Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Jan Pieter:

The answer you’ll be given depends on the beliefs of the answerer.

Those who believe modern secular religion’s answer to the religious question
of origins, namely evolution (including those who accept theistic
evolution), will look for an animal that is presently living or very
recently gone extinct.

Those who accept the Biblical answer as historic, that God created the earth
in six days and all the animals, including many now extinct such as
dinosaurs, at the same time. Hence he will cast his net more widely to
include animals not commonly known today. Such was the KJV, at a time when
“dragons” were still reported as living creatures, “dragon” being a class of
animals that included carnivores, herbivores, some of which also flew.
Because “dragons” included so many different types of animals, “tannim” is
virtually undefined by use of “dragon” in translation.

I’m not going to tell you which answer to believe, just lay out different
options that are on the table.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 1:30 AM, JP van de Giessen <vdgiessen AT solcon.nl>wrote:

> In modern translations of Isaiah 13:22 ṯannîm is translated as Jackals
> while
> in older translations as Dragons. Is there a specific reason for Jackal. Is
> it
> possible to translate instead of "dragon" ie. a "reptile", which could be a
> crocodile.
>
> This verse is about Babel and in the 2 rivers Euphrates and Tigris there
> are
> crocodiles like the Crocodylus palustris which has the habit to live and
> hunt
> on land. Further I've seen several reports this crocodile lived in
> desolated
> cities. So is it possible to translate ṯannîm in this verse with crocodile?
>
> Jan Pieter van de Giessen
> http://www.bijbelaantekeningen.nl/blog/
>