Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

David:

>From your response, I see that there are places where people will disagree
based on their understanding. How much are your responses based on the
Masoretic points, which I have found to be untrustworthy (similar to looking
at cognate languages, sometimes giving insights, usually unimportant,
sometimes can lead astray)? How much of your response is based on tradition?

רעע in my understanding has also an active meaning, “making displeasing”
which can be affected through breaking, marring, distorting, going bad, etc.

On Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 4:04 PM, David Kolinsky <yishalom AT sbcglobal.net>wrote:

>
> Karl:  For the most part, I also rely on the Tanakh to inform my
> understanding of Biblical Hebrew.
> So here is a list from the Tanakh
> 1b to shout (Is16:10)
>

So how does לא ירעע יין refer to shouting? From the context it sounds like
that wine won’t go bad because there won’t be any.


> 2b - Ra(a( (רעע) - to VIBRATE (move back and forth),
>           shatter / impair (Jr15:12) ,
>           be broken down (Jr15:12)(Jb34:24)
>

Where do you get VIBRATE (move back and forth) from? I have yet to find that
meaning anywhere. Especially not in these verses.

Jeremiah הירע ברזל ברזל מצפון ונחשת Here we recognize that steel is meant,
does not steel make displeasing (by breaking, disfiguring) steel from the
north and bronze?
Job ירע כבירים לא-חקר    ויעמד אחרים תחתם he makes displeasing (by breaking,
tearing, disfiguring) blankets without number (not investigated) and he
makes others take their place.


> 3a - Ra( (רע) - perception, thought  (Ps139:2,17)
>

2 אתה ידעת שבתי וקומי    בנתה לרעי מרחוק  you know my settling down and my
rising up, it is built up for my feeding from a distance. God knows so that
he can provide for us even from afar. I can see where you get your
understanding, but I question it, yet at the same time I am not happy with
how I understand it. Neither are smooth from the Hebrew. For your reading,
this is not the normal second person singular in a context full of normal
second person singular verbs. Are there any alternate readings for this
verse? The LXX follows your understanding.

17 ולי—מה-יקרו רעיך אל    מה עצמו ראשיהם how precious to me are your
neighbors God, how numerically mighty are their heads ? I.e. those who
surround God are precious and mighty (angels?).

>
> 3b - Ra(aH (רעה) - to welcome, befriend, desire, take delight in, enjoy
>        MaR(aH   companion (Jd14:20); to enjoy (Ps37:3)
>

Judges 14:20 ותהי אשת שמשון למרעהו אשר רעה לו and Samson’s woman became to
his friend who was a neighbor to him (better translation: Samson’s wife
became his neighbor and friend’s wife)
Psalm 37:3  בטח ביהוה ועשה-טוב    שכן-ארץ ורעה אמונה  have confidence in the
LORD and do that which is pleasing, dwell the land and feed on
trustworthiness (faith) where I see poetic use of words in parallel with
having confidence in the LORD. This is not a literal, physical feeding on,
rather indicating where spiritual strength comes from.

>
>
> Cordially,
>
> David Kolinsky
> Monterey CA
>

I still don’t see where 1b, 2b and 3b can be substantiated, and 3a I find
questionable. One verse that can be questioned is hardly a proof.

There is another verb, ירע YR( that we haven’t discussed so far in this
interchange, which has the meaning of flapping in the wind, from which
curtain is derived. Some of the conjugations of that verb are identical (in
an unpointed text) to some conjugations from R(( and R(H.

Karl W. Randolph.