 
Aramaic or a Persian loanword. Indeed, in the targumim, "zan" is the common 
translation of the Hebrew word "min" - "species" (for instance, in Gen. 1:11 
etc.). And so the unique phrase "mizan el zan" is understood literally "from 
kind to kind" and rendered "of all kinds" and the like.
Accordingly, the verse is usually translated "That our garners may be full, 
affording all manner of store" (KJV); "May our barns be filled, with produce 
of every kind" (NRSV); "Our barns will be filled with every kind of 
provision" (NIV) and the like.

However, the LXX does not. There, "mizan el zan" is rendered "ek toutou eis 
touto", apparently preserving a Hebrew "mizeh el-zeh" - "from this to that" 
or "from here to there".
 
In the MT, the verse seems incomplete - the translations added the word 
"store", "provisions" and the like, but it's not there in the Hebrew. 

Finally, my questions:

1. Does anyone know of an Old Persian word "zan" or the like, that could have 
been borrowed by the Hebrew and the Aramaic as "species"?

2. Is there any other indication (presumably linguistic) that this psalm is 
late enough for such borrowing to have happened?

3. In any case, how do y'all explain the syntax of the Hebrew?


Much thanks,

Yigal Levin