Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Edward Andrews" <edandrews AT roadrunner.com>]

To all:

Gen 2:18: Rmxyv hvhy myhlx xl bvF Mdxh vdbl

Lit., and he is saying Jehovah God not good to be of the human to alone of him

 

ASV: And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone;

 

ESV: Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone;

 

NASB: Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone;

 

HCSB: Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone.

 

And Jehovah God went on to say: "It is not good for the man to continue by 
himself.

 

Which is more reflective of the original Hebrew and why? I know the ASV, ESV, 
NASB and the HCSB Bibles are literal, thus they reflect the interlinear 
level. However, is the unnamed translation within or outside of being 
acceptable and why?

 

My reason for asking is this: does this verse and its context allow for the 
idea that God is saying that Adam is lonely, thus this is what moved Him to 
step in, maybe even before he finished the task of naming the animals, and 
create Adam's complement?

 

Second question, it appears that Adam named the animals based on the 
character and makeup up of the animals (the horse sus, the bull shohr, the 
sheep seh, the goat ?ez, a bird ?ohph, the dove yoh·nah´, the peacock 
tuk·ki´, the lion 'ar·yeh´ or 'ari´, the bear dov, the ape qohph, the dog 
ke´lev, the serpent na·chash´, and so on), which implies that Adam took his 
time to study each different animal. In other words, God simply did not 
gather all of the animals in a big line to rush them past Adam, to accomplish 
the naming all in one day.

 

Am I off base in considering that Adam had grown lonely, which could hardly 
be the case in 24 hours?

 

Edward Andrews