Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Just recall that $XR is like $QR, 'obscure'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 25, 2009, at 9:54 AM, JimStinehart AT aol.com wrote:

> Karl:
>
> You wrote:  “I can’t remember off the top of my head any time that $XR
> specifically refers to “black”. It refers to darkness, such as just  
> before dawn,
> which is said to ascend like a blanket from the land when the light  
> appears,
> but I can’t remember any time that it refers to “black”.”
>
> A.  Lexicons
>
> HALOT:  “to become black” [except, that is, when referencing Egypt]
>
> Gesenius:  “to be or become black”
>
> BDB:  “be black…and deriv., black, blackness, etc.”
>
> Strong’s:  “be black” or “black”
>
> B.  Translations of Job 30: 30
>
> As I noted in my first post on this thread, $XR at Job 30: 30 means  
> “black”.
>  Here are 8 mainstream translations of Job 30: 30, all of which  
> translate $XR
> as “black” or “blackened”.  I myself know of no translation of $XR  
> at Job
> 30: 30 to the contrary.
>
> 1.  New International Version:
> “My skin grows black and peels”
>
> 2.  KJV:
> “My skin is black upon me”
>
> 3.  ESV:
> “My skin turns black and falls from me”
>
> 4.  American Standard Version:
> “My skin is black, and falleth from me”
>
> 5.  Young’s Literal Translation
> “My skin hath been black upon me”
>
> 6.  Darby:
> “My skin is become black [and falleth] off me”
>
> 7.  JPS1917:
> “My skin is black, and falleth from me”
>
>
> 8.  JPS2003:
> “My skin, blackened, is peeling off me”
>
> C.  Translations of Leviticus 13: 31, 37
>
> All mainstream translations that I know of see $XR at Leviticus 13:  
> 31, 37 as
> an adjective meaning “black”, re “black” hair.
>
> 1.  New International Version:
> “black hair”
>
> 2.  KJV:
> “black hair”
>
> 3.  ESV:
> “black hair”
>
> 4.  American Standard Version:
> “black hair”
>
> 5.  Young’s Literal Translation
> “black hair”
>
> 6.  Darby:
> “black hair”
>
> 7.  JPS1917:
> “black hair”
>
> 8.  JPS2003:
> “black hair”
>
> D.  Summary
>
> Can all the lexicons, and all the translations, be wrong in viewing  
> $XR at
> Job 30: 30 and at Leviticus 13: 31, 37 as meaning “black”?  If you  
> want, we
> could go on to review $XR as meaning “black” at Song of Songs 1:  
> 5;  5: 11, and
> Zecariah 6: 2, 6.
>
> The problem only comes in, you see, when the Bible appears to refer  
> to Egypt
> as “Black”.  No Western scholar will permit that.  No Western  
> scholar can
> stand the thought that the Bible might ever refer to Egypt by  
> referencing the
> fertile, “black” earth along the Nile River in Egypt, calling Egypt  
> “Black”,
> just as the Egyptians called their own country “Black”/Kemet.  That  
> is the
> reason why HALOT makes the absurd claim that $XR at Isaiah 23: 3 is  
> not a Hebrew
> word at all, but rather is an  E-g-y-p-t-i-a-n  phrase meaning  
> “pond of Horus”
> .  No way!
>
> But Western scholars do not deny that $XR at Job 30: 30 and at  
> Leviticus 13:
> 31, 37 means “black”.
>
> Jim Stinehart
> Evanston, Illinois
>
> **************Feeling the pinch at the grocery store?  Make dinner  
> for $10 or
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