Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Jerry Shepherd <jshepherd53 AT gmail.com>]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for responding on this one.  Just a few thoughts in reply.

 

(1) You say you have no training, but you have apparently had at least some Hebrew.  Could you tell us what you have had?

 

(2) You said, “The root means as you know, to be clear, in the forefront, shine, to demonstrate . . .”; but actually, I don’t know that.  What resource did you get this information from?  Is this perhaps from an older lexicon?

 

(3) I appreciate the attempt, but you can’t really take a root word apart and obtain meaning from just part of the root.  So, it really isn’t legitimate to read כח into יכח.

 

In any case, while I don’t think you get there by the right method, you are nevertheless correct that the prophets were often thought to be not in their right mind (see Jer 29:26; Hos 9:7).

 

Blessings,

 

Jerry

Jerry Shepherd

Taylor Seminary

Edmonton, Alberta

jshepherd53 AT gmail.com

 

On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 4:43 PM, Chris Watts <dekruidnootjes AT eircom.net> wrote:

As you know I have no training.  So all I offer is an idea.  After long thinking I came up with a translation that I think fits both context and makes sense from the hebrew.  The root means as you know, to be clear, in the forefront,  shine, to demonstrate, allthe way to judge correct dispute in the hiphil; I then took hold of the two letters כח which mean strength.  You need strength and clarity to perform all of the tasks that you mentioned in  your description.  So my translation would be:  "...you will be silent and you will appear as one who is not in his right mind...." I think a colloquial _expression_ would have fitted the meaning, and looking at it from the peoples' point of view who would see and know ezekiel this is how God wanted him to appear for a short while (poor guy).

Chris Watts
Ireland