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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:8 simple past or pluperfect?

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  • From: James Christian <jc.bhebrew AT googlemail.com>
  • To: Ralph Candlish <bro.ralph AT googlemail.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Genesis 2:8 simple past or pluperfect?
  • Date: Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:40:02 +0200

Hi,

we've discussed verb forms in general many times here. I don't know if
you've read any of the many times we've discussed it. The general gist of
the conclusion that many of have come to is that the verb form itself is not
really indicative of what verb form to translate with into English and you
need to use other contextual clues to make the decision.

In any case, I get the feeling that this question is driven by some kind of
criticism of the supposed incoherency between the first and second accounts
in Genesis?

James Christian

2010/1/10 Ralph Candlish <bro.ralph AT googlemail.com>

> The King James reads
>
> "And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put
> the man whom he had formed."
>
> The New International Version reads
>
> "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there
> he put the man he had formed."
>
> It is argued that the presence of the waw consecutive indicates that
> the planting of Eden was temporally successive to the creation of Adam
> and not prior as the pluperfect in the NIV could allow.
>
> (1) Can anyone explain from the text itself the rational behind some
> translators prefering the pluperfect?
> (2) Does the use of the pluperfect necessarily impy a paragraph break?
>
> Many thanks,
>
> Ralph Candlish
> London
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