Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Kenneth:

On Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 11:09 AM, kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Mr. Randolph,
>
>
>
> You said that Psalm 22:17-18 does not make sense as "because dogs have
> surrounded me, a company of evildoers has surrounded me like a lion, my
> hands and my feet..."
>
> There is no verb attached to “hands and feet”, not even an implied one.
This is an incomplete sentence.

“because dogs surround me, a congregation of those who cause displeasure
encircle me, they distort my hands and feet, I count all my bones, those who
look at me stare.”

That’s the translation one gets from the Nahal Heber scrap, which is the
same as I previously concluded should be correct based on the context,
syntax and sentence structure.

>


> You said that it needs a verb that you probably translate as "they have
> pierced my hands and my feet."
>
> Though that is the LXX reading, the verb seems to have the idea of
distorting, making unnatural in form.

>
>
> I think it could say " because dogs have surrounded me, a company of
> evildoers has surrounded me like a lion, my hands and my feet I will count,
> all of my bones they will see." This could fit in with Psalm 22:7 that says
> "I am a worm , and not a man." A worm does not have hands,feet, and bones.
> If he feels like a lion later, then poetically he could say he now has
> hands, feet, and bones. It is a wild guess, but it could be a possible
> explanation I think.
>
> You are collapsing contexts.

>
>
> It might be connected to Psalm 22:9 that might say "a heap is to the
> L-rd..." and Psalm 22:15 that says his bones have parted. When your bones
> separate, you can collapse into a heap and be like a worm without a
> structure to support your body. These are all wild guesses.
>
>
>
> Kenneth Greifer
>

Karl W. Randolph.

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