Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

It is true that the translators are inconsistent and use different words for
different contexts, but that is only natural. The semantic meanings of words
in different languages do not always match. I'll give you another example -
the word "Ruah" (RWX) in Hebrew means both "wind" and "spirit". The
relationship is obvious, and the translator must choose which English term
is more appropriate for the context. So in Gen. 1:2, the King James Version
has "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters", while the New
Revised version has "while a wind from God swept over the face of the
waters". Which is correct? Is the Hebrew purposely ambiguous, which the
English can't really convey? In English, "spirit" also means "an alcoholic
drink", but Hebrew Ruah never has this meaning. 

So the video is correct in explaining that the Hebrew "Shahah" ($XH or SWX)
does mean "to prostate" and that the translators in this case made a choice
to use "worship" to convey "prostration" before God and "honor" (or
whatever) to convey "prostration" before a human. So far so good. There
really is no Hebrew word which has the same semantic range as English
"worship". However I'm sure that other translations do differently, and the
rest of the video is rather manipulative in itself. 


Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
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Sent: Monday, November 30, 2009 2:52 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] b-hebrew Digest, Vol 83, Issue 24

You do not agree with the video?
How can I understand when no one agrees. How can I help others understand?
He makes his video enjoyable. Why cant some of you make video's like this? I
want to catch up and understand.
no name Sorry I forgot.
Eva Ritsema