Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] BWR

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • To: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] BWR
  • Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:11:31 +0200

Dear Pere,

BWR does indeed mean "pit", but mostly with the specific meaning of "water-hole" or "cistern". The fact that Gen. 37:24 takes the trouble of informing us that the BWR into which Joseph was tossed was dry means that we would otherwise assume that he would be in danger of drowning. However, I don't think that biblical Hebrew is all that rigid in its definitions. B)R (be'er - bet aleph resh) means "well". But if you look at 2 Sam. 23:15, there we have a B)R which is vocalized as "bor", as indeed it is spelled in the parallel 1 Chr. 11:17. So was the water of Bethlehem drawn from a "well" or from a "cistern"?

Yigal Levin


----- Original Message ----- From: <pporta AT oham.net>
To: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>; "B-Hebrew" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 6:56 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ecc 12:6: BWR


Yes, Karl, BWR is "pit" rather than "well".
Now, RCC means "to crush", not "to broke". But "WNRC", the word before
HGLGL, has often be
translated as "break" and not as "crush".
And so, KJ writes:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the
pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

So, be so kind to excuse the mistake I made at writing about broken pieces
of the wheel (which pieces would fall into the pit). If I understand you
well, it is the whole wheel which is crushed and falls down into the pit.

Pere Porta





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page