Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

The misunderstanding is due, methinks, to the fact that XOM, 'heat',  
that elusive addition to the body, is just one on the different words  
derived from the root XM, which essentially means 'augment'. Indeed,  
XOMAH, 'wall', has nothing to do with heat, XUM, 'brown?' has nothing  
to do with heat, XEM)AH, 'butter', has nothing to do with heat, XAM,  
'father-in-law' has nothing to do with heat, YIXUM, 'passion', has  
nothing to do with heat; and likewise XEMAH, 'anger', needs have  
nothing to do with heat.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jan 19, 2009, at 4:46 PM, Oun Kwon wrote:

> Thanks Bill,
>
> If I may phrase out my original question, it would be like this:
>
> Should I understand it as 'he got heated up' or 'he got angry'. The
> immediate context suggests (at least to me) the former. But I got
> disappointed to see that most translations choose the latter. Making
> it clear, it leaves the question unsolved - If angry, then angry about
> what? Is the translation influenced by the preceding word 'bitterness'
> - bitter, thus becoming angry? How about taking as 'bitter - then he
> got charged to face his task'?
>
> I see two concepts are simply far apart.
>
> Oun Kwon.
>
> On Mon, Jan 19, 2009 at 3:30 PM, Bill Rea  
> <bill.rea AT canterbury.ac.nz> wrote:
> > Oun wrote:,_
> >
> > > I can see that. The problem I have is that these two are not  
> > > similar at all.
> > >
> > > When I read, there is nothing I can spot to help me about its  
> > > context,
> > > though some commentaries say that he was angry about the situation
> > > around.
> > >
> > > But is it true to the context? Is there anything in the text to tell
> > > me which fits the context well? (Of course, I have not spent time to
> > > read whole chapter and chapter before and after, where I may find  
> > > it.)
> >
> > The problem is not that we have words with unclear meaning or thorny
> > questions of syntax and grammar but that we have a lack of shared
> > experience. This verse comes at the end of Ezekiel's vision and he is
> > describing his state during that time. Few people have experienced  
> > visions
> > so its very difficult for us to grasp how he feels. The more  
> > closely literal
> > translations have it easier, the word in question can validly be  
> > taken as an
> > equivalent to the English heat and so they just run with that.  
> > They leave
> > the job of understanding what it means to the reader. For the dynamic
> > equivalence type translations they have a more difficult job. The  
> > burden of
> > understanding the text is placed more heavily on the translators.  
> > There are
> > other places in the Hebrew Bible where this word is used and it is  
> > used to
> > mean anger elsewhere. As you rightly observe, this doesn't  
> > necessarily help
> > us because the question is -- what is he angry about? Its possible  
> > he has
> > taken on the anger of God. God is angry with Israel, Ezekiel is being
> > appointed a prophet and so is filled with God's anger after the  
> > vision. Its
> > plausible that is what he means, but that's about as far as we can  
> > go. I
> > looked at some other translations, one used the word raging. I  
> > thought that
> > was quite good because raging can take on a meaning that doesn't have
> > anything to do with anger, eg a raging fire. So the range of  
> > translations
> > you see are a reflection of a difficulty in understanding the  
> > verse rather
> > than the individual words having an unclear meaning like you might  
> > get with
> > a hapax.
> >
> > I haven't translated this passage myself but after a short look at  
> > it and
> > what others have done I would probably stick with heat as my English
> > equivalent. It can easily be justified. My second choice would be  
> > raging.
> > I think translating it as anger, or fury, or rage is too limiting  
> > and I
> > would not use those words myself.
> >
> > Bill Rea Ph.D.,
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