Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Ishinan,

What do you mean by "The official translation according to the Masoretic 
Text"? Whose translation? What makes it "official"? Any translation is an 
interpretation. I don’t know which translation you were quoting, but it's 
anything but a literal translation of the Hebrew. For example, there is no 
word in the Hebrew that corresponds to "open". 

I am not taking sides as to how the ancient Hebrews envisioned the sky. There 
have been good arguments on both (or all) sides. I'm not even sure that 
different writers didn't have different views. But please at least quote the 
text as it is, not as someone thinks that it should be.

Yigal Levin

-----Original Message-----
From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org 
[mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Ishnian
Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2012 8:33 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Cc: George.Athas AT moore.edu.au
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] A VISUAL EXPRESSION OF A THEOLOGICAL IDEA OF THE 
SKY/HEAVEN

The official translation of  Gen 1:20
According to the Masoretic Text


      כ  וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים--יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה; 
וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל-הָאָרֶץ, עַל-פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם. 20 And God
said: 'Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly 
above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.'


If the fowl flies over 'the surface' of the firmament, are you then 
suggesting that the fowl is flying through a solid matter or in the air? 
BTW, your interpretation does not match the official translation above, which 
is according to the Masoretic text . Besides pn' can be used in a great 
variety of applications one of them is being  'empty' or 'open' which would 
make more sense.

Sorry for disagreeing.


Ishinan Ishibashi