Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <Yigal.Levin AT biu.ac.il>]

Hi,

 

Let's begin with Ps. 81:3 (verse 4 in the Hebrew). The first part of the verse says "Blow a horn on the "xodesh". "Xodhesh", meaning "new", is universally understood as referring to the new moon, and is the regular Hebrew word for "month". So, "Blow a horn on the new moon". The second part of the verse is "on the "keseh" for the day of our celebration". Assuming the usual parallelism, "keseh" means something like "xodesh". The usual assumption is that "keseh" is derived from the word that means "cover", so that the "keseh" is the day on which the moon is "covered", mostly hidden, just as the new moon is visible. In other words, the verse refers to the blowing of horns at the new moon, when the moon is "covered". By the way, later Judaism took this as a specific reference to Rosh Hashanah, the New Year, on which the shofar, the ram's horn, is blown.

 

Now for Prov. 7:20. In theory, "yom hakeseh" there COULD mean the same thing: the day of covering, the new moon. This is what Ibn Ezra says (why some translations have "full moon" I don't know). However the context, of a man leaving home and taking his money with him, sounds more like "for a rainy day", so maybe here it means "a day covered with clouds". On the other hand, the Targum has "yoma de'eda" – "day of appointment".

 

 

I hope that was helpful.

 

Yigal Levin

 

From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Oun Kwon
Sent: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 5:26 AM
To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [b-hebrew] full moon vs. appointed time

 

In Prov 7:20, KJV has a translated phrase 'at the day appointed'. Many translations have something like 'at full moon'. (Cf. NET has 'until the end of the month').  The only word I can see is 'yom', nothing to point to 'moon'. 

 

In contrast, most has Psa 81:3 something like 'at the full moon', while KJV alone I see as 'in the time appointed'.

 

Is there something mixed up?

 

I would appreciate if you can help me for Heb. vocabulary. Are there different words for 'moon' vs. 'full moon' in Hebrew?

 

Oun Kwon.