Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Will Parsons <wbparsons AT alum.mit.edu>]

Hello Eliot,

On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 12:54:10 -0800, "Eliot Fintushel" <show AT fintushel.com> 
wrote:
> I'm a student of biblical Hebrew, building on my rudimentary
> childhood familiarity, and a dramatist--I'm preparing an ensemble
> piece, in Hebrew and English, with lots of movement, for dancers and
> actors. Part of our text comes from Job, and I'm trying to
> understand it as well as I can . . .
> 
> I notice that the Hebrew word ordinarily translated as"bless" here
> seems to mean its opposite--curse. I know that lots of people have
> commented on this over the centuries. Can you tell me what your take
> is on this, or what is the current consensus, if any? In particular,
> is it simply a scribal obfuscation, a matter of substituting a less
> offensive word, or is this use of ברך not unique to Job, or does it
> possibly point to something deeper?

The usual explanation is that indeed it is substitution of an
offensive word (in context).  I'm not entirely happy with this
explanation, but I cannot offer an alternative.

-- 
William Parsons
μη φαινεσθαι, αλλ' ειναι.