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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Gen 1:1 Difference in wording | Gen 1:1 | Bandersnatch | 30798 | ||
In Gen 1:1 it states that the earth was void and waste (depending on the translation you happen to be reading). My question deals with the word "was". It is my understanding that the Hebrew word used here is "hayah" which according to Strong's means "to become or to exist". Strong states that most of the usage for this word, including the above, is the to become version. Accordingly a past tense would make the verse to read "and the world became void and waste" I have found only two translations which use this and all the rest use the word was. The difference is significant. Can anyone explain why most use the "was" translation? |
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2 | Gen 1:1 Difference in wording | Gen 1:1 | Morant61 | 30799 | ||
Greetings Bandersnatch! 'Hayah' is one of those words which can mean either "became" or "was" depending upon how it is used in the sentence. This is one of those instances where simply consulting Strong's can be misleading. Here is what one expert on Hebrew says about the translation. My source is the commentary on Genesis written by Victor P. Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton is professor of religion at Asbury College and a contributor to the Theological Wordbook on the Old Testament (a standard reference work for Hebrew word meanings). He gives the following two reasons for rejecting the translation of 'hayah' as 'became' in Gen. 1:2. ********************************************* "Now, at times the verb 'to be' in the perfect tense can have an obvious active force. Certainly 3:22 says, 'Behold, the man has become (haya) like one of us.' But for two reasons it cannot have this force in 1:2. First, if the writer had intended v.2 to be read as a sequence to v. 1, he would never have used the construction he did: waw consecutive plus subject plus verb (in the perfect). Instead, it would be: waw conversive attached to the verb (in the imperfect) plus subject. Thus, one would expect wattehi ha'ares rather than what we do have: weha'ares hayeta. Second, in other circumstanital clauses the verb haya in the perfect tense normally carries its stative sense (3:1, 'the serpent was wiser'; 29:16, 'and Rachel was pretty'; 34:5, 'his sons had been (or were) in the field'; Exod. 1:5, 'and Joseph was in Egypt'; Jon. 3:3, 'now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city'). The burden of proof, then, is upon those who insist that here we have an instance of haya in a circumstantial clause with the meaning 'became.'" *********************************************** I hope this helps! Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Gen 1:1 | Author | ||
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Morant61 |