Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Steve:

On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 8:06 PM, Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: K Randolph Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2008 7:19 PM
> > To: b-hebrew
> > Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] sheeth in Ps 73:6
> >
> > Steve:
> > Are you sure that's a noun? Does not the context indicate that it should
> > be a verb?
> [Steve Miller] That was my first thought, that this was the verb "sheeth",
> meaning "set", "appoint" or as you say "put on". I noticed it because I had
> just finished working on Psalm 21, which in a short Psalm, uses that verb 4
> times. But I thought that the verb could not work here because Shin-Yod-Tav
> is the imperative (2ms), which could not fit in here.
> >
>
Not necessarily an imperative. In fact, this is an ayen yod verb, so that
the unpointed text can have this as a third person singular.

>
> > The unpointed text can be read in more than one way and because it is
> > poetry, it is hard to tell which is the right way. Especially when the
> > context is not that clear.
> >
> > For example, who is the "he" for (+P to droop, hence to enfeeble? Is that
> > not God?
> [Steve Miller] I thought that the subject of (+P was "hamas", "violence" or
> as you translate, "unfairness".
>

That is unfairness that can include violence, but not all uses of it seem to
include violence.

That depends if (+P is connected to the first or second part of the verse.
If to the second, ... it doesn't really make sense, though $YT would then be
a noun meaning "putting forth, setting up" still spelled the same way. Then
the verb in the first section would be (NQ "to ornament" which doesn't fit
the context of the previous verses. If only there were a native speaker to
clear this up!!!

>
> >
> > "Therefore their ornamentation which is haughty he enfeebles, he puts
> > forth unfairness for them."
> >
> > Yes, $YT can mean weeds, such as thistles, but does it fit the context?
> > $YT
> > can also be a verb, third person, to put forth, put on. I do not know a
> > single case where it can mean garment, clothing.
> [Steve Miller] It doesn't make sense to me either that it means "clothing".
> How would you translate Prov 7:10? That is the only other place where most
> translations render it "clothing".
>

There I understand it as a noun referring to the action of putting forth of
a prostitute, the brazen act of propositioning a client.

>
> >
> > This is a difficult verse, I don't blame you for asking about it.
> [Steve Miller] Thanks Karl. I am also struggling with a later verse in this
> Psalm, which I think is even harder than this one. I'll be sending it out
> shortly.
> -Steve Miller
> Detroit
> >
> > Karl W. Randolph.
>

Thanks again for bringing this up. I had to go over it again and again,
what's the verb, subject, object, back and forth as I debated it, before I
was finally able to put forth the little translation I wrote you above. A
frustrating but fun challenge.

Thanks, Karl W. Randolph.