Biblical Hebrew Forum

["biblical hebrew" <jcr.bhebrew AT gmail.com>]

Hi,

my instinctual response to your suggestion would be that most verbs can be
used in this way - with a literal meaning or a poetically figurative usage.
One thing to bear in mind, though, is that you quote Psalm usage which is,
by definition, poetic and so carries a much higher probability of displaying
the kind of figurative usage you suggest.

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James Christian Read - BSc Computer Science
http://www.lamie.org/hebrew       -  thesis1: concept driven machine
translation using the Aleppo codex
http://www.lamie.org/lad-sim.doc  -  thesis2: language acquisition simulation

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On 9/9/07, kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> How do you know if Isaiah 53:5 "he is pierced from our sin" is meant
> literally? "He is crushed from our transgressions" is not taken literally.
>
> In Psalm 109:22 it says "my heart is wounded (pierced)" (the same verb),
> but
> the psalm writer was not stabbed in the heart.
>
> Maybe "pierced" was like "crushed" and not meant to be taken literally.
>
> Psalm 38:4 says the psalm writer is sick. Ps. 38:3 says G-d's arrows have
> descended into him. Maybe that would be like being pierced by suffering,
> even though it does not say "pierced". Ps. 38:5 says the burden is too
> heavy
> for him. Maybe that is like being crushed by his suffering. Ps.38:14-15
> says
> the person is silent. This all sounds like someone who is acquainted with
> disease, crushed, pierced, and does not open his mouth like the person in
> Isaiah 53. Maybe this is how suffering was described in Biblical times.
>
> Kenneth Greifer
>
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