Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jim:

On Tue, Feb 24, 2009 at 6:46 AM, <JimStinehart AT aol.com> wrote:

>
> George Athas:
>
> You wrote:  “I don't know where you are getting this all from, Jim. It
> doesn't seem to represent what we know of NW Semitic linguistics at all. If
> you
> consistently change the inherent value of a Semitic consonant, you can make
> a text
> say whatever you like.”
>
> I agree with that last statement.  That is why I strongly disapprove of the
> English translations of I Samuel 6: 18 that change )BL to )BN, thereby
> changing
> “meadow” (or “a long, narrow tract of land”) to “stone”.
>

Seeing as the pointing is late, you have to consider the possibility that
the pointing is wrong, rather what the text says is, “that it is a witness
of the great mourning …”

Here is one place where one has to be careful about the context: just
because the previous use of (D just three words earlier means “up to”, “down
to” or “to”, does not follow that the next use has the same meaning. To
insist that it does violates Hebrew use.

As for )BL meaning “meadow”, I see no evidence for that claim. Rather it
refers to a watercourse, such as an irrigation ditch, also written as )WBL,
that is when it does not refer to the act of mourning.

>
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>

Karl W. Randolph.