Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

George:

On Fri, Jan 11, 2013 at 6:17 PM, George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au> wrote:

NP$ as a verb has the basic idea of breathing as in being alive, to take a breather, to revive. As a noun it refers to all of these activities. I translate the noun as “life” knowing full well that the English word nowhere comes close to all the nuances carried by the Hebrew NP$.

Karl, here's a quick list of other occurrences I came up with to whet your נפשׁ.

• Exodus 15.9

My life will be filled… speaking of pharaoh and his soldiers who were thinking that they would make their lives more full with captives and treasure.

 

• Isaiah 56.11

“dogs strong of life” i.e. lively

 

• Jeremiah 22.27; 44.14;

“lifting up their lives” i.e. making an effort

 

• 50.19

“fill their lives”

 

• Ezekiel 24.25 (though this has more the sense of desire, rather appetite specifically)

Again the phrase of lifting up a life, i.e. putting in the effort. This is probably the closest of all the verses here, in that it’s used in parallel to desire of a specific person or thing, but even here “appetite” is not a necessary understanding of the word in its context.

 

• Hosea 4.8

“lifting up a life” making an effort towards their perversions

 

• Proverbs 6.30;

to fill a life that’s empty because he’s hungry.

 

• 23.2;

master of his own life

 

• 28.25 (though this is broader, probably greed); 

“broad of life” i.e. imposing his will on others

Unless you are using “appetite” in a way that I have never seen anyone before use it, not once in these verses does “appetite” fit. I don’t see from where you get this idea that it means “appetite” in these verses.

GEORGE ATHAS

Dean of Research,

Moore Theological College (moore.edu.au)

Sydney, Australia

Karl W. Randolph. 

From: K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, 12 January 2013 2:38 AM
To: George Athas <george.athas AT moore.edu.au>
Cc: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Ecclesiastes 6:9 ³better than going ??²

George:

Do you have other verses where NP$ means “appetite”? One time uses of a meaning for a term can end up making a term undefined.

Karl W. Randolph.

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