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b-hebrew - [b-hebrew] 6-Month "Year" vs. Biblical Hebrew

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  • From: JimStinehart AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] 6-Month "Year" vs. Biblical Hebrew
  • Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:24:26 EDT


George Athas:
As an expert in Biblical Hebrew, might I ask you to comment specifically on
the particular language of Genesis 41: 1 concerning the description of the
amount of time Joseph was in an Egyptian jail? I believe that the literal
wording is:
"two years of days"
This odd phrase is often translated as:
"two full years"
Thus JPS1917 translates this sentence as follows:
"And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed:
and, behold, he stood by the river." Genesis 41: 1
On my view, where all ages of people are set forth in terms of 6-month
"years" in this text, this odd phrasing is deliberately designed to alert us
to
the fact that periods of time in Egypt, where there never was any 6-month
"year"
concept, will be set forth in the text in terms of regular, 12-month years.
(This, despite the fact that all ages of persons will continue to be set
forth in terms of 6-month "years", on my controversial view.) This is the
very
first reference to a period of years in Egypt in the Patriarchal narratives.
1. How odd do you consider the phrase "two years of days" to be at Genesis
41: 1?
2. Would it make sense that this odd phrasing is deliberately designed to
let us know that periods of years in Egypt will be set forth in terms of
regular, 12-month years, whereas ages of all persons, including Joseph's
stated
age at Genesis 41: 46, will continue, as always, to be set forth in terms of
6-month "years"?
3. What I am really asking is a linguistic question, that is not dependent
on whether you give any substantial credence to my controversial theory of
the ages of people in the Patriarchal narratives. How odd and awkward, in
Biblical Hebrew, is the phrase "two years of days" at Genesis 41: 1?
Any help you (or anyone else) can give me on this linguistic matter would be
greatly appreciated.
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois



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