Hot answers tagged genesis
15
It is possible that he kept flocks for wool, since after the expulsion from the garden (Gen 3:23) people needed to clothe themselves. (God made clothes for Adam and Chava (3:21), but it doesn't say he continued to do so for everyone else.) Where Abel got the idea to offer an animal sacrifice is not clear to me, since there has been no command or suggestion ...
13
The Hebrew words in question are עזר כנגדו (ezer kenegdo).
The Hebrew root עזר means “help” and the word kenegdo comes from the root word נגד (neged). Neged in the OT always means "opposite" or "across from" and negdo means across from him. In Exodus 19:2, Israel encamp neged hahar, opposite to Mount Sinai.
The form kenegedo doesn't appear anywhere else ...
13
I disagree with Young's there. Hebrew syntax is very different than English, but I have difficulty seeing how Young got there.
Tense in Biblical Hebrew is non-existent (Essentials of Biblical Hebrew, Kyle Yates). It is context that determines the time of the word. Hebrew uses "aspect" (An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax, Waltke/O'Connor) which is ...
12
The Hebrew says:
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, לֹא-יָדוֹן רוּחִי בָאָדָם לְעֹלָם, בְּשַׁגַּם, הוּא בָשָׂר; וְהָיוּ יָמָיו, מֵאָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה.
My literal translation of the last clause:
His days will be one hundred and twenty years.
It doesn't explicitly say "no more than", but it also does not say—and history does not bear out—"exactly". ...
10
The word "nephilim" as used in Gen 6:4 and Num 13:33 is simply an anglocizing of the Hebrew word nephiyl. If it were to be translated it would be simply "the fallen".
this opens up a whole new hermeneutical question about how then should we interpret these people described both before the flood in Gen 6 as "the fallen" and then again after the flood when ...
10
An answer is in some of the text you elided:
20 And the LORD said: 'Verily, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and, verily, their sin is exceeding grievous.
21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me; and if not, I will know.'
Then the men leave -- the number is ...
10
I have often wondered the same thing. Here's what we can get from the text itself:
The word in 1:1 is בָּרָא , which means "created". This is different from
עָשָׂה , "made", in 2:2. The difference as I have been taught is that "create" (בָּרָא ) means "out of nothing", while "make" is the more usual "making of stuff from stuff". Interestingly, 2:3 ...
10
There are several options for the etymology of Shaddai. My opinion is to take it from a word for "mountain."
I can't see how the wikisource gets to the translation it does. That certainly varies from the BHS. I think what they are doing is taking the et before shaddai as the mark of the accusative (thus making shaddai the direct object of the verb). ...
10
This apparent contradiction can be resolved without the documentary hypothesis. As Bruce Alderman pointed out, Gen 17 is considered an E passage, yet it uses YHWH in the very first verse. Similarly, there are J passages that use Elohim (the very first J passage actually uses YHWH-Elohim). There are certain patterns in Hebrew thought for when one name ...
9
I decided to build a canonical answer to this question, since it seemed that all three answers had something to offer.
Greek and Hebrew
The Hebrew word yare (Strongs H3372) carries a number of meanings. There is both the definition being "terrified" or "afraid" along with the definition of having "reverence", "awe", or "respect".
In Greek, the word ...
9
Something interesting I noticed in the Hebrew of Gen 1 is that almost every verse begins with a waw-consecutive. That is a grammatical construct that indicates a direct, chronological sequence. That is, "A [wc] B [wc] C" means "A and then B and then C." It's very common in prose narratives, and is usually translated simply as "and." (My translations of ...
9
It's odd to me that this isn't literal. The early portion of Genesis (1-11) is usually very literal. In my studies, Numbers is more literal than Gen 1-11 (so literal that I called it "Greek vocabulary on top of Hebrew syntax").
Uses in the Greek
The Greek word appears in the NT three times, all in Hebrews. (All scripture references are from the ...
9
It's clear from what we are told in the early chapters of Genesis, that we are not being given a full account of every action—the focus seems to be much more on the moral and theologically significant issues.
Given that, there is no direct textual evidence that reproduction did not happen before the fall, and given passages like Genesis 4:17, where no ...
9
The oldest discovered example of written Hebrew dates from about 3000 years ago -- although this dating is disputed (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7700037.stm). Conversely, samples of Sumerian Cuneiform have been discovered from more than 5000 years ago. Granted, the language might have existed for quite a while prior to the development of a written ...
8
There are places in the Bible where "the world" means less than the globe, yet it would still not include all of Africa or Eurasia. For instance, "all the world should be taxed" in Luke 2:1. Clearly, Augustus' decree only held weight in the Empire, its provinces, and protectorates. Acts 11:28 is similar "a great famine over all the earth." That would ...
8
Yes, it is the common practice to translate from the original language into the some word in the destination language rather than leaving it as the source language. Words like this are notoriously difficult to translate because the interpreters have to pick some word in the destination language that will make sense to the readers of that language.
...
8
The text does not use the same word to describe both of them, so in a sense the "burden of proof" is on the argument for association, not the argument for difference, no?
The serpent is described as an Earthly creature (with consequences for others of its kind, as noted by @Richard), so "heavenly being disguised as (or possessing) an earthly being" seems ...
8
Well modesty does mean much more in the Bible than what it means in our modern culture, but the best view I've seen is the maternal incest idea.
"Uncover Nakedness" is used in Leviticus to describe heterosexual incest
the "nakedness of the father" is identified with the "nakedness of your mother" (Lev 18:7-8)
If this is about Ham's incestuous sex with his ...
8
If we look at verses beyond Genesis 6, we get more information on Noah's righteousness.
Eze 14:13 Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing unfaithfulness, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast,
Eze 14:14 even though these three men, Noah, Daniel ...
8
The NET Bible notes are helpful here:
tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the ...
8
Enuma Elish and Genesis have the strongest connection in their first lines--"In the beginning" vs. "When on high." Some say that Genesis is written as a polemic against Enuma Elish. They are very different.
1a. Enuma Elish starts with the elemental representatives of chaos, Apsu and Tiamat. They are the father and mother of the gods respectively. It ...
8
Scholars have been raising doubts about Moses' authorship since the mid-1600s, when Thomas Hobbes noted that certain passages in the five books of the Torah seemed to indicate they had been added by a later writer.
Genesis 12:6, "At that time the Canaanites were in the land." And they still were in Moses' time.
Numbers 21:14, referring to "the Book of the ...
8
The text in Genesis does not say "only-begotten" but does say "only". The beginning of the verse is:
וַיֹּאמֶר קַח-נָא אֶת-בִּנְךָ אֶת-יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר-אָהַבְתָּ, אֶת-יִצְחָק
My literal translation:
And he said: please take your son, your only [one], whom you love, Yitzchak
The word translated "your only [one]" is יְחִידְךָ . The same root, ...
8
The verses say this:
Genesis 31: 30 Now you have indeed gone away because you longed greatly for your
father’s house; but why did you steal my gods?” 31 Then Jacob replied
to Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought that you would take
your daughters from me by force. 32 The one with whom you find your
gods shall not live; in the presence of ...
7
I've often heard that 'fear' as in 'fear the LORD' should not be understood to be 'fear' as in 'afraid', but rather 'awe' and 'reverence'.
But myself, I want to be cautious about watering down the 'fear' as in 'afraid' side, because:
I feel a sort of cultural pressure to do so which I think I then read back into the bible
There are usages that clearly ...
7
There are some very close similarities but also some drastic differences. For similarities, there are a hero who builds a boat to preserve those chosen by a god. They build the boat with levels inside and seal it with bitumen. Both gather his family and animals in the Ark. The floods come. After the flood, they dismebark and sacrifice to the gods. Those ...
7
Those of us trained in mathematics tend to interpret words like "multiply" as if a mathematical problem was being stated. However, making an argument of this sort on the basis of the word רָבָה, to cause to increase, would be a stretch. Remember that even the root meaning of the English word multiply is to make many. Given the context, the emphasis on this ...
7
Some thoughts:
Joseph was 17 when he was sold into Egypt (or perhaps a few years older at most)
He was 30 when he left prison and entered Pharoah's service
Therefore many years had passed before Joseph would have had opportunity to seek his family
Jacob was already old when Joseph was born (indeed Joseph seems to be surprised his father is still alive when ...
7
Genesis, in many ways, is the story of the Abrahamic Covenant being fulfilled:
The Lord said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who ...
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