Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Nir cohen - Prof. Mat." <nir AT ccet.ufrn.br>]

david,

i must add my voice to karl and pere: you are correct that 
Ex:20 and Amos 3 use the same root. but anyway you look 
at it, there is no "endure" there. 

first, there is no CLEAR example in the OT where ENDURE is the ONLY solution,
or even the MOST PLAUSIBLE solution, or even just PLAUSIBLE. and there are
CLEAR examples where this is NOT the right translation, e.g. 2sam 20:5.


ה   וייחר (וַיּוֹחֶר), מִן-הַמּוֹעֵד אֲשֶׁר יְעָדוֹ.  {ס}       5 
 but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. {S}

second, it goes a long way from the paradigm of the bilateral root (D 
("till"). the essence of "endure" is not the endpoint, it is what you go
through till you get there, and usually denoted by SBL, TL)WT etc. 

quite on the contrary, the other suggested meanings: to designate, to meet,
witness, till, fixed date [MW(D] do connect with this paradigm, and endow
perfect sense to these phrases.

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 הֲיֵלְכוּ שְׁנַיִם, יַחְדָּו, בִּלְתִּי, אִם-נוֹעָדוּ.            (*)

(amos 3:3) similar to the buddhist question: "can you clap one hand?" 
and the modern "it takes two to dance the tango". more so, if you go on and
read the sequel amos 3:4-6. all these questions asked have one meaning in
common: tautology, or logic. and it is in this spirit that one should read
also (*). clearly, the drash here is the union of the hebrews with god,
where again enduring is not  appropriate.

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  אִם-רָעָה בְּעֵינֵי אֲדֹנֶיהָ, אֲשֶׁר-לא (לוֹ) יְעָדָהּ--וְהֶפְדָּהּ:  
לְעַם נָכְרִי לֹא-יִמְשֹׁל לְמָכְרָהּ, בְּבִגְדוֹ-בָהּ. 

in examining this phrase, please read leake's remark below:

>>>De: John Leake <jesleake AT yahoo.co.uk>
I meant are there more cases of אשר לו פעל 'asher lô [verb] where lô refers to
the verbal subject.

indeed,  אֲדֹנֶיהָ, אֲשֶׁר-לא (לוֹ) יְעָדָהּ represents a legal merism: her 
owner, then
repeating, who designated her to him. recall that at that time the owner did
not need to present any reason for not liking a slave, nor would the law ask
for such a reason. also, had "endure" been the correct translation, the phrase
should be WL) Y(DH rather than )$R L) Y(DH.

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one more thing: as mentioned before, the meaning in arabic is similar;
and moreover the root W(D is attested in akkadian, and the root Y(D
(indirectly) in ugaritic, and they have the same approximate 
meaning: to fix. see allan rosengren petersen' book, p 68, 
quoting among others 2sam 20:5. this book can be seen in

http://books.google.com.br/books?id=5gDpnBt5vsQC&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=y%27d+w%27d+akkadian&source=bl&ots=AeJXGPDClE&sig=Jd-H6VAIvcH0ahphTOpA5Ty2Ub8&hl=pt-BR&sa=X&ei=Es2CUdrMJdHJ0gHyvoGYAQ&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=y%27d%20w%27d%20akkadian&f=false

nir cohen