Karl, You wrote Isaiah 2:4, but I think you meant Malachi 2:4. Anyway, you said that the infinitives of other verbs are used the same way. Could you point out one or two examples of other verbs used the same way as "to be" in Malachi 2:4? I was just trying to understand a literal way of translating the quote because it does seem to be strange that the "le" is in front of the infinitive, but the translation has it in front of the subject of the verb. " I sent my commandment to you for (that) My covenant to be (will be) with Levi." I have seen Isaiah 49:6 translated both ways. "I have given you for a light of nations to be My salvation unto the end of the earth" and "I have given you for a light of nations for My salvation to be unto the end of the earth." Which do you think makes sense? Kenneth Greifer
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 17:41:36 -0700 Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Malachi 2:4 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] Kenneth: What you are running into is an example of where Hebrew grammar and ways of saying things has no exact equivalent in English, rather the English way of saying the same idea is quite different. In each of these cases, the subject of the verb follows the infinitive verb, and that is true not only of the verb “to be” as can be seen in your Isaiah 2:4 example. In each of these cases, the idea is “for the purpose of …” Now, there are better ways of translating that … Karl W. Randolph. On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 11:05 AM, kenneth greifer <[email protected]> wrote: I asked about Malachi 2:4 "I sent to you this commandment to be My covenant with Levi" or "for the being of My covenant with Levi", but I guess I could have looked up the verb myself. In 2 Kings 15:19, I think it says a king paid another king "to be his hands with him..." or maybe "for the being of his hands with him." 1 Kings 8:16 says G-d did not choose to build a house "to be His name there" or "for the being of His name there." Isaiah 10:2 "...to be widows their prey (their spoil)" sounds better as "...for the being of widows their prey (their spoil)". I guess in these examples, the verb is used as "for being of" and not "to be". WHo knows for sure though. Kenneth Greifer _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
