Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Stephen Shead <srshead+bh AT gmail.com>]

Lloyd,

You wrote:
'Also, in Genesis 1, the first preposition, b, should be translated as
temporal rather than locative as is so commonly done.  Thus, I would
interpret, "as a beginning, elohim created . . , not "in the beginning . .
."'

This is a miniscule point, but I think you have it the wrong way around: "in
the beginning" *is* a temporal translation of B, not a locative one, whereas
your translation doesn't render B either temporally or locatively.

Perhaps your confusion is with the word "in", whose most "basic" meaning
(shall we say) is a locative one. But in line with the human propensity to
interpret temporal experience by analogy with spatial experience, it also
has a very common and normal temporal sense ("during the time of"). So "in
the kitchen" uses the locative sense of "in", whereas "in the 16th century"
uses the temporal sense.

In the context of Gen 1:1, the preposition "in" in the phrase "in the
beginning" establishes a temporal relationship between "the beginning" and
"God created...".

But your translation does not render B temporally at all. The temporal bit
in your translation is the substantive "beginning" itself - R)$T - but the
prepositional relationship "as" is not temporal translation of B at all; it
means something like "by way of".

Stephen Shead
Centro de Estudios Pastorales
Santiago, Chile

2009/2/5 <b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org>

> From: LM Barre <l_barre AT yahoo.com>
> To: Ancient Bible History <AncientBibleHistory AT yahoogroups.com>, b-Hebrew
> <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
> Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2009 15:27:03 -0800 (PST)
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Hebrew considerations
> The interest in a consistent transliteration system for Hebrew leads me to
> think that this list, called "b-Hebrew," has an interest in the language.
> Perhaps I could offer some help on this topic with a brief discussion of the
> verbal system:
>
> There are seven basic stems in pairs of active and passive:
>
> Qal -Niphal
> Piel-Paul
> Hiphil-Hophal
> Hithpael is middle voice
>
> There is an active and passive participle
> qatol and qatul
>
> Also the infinitive construct.
>
> The stems are determined by reading the infix patterns.
>
> There is also the perfect and imperfect aspects.  This is not tense but
> archionsart or type of action.  The action is conceived as either complete
> or incomplete and may be applied to any tense.
>
> There is also waw consecutive with the first verb in a sequence determines
> the aspect of all verbs connected by the conjuction waw.
>
> The issue that might be open to discussion is whether or not we are right
> to see the qtl and yqtl forms as communication aspect rather that time of
> action.
>
> Also, in Genesis 1, the first preposition, b, should be translated as
> temporal rather than locative as is so commonly done.  Thus, I would
> interpret, "as a beginning, elohim created . . , not "in the beginning . .
> ."
>
> Lloyd Barré
> http://freewebs.com/lmbarre
>
>