Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>]

Dear Steve,

only a remark.
"kol ma'yanay bakh" ---- I think this would better be translated as "all my
thoughts (are) in you" > All my mind is on you.

Noun 'ma'yan' has two meanings: 'spring' and 'thought'.
In Psa 74:15 it clearly means 'spring'. But here, in Psa 87:7, its meaning
is 'thought'.

This is what I think.

Pere Porta

2010/10/4 Steve Miller <smille10 AT sbcglobal.net>

> I have a number of questions on this puzzling psalm. Here are the 2
> biggest:
>
> *Q1 - v3 Glorious things are spoken of Thee, O city of God. Selah
> The problem is that the verb  "are spoken", מְדֻבָּ֣ר, is 3ms, but the
> supposed subject נִ֭כְבָּדוֹת is fem. plural.
> I think this means that the "glorious things" are not what is being spoken
> but rather describes the speaking.
>
> Song of Songs 8:8 is similar: ... what shall we do for our sister in the
> day when she shall be spoken for?
> מַֽה־נַּעֲשֶׂה֙ לַאֲחֹתֵ֔נוּ בַּיּ֖וֹם שֶׁיְּדֻבַּר־בָּֽהּ
>
> Here the same passive verb דבר  is 3ms followed by the same preposition ב
> and the subject "our sister" (by way of the relative pronoun) is fem.
> singular. This mismatch between subject and verb is because it is not the
> sister who is being spoken, but it is a marriage proposal that is the thing
> spoken.
>
> 1 Sam 25:39 also uses DBR followed by B preposition for marriage proposal.
> Here the verb is active and 3ms agrees with the subject "David".
>
> I think the meaning of Ps 87:3 is, "Glorious is your being spoken for" or
> "Glorious is your courtship".
>
> Is this reasonable?
>
>
> *Q2 - v7 - And singers like dancers (?), all my springs are in thee.
> The big problem for me is how to translate כְּחֹלְלִ֑ים. It is translated
> as either dancers based on root חול or pipers based on root חָלִיל, both of
> which seem like guesses to me.
> Another problem is how to translate the כ preposition. Most translate it
> "as well as", but I don't think כ can have that meaning. Normally it just
> means "like".
> Another problem is how to handle there being no verb there.
>
> I think the most straightforward way to translate כְּחֹלְלִ֑ים would be
> "like slain ones" as in the following psalm 88:6, where the full
> preposition, כְּמ֤וֹ, is used instead of just the prefix.
>
> So I would translate it as: "And [the] singers [are] like slain ones. All
> my springs are in thee.
>
> Comments?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> -Steve Miller
> Detroit
> www.voiceInWilderness.info <http://www.voiceinwilderness.info/>
> As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am
> a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene. - Albert
> Einstein (1879-1955)
>
>
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-- 
Pere Porta
"Ei nekrói ouk eguéirontai, fágomen kai píomen áurion gar apothnéskomen"
(1Cor 15:32)