Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Cherney,Kenneth" <cherneyk AT wls.wels.net>]

When LXX (en kairwi) construes it as related to 't, "time,” in my opinion the 
translator was guessing.  I agree that it is a (maybe dialectical) variant of 
 ‘ws,  “to come and help.”  The t/s interchange is common(both are 
alveolars), and the meaning appears again in MHeb and fits the Isaiah context 
well.  I’ll stipulate, however, that Joel 4:11 isn’t strong support.  

Personally I find a derivation from “to answer” less convincing, since it 
seems to require a sort of combination of consonant confusion and 
haplography, and it's less clear why the "weary" would need "answering" 
rather than "helping."


Ken Cherney