Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Just thinking aloud, here:

Is it possible that there is an underlying common sense to the word BRK which 
covers both 'bless' and 'curse'? Perhaps its most basic meaning is 'to make a 
big statement about someone or something'. This neutral meaning could then be 
taken either positively ('bless') or negatively ('curse') in the context. 
This would mean that there is not necessarily any scribal emendation involved 
in Job 1.11.

I'm not aware of any particular support for this surmise. I figure there 
would need to be cognate evidence to support it. Can anyone confirm or deny 
it?


Regards,

GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au