The primary, original language of the Tanakh.
5
votes
3answers
4k views
What does it mean for someone to be another person's “portion”?
Searching for the word "portion" brings up a lot of results in the Bible. Sometimes it means a portion of food or of money. But what exactly does it mean in the following context:
LORD, you alone ...
8
votes
2answers
186 views
Was there some connection between barley bread and Gideon in the mind of the Midianites?
Before attacking the Midianite camp, Gideon does a little spying:
When Gideon came, behold, a man was telling a dream to his comrade. And he said, “Behold, I dreamed a dream, and behold, a cake of ...
4
votes
2answers
254 views
Psalms 46 - Be still or relax?
In Psalms 46-10 (Christian versions) or 46:11 (in Jewish versions), is the phrase
הרפו ודעו כי אנכי אלֹהים
In most English Bible translations הרפו is translated as
Be still .
With the ...
1
vote
2answers
58 views
Who is the good and beautiful person in Zechariah 9:17?
There seem to be two main variants of English translations of Zechariah 9:17a:
The newer one, of which the NLT is a prime representative:
16On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people,
...
2
votes
1answer
78 views
Should קהלת actually translate to “Preacher”
Ecclesiastes starts with - words of קהלת son of David.
In Hebrew it does not say - the words of the קהלת.
Nor - words of the קהלת.
But simply - words of קהלת.
How do we know that קהלת translates to ...
3
votes
1answer
102 views
What does it mean that "David eluded him twice?
Shortly after Saul takes David into his service, we read:
The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house, while David was playing [the lyre], as he did daily. ...
2
votes
1answer
25 views
Is there a general way to know if a psalm or prophecy is talking about a tribe, a person or a mythical beast?
For example:
You rule the raging sea; you still its swelling waves.
You crush Rahab with a mortal blow; with your strong arm you scatter your foes.
Yours are the heavens, yours the ...
14
votes
2answers
599 views
Translation of “Selah” (סֶלָה)
What is the current scholarly opinion on the possible translations for "Selah" (סֶלָה) as used in the Psalms?
1
vote
1answer
59 views
Did God shut up Satan before he had the chance to accuse Yeshua?
Growing up with the the New Living Translation, I had alway thought that Zechariah 3:1 said that Satan was accusing Yeshua:
Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the ...
2
votes
2answers
352 views
Is El-Shaddai “Sky God” where Sky==Breasts?
I found the name "El-Shaddai" mysterious, but while going over Genesis, found the following passage (Gen 49) Wikisource translation
From the god of your fathers, and he will help you, and the ...
9
votes
2answers
516 views
How can I identify puns in the Hebrew Bible?
The Bible sometimes uses words with multiple meanings to the effect of an intentional pun or wordplay. Punning seems especially common in Hebrew. I think that being aware of these literary devices ...
3
votes
1answer
86 views
The meaning of “I” in Zechariah 7:3
Zechariah 7:2-3 (with my emphasis)
The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty ...
11
votes
4answers
1k views
What does “Jealous” mean in Exodus 34:14?
Most translations seem to agree that "Jealous" is the best translation for this passage. For example:
Exodus 34:14 (NASB)
—for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is ...
-1
votes
1answer
59 views
Is there an interpretive significance for nashak (kiss) and nasak (burn) being puns?
It was suggested here that 'kissing the calf' may be a play on words for 'burning the calf'. Is there other support in scripture where the use of 'kiss' and 'burn' has interpretive significance?
See ...
2
votes
2answers
309 views
Does Moses Speak Broken Hebrew?
When translating Exodus, I became intimately familiar with every sentence (it is really a tremendous form of close reading), and I noticed something amazing. The cases where Moses speaks Hebrew, he ...
15
votes
2answers
343 views
Understanding Numbers 11:25
As I am studying, I have encountered different renderings of the last phrase in this verse, which describes the prophesying of the seventy elders of Israel after the Spirit was placed on them. An ...
4
votes
1answer
119 views
Is the death of the pious precious in the eyes of God?
How does one understand the word yakar in Psalms 116:15? Classic Jewish commentators explain the word in context to mean "difficult". However, that is not how is it commonly used nor is it in ...
5
votes
1answer
125 views
Is Naaman impure?
In 2 Kings 5:10 we read:
וַיִּשְׁלַח אֵלָיו אֱלִישָׁע, מַלְאָךְ לֵאמֹר: הָלוֹךְ, וְרָחַצְתָּ שֶׁבַע-פְּעָמִים בַּיַּרְדֵּן, וְיָשֹׁב בְּשָׂרְךָ לְךָ וּטְהָר.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto ...
14
votes
4answers
620 views
Does Genesis's creation account depict creation “ex nihilo”?
I had once heard that one of the remarkable thing about the creation account in Genesis, as compared to the other creation accounts of the cultures of the surrounding area is that God creates the ...
4
votes
1answer
137 views
What is Shesh Mashzar?
The Hebrew words occuring all over the latter parts of Exodus:
שֵׁשׁ מָשְׁזָר
mean some sort of fancy fabric. Is it reasonable to think of this as silk? I was thinking this might be derived from ...
6
votes
1answer
456 views
Why does the King James have “turtle” in Song of Solomon 2:12?
Ernie Harwell was famous for starting his first baseball broadcast of the Detroit Tigers spring with the following quote:
Song of Solomon 2:11-12 (KJV)
11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain ...
4
votes
2answers
144 views
What are the four types of “wise men” in Daniel 2?
In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has dealings with four types of "wise men". NIV and NLT render them "magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers." The ESV does something rather confusing and renders ...
6
votes
1answer
155 views
Is the ESV rendering “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever” in Genesis 6:3 accurate?
I am reading through Genesis in the ESV for the first time and was struck by some unfamiliar wording in Genesis 6:3. It reads: "My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days ...
10
votes
4answers
447 views
Is there a modern English translation of the Bible that uses the second-person plural pronoun?
I'm looking for a modern translation of the Bible (ideally in the public domain) that retains the distinction between second-person plural and second-person singular. In Early Modern English (the ...
1
vote
3answers
219 views
What does Cain say to Abel in Genesis 4:8?
The Masoretic version of Genesis 4:8 reads as follows:
וַיֹּאמֶר קַיִן, אֶל-הֶבֶל אָחִיו; וַיְהִי בִּהְיוֹתָם בַּשָּׂדֶה, וַיָּקָם קַיִן אֶל-הֶבֶל אָחִיו וַיַּהַרְגֵהוּ.
And Cain said to his ...
3
votes
1answer
43 views
What exactly does מִכְנָס (miknac) mean?
Researching a related question, I came across passages like:
You shall also make for them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs.—Exodus 28:42 ...
5
votes
3answers
116 views
What does Exodus 26:27 say?
I was reading through Exodus the other day and thought that the translation of Exodus 26:26-27 was odd.
OSB:
"You shall make bars of incorruptible wood: five for the posts on one side of the ...
8
votes
3answers
257 views
Does the Hebrew in Judges 4:4 explicitly identify Deborah as a woman?
I have no skill at reading Hebrew, so I was using some tool to try and parse the sentence in Judges 4:4. I noticed that the definition given for the second word (אִשָּׁה) is "woman"; but what I'm ...
3
votes
1answer
2k views
Original meaning of the expression “sexual immorality” in modern translations of Old Testament
For the Old Testament, a modern tool will translate the hebrew ערוה as “unchastity”, “nakedness” or “incest”.
This term is translated in modern versions as “sexual immorality”, but that expression is ...
2
votes
1answer
332 views
Do the 'Sons of Jacob' refer to only Jews, or also Christians and Muslims?
There is a song by Damian Marley that refers to "The sleeping sons of Jacob".
I looked up 'Sons of Jacob' on Wikipedia and now understand them to represent the 12 tribes of Israel.
I am also ...
5
votes
2answers
246 views
How should graded numerical parallelism in Hebrew poetry be understood?
In Hebrew poetry, especially proverbs, we see examples of monotonically increasing numbers that set up parallels. For instance Proverbs 30:15 (NJPS):
The leech has two daughters, “Give!” and ...
