Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Ishinan" <ishinan AT comcast.net>]

John Mark Butzu wrote:

Hi there.  I was unable to find the list of how to properly post so I hope 
you will excuse my errors (if there are any).  My question deal with the 
text of Leviticus 20:17 and the third word laqach...  (I am
not sure how to properly transliterate this yet).  Does this context suggest 
or imply "rape" or is it traditionally thought to mean something less 
aggressive?


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Proto- Semitic * lqH.  has the primary sense of impregnation. Hence the 
Hebrew "lqkh" does not mean to rape or to take in marriage, but simply to 
impregnate.  In other Semitic languages the term can also be used in the 
sense of fecundating palm trees.

Ishinan Ishibashi