Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Steve Miller" <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>]

Karl & Yigal,
I don't think that works with the verb placed between "sun" and "his going".

If you are going to make the subject YHWH, then the pronoun suffix on the
last word in the verse, מְבוֹאֽוֹ, "his going" would mean YHWH's going, not
the sun's, which doesn't make sense. If the subject of the verb were to be
YHWH, then "sun" should be adjacent to "his going".

Richard,
Like English, the pronoun's antecedent is generally the closest preceding
one that makes sense. So the antecedent of "his" in "his going" is the sun.
If the writer wanted "his going" to refer to the moon's, then I think he
should start the sentence with "his going" so that it could refer back to
the moon.

Sincerely,
-Steve Miller
Detroit
www.voiceInWilderness.info
TV article about my Dad for teaching math for 75 years and still teaching.
http://www.wbaltv.com/education/23857145/detail.html

> From: K Randolph Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2010 10:58 PM
> 
> Richard:
> 
> Look at the context, starting from the first verse. Who is the subject
> of the sentences? Is it the same subject throughout the psalm? Is it
> the same subject in this verse?
> 
> My reading is that it is the same subject, and that is YHWH.
> 
> He made the moon, he knows where the sun goes.
> 
> You need to keep the context in mind whenever you read Tanakh. It also
> makes it a lot easier to understand.
> 
> Karl W. Randolph.

> From: Yigal Levin Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2010 6:15 PM
> 
> Hi Richard,
> 
> I don't think that the grammar can prove one way or another, although
> the usual parallelism of biblical poetry would have the moon and the
> sun play equal roles.
> 
> I would actually assume that the subject of the first part, "He" (=God)
> is also the subject of the second:
> God made the moon... God knows the sun...
> 
> 
> Yigal Levin
> 
> On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 3:05 PM, Richard <aaa AT endlyss.com> wrote:
> 
> > Psalm 104:19 "He made the moon for appointed times; The sun knows its
> > (his) going down."
> >
> > The sun knows its (the sun's own) going down?
> >
> > or
> >
> > The sun knows the moon's going down (moonset)?
> >
> > How does the grammar work here? Is it cut and dried as to meaning one
> > way or the other?
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Richard Conaway