Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Kenneth:

What you are running into is an example of where Hebrew grammar and ways of
saying things has no exact equivalent in English, rather the English way of
saying the same idea is quite different.

In each of these cases, the subject of the verb follows the infinitive verb,
and that is true not only of the verb “to be” as can be seen in your Isaiah
2:4 example. In each of these cases, the idea is “for the purpose of …”

Now, there are better ways of translating that …

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM, kenneth greifer <greifer AT hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> I asked about Malachi 2:4 "I sent to you this commandment to be My covenant
> with Levi" or "for the being of My covenant with Levi", but I guess I could
> have looked up the verb myself.
>
>  In 2 Kings 15:19, I think it says  a king paid another king "to be his
> hands with him..." or maybe "for the being of his hands with him."
>
>  1 Kings 8:16 says G-d did not choose to build a house "to be His name
> there" or "for the being of His name there."
>
>  Isaiah 10:2 "...to be widows their prey (their spoil)" sounds better as
> "...for the being of widows their prey (their spoil)".
>
>  I guess in these examples, the verb is used as "for being of" and not "to
> be".  WHo  knows for sure though.
>
> Kenneth Greifer