Biblical Hebrew Forum

[kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com>]

Steve, 
 
Thank you for answering my posting. I think you and I are understanding what 
I wrote differently.
 
> 1. You are using mi as a relative pronoun whose antecedent is the Lord of
> hosts. Mi is never used as a relative pronoun. The examples you give are
> cases where mi has the meaning of "whoever", which is not a relative
> pronoun. "Whoever" does not take an antecedent. It is a pronoun, but not a
> relative pronoun.

 
I guess I should have written "whoever" instead of "who". I thought "who" 
could also be understood as "whoever". The L-rd of hosts is not who "mi" is 
referring to.
 
> 
> 2. You are taking "et" to mean "with" connecting 2 nouns. Can you give me an
> example of where "et" means "with"? Can you give me an example where "et"
> links 2 nouns by supplying the meaning "with"?

 
I just assumed "et" could mean "with" in this quote because it is translated 
as "with" in some quotes. I don't know if there are any special rules for how 
it is used.
 
> 
> 3. The 1st translation makes "My Spirit", The Lord of host's Spirit,
> something negative. 
> 
I don't understand what you mean. I was trying to say that the quote might 
say "not in power, and not in might, but in My spirit, says the L-rd of 
hosts, whoever is with the great mountain (in spirit) before Zerubbabel is to 
a plain (in spirit)". It sounds better to me as "whoever is with the great 
mountain (in spirit) is to a plain (in spirit) before Zerubbabel."
 

> 4. I don't understand the 2nd translation. It adds the word "Me" after
> "before", but "Me" isn't there.

"Not in power and not in might, but in My spirit, whoever is with the great 
mountain (in spirit) before Me, Zerubbabel, is to a plain (in spirit)." I 
thought in this quote "before" could say "before Me" and be about Zerubbabel 
as the one with the big mountain (large amount of spirit) and whoever is with 
him is to a plain in spirit (small or no spirit).
> 
> 5. The unamended text makes fine sense. The thing that God will do will not
> be by an army, nor by strength, but by His Spirit. A mountain is a very big
> difficulty in the way. What is the problem with the common translation?
> 
I don't think the words actually say what the translation usually says. Do 
you think the words actually say what the translation says? There are better 
educated people who could answer this than us, but they are probably busy or 
not interested in this discussion.

Kenneth Greifer

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