Biblical Hebrew Forum

[James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>]

Hi,

2009/9/23 K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>

> James:
>
> On Wed, Sep 23, 2009 at 4:40 AM, James Christian
> >
> > 4) I looked at Isaiah 44:9. As far as I can see you are referring to this
> > phrase: יצרי פסל כלם תהו Is this talking about the idols? Or the people
> > who make them?
> >
> > I read this verse in the context of the verses that precede it, so I do
> not
> see the first word, יצרי, as a participle “those who fashion (make)” rather
> as a noun “that which is fashioned (into an idol)”.
>
>
Ok. I'm going to look into this a bit more.


>
> > 5) I also took a look at Isaiah 45:18. I guess I can see your point but
> am
> > not entirely sure if THW is meant to be understood as having the opposite
> > meaning of inhabited in this phrase. None of the ancient translations
> seem
> > to hint at any lifeless quality of THW.
> >
> > I suspect this is one of those words that already its meaning was unclear
> by the time of the LXX. For example, the translator of Isaiah did not
> translate it in 24:10, translated it as “deserted” 34:11, as “empty (in the
> same way as empty, idle talk)” 44:9, 59:4, as “empty (poured out, emptied)”
> 45:18. In Jeremiah 4:23 it is translated as “nothing”.
>
> This is why I treat translations as useful, but not authoritative.
>
>
I didn't mean to suggest that translations are authoritative. However,
looking at your summary of translations it is easy to see the semantic
overlap in the words selected by the translators. Of course, it is
unrealistic to expect the translators to have used one word consistently as
they would have made an attempt, in each individual case, to select the
Greek word which best fits the Greek idiom.

James Christian


>
> > James Christian
>
>
> Karl W. Randolph.
> _______________________________________________
> b-hebrew mailing list
> b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
>