Biblical Hebrew Forum

[TedBro AT aol.com]

Is there a pattern where the various speakers (YHWH, Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu) each use different terms when referring to God? Can we correlate and map the usages?

 

Regards,

Ted Brownstein

 

In a message dated 4/23/2013 4:19:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com writes:

In Sefer 'Iyyob, why do we see different discriptive pronouns used for YHWH? The terms אלהים, אלוה and אל, exist, depending on the chapter and who is speaking, to describe YHWH. The only consistency that exists is when either the narrorator or YHWH is speaking, and in the instances the term אלהים is used, but elsewhere, the terms vary.

 

Assuming that the events in this narrative actually existed, could this be due to the different Semitic dialects / tongues that the original participants spoke and the discriptive pronouns they used to reference the Deity? Could this be the difference of people who speak Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac having a conversation about YHWH in modern times?

 

Regards,

 

Yohanan bin-Dawidh

Louisville, Kentucky