Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com>]

Karl,

I think that MHLK in Ecc 6:9 is quite parallel to MHLK in Nm 22:16. And concerning NP$, if it were a Niphal, we should rather think of NP$W in Nah 3:18 as something to compare with.
But in my opinion NP$ is simply, here, a noun that depends on HLK.
Now, the core of the entire question is: What does HLK-NP$ mean in Cohelet's mind?
I feel myself not enough ready and prepared to give a sure answer to this question. 
And that's why we find such translations of this verse as (for instance):
KJV ------  Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire
NAS ------- What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. 
BBE -----  What the eyes see is better than the wandering of desire. 

What Cohelet surely says is that MR)H (NYM is better than HLK NP$.
I'm afraid I cannot help you very much.

Friendly,

Pere Porta

2013/1/14 K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>

Pere:

No I didn’t say “must be”, rather I said might be, and appears to be so. So unless a good argument from context proves that it isn’t, I’m leafing that open as a possibility.

So what contextual clues are you using to say that it isn’t?

Karl W. Randolph.

On Sun, Jan 13, 2013 at 11:39 AM, Pere Porta <pporta7 AT gmail.com> wrote:

Karl,

 

after all the posts you, me and other list members have sent on the issue HLK-NP$ in Ecc 6:9, are you still thinking that NP$ must be a Niphal form?

 

Kind regards,

 

Pere Porta

-- 
Pere Porta