Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

George:

On Mon, Sep 3, 2012 at 9:36 PM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>wrote:

> Ishinan wrote:
>
> > THE FIRMAMENT IS AN OPEN SPACE NOT A SOLID MATTER
> >
> > Gen 1:20 And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the
> > moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the
> > earth in the OPEN firmament of heaven.
>
> Actually, this is not correct. You've mistranslated the Hebrew expression
> עַל־פְּנֵ֖י רְקִ֥יעַ הַשָּׁמָֽיִם. The expression is literally "over the
> surface of the firmament of the sky". In particular, the expression
> עַל־פְּנֵ֖י implies something that has a surface.
>

Genesis 11:28 Haran died ”upon the face” of Terakh.
Genesis 16:12 “…and he will dwell upon the face of all his brothers.”
Genesis 23:3 “Abraham rose from upon the face of his dead…”
Genesis 23:19, 25:9, 18, 32:22 (21 in English), 49:30, Exodus 20:3,
Leviticus 10:3, Numbers 3:4, 21:11, 33:7 and many other verses indicate
that עַל־פְּנֵ֖י doesn’t necessarily imply something that has a surface. It
refers to “before” both spatially and time, also “among”, “in the presence
of”, “next to” hence Genesis 1:20 can be correctly translated as “flying
animals (not limited to birds) flying in the expanse of the sky”

>
> …
>
> GEORGE ATHAS
> Dean of Research,
> Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)
> Sydney, Australia
>
>
> Karl W. Randolph.