Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Nir:

It’s not the same as hay, as in Numbers 11:5 it refers to edible stalky grasses, commonly translated as leeks.

I considered dried grasses used as thatch, but the contexts indicate growing grasses on roofs that are dried up by hot winds.

Other verses mention cattle grazing on grasses while out in the fields, same word.

As for that translation below, it has some issues …

Karl W. Randolph.

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 10:18 AM, Nir cohen - Prof. Mat. <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br> wrote:

pere, carl,

the word XCYR refers nowadays to hay, not to grass. if this is also the
biblical term, it does suggest that hay was used to cover the roofs.
anyway, the imagery used is of a dry material that catches fire. in fact,
  וְיֹשְׁבֵיהֶן, קִצְרֵי-יָד--חַתּוּ, וַיֵּבֹשׁוּ
refers specifically to "being (figuratively) dry". in general i find very
strange the translations i find such as

 כו  וְיֹשְׁבֵיהֶן, קִצְרֵי-יָד--חַתּוּ, וַיֵּבֹשׁוּ; הָיוּ עֵשֶׂב שָׂדֶה, וִירַק דֶּשֶׁא, חֲצִיר גַּגּוֹת, וּשְׁדֵפָה
לִפְנֵי קָמָה.  26
Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and
confounded; they were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the
grass on the housetops, and as corn blasted before it is grown up.

nir cohen