Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Job 9:9

עשה עש כסיל וכימה וחדרי תמן

"Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south"

Hence עש A$ is a star, possibly related to אש E$, 'fire, light', and possibly a 

component in the names עשתורת A$TORET and אסתר ESTER. 

Job 4:19-20

אף שכני בתי חמר אשר בעפר יסודם ידכאום לפני עש

מבקר לערב יכתו מבלי משים לנצח יאבדו

"How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it"

The word לפני LIPNEY may refer to space or time.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Jun 19, 2013, at 1:21 AM, Mike Burke wrote:

My lexicon defines עָֽשׁ׃  as

1. moth
2. herbage, grass
   

 My question is how you can tell whether a moth or some kind of vegetation is meant in Job 4:19?

Either a moth, or vegetation can be crushed, so how does context help?

Could it be translated either way (as moth, or grass)?

Michael Gerard Burke

_______________________________________________

b-hebrew mailing list

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew