Rereading Samuel’s Silence in 1 Samuel 7:8
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Sonja Noll in
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1 Samuel 7:8 records a request made by the people of Israel to Samuel, asking him to pray to God for them. Although the aim of their request is made clear from the context, some aspects of the Hebrew syntax and word meanings do not easily fit the contextually understood meaning and are therefore often disregarded in the process of translation. The Hiphil verb חרשׁ, for example, which normally means ‘be silent’, is often translated as ‘cease’ and sometimes as ‘be deaf’. In addition, the preposition מן, ‘from’, is often translated as ‘for’ and is understood to indicate the beneficiary of the verb it precedes rather than function as the prepositional object of the verb it follows, as would be expected. I suggest that a very simple adjustment to the interpretation of this preposition may allow for a more straightforward reading and translation of the verse.
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Rereading Samuel’s Silence in 1 Samuel 7:8
In: Vetus TestamentumSearch for other papers by Sonja Noll in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
1 Samuel 7:8 records a request made by the people of Israel to Samuel, asking him to pray to God for them. Although the aim of their request is made clear from the context, some aspects of the Hebrew syntax and word meanings do not easily fit the contextually understood meaning and are therefore often disregarded in the process of translation. The Hiphil verb חרשׁ, for example, which normally means ‘be silent’, is often translated as ‘cease’ and sometimes as ‘be deaf’. In addition, the preposition מן, ‘from’, is often translated as ‘for’ and is understood to indicate the beneficiary of the verb it precedes rather than function as the prepositional object of the verb it follows, as would be expected. I suggest that a very simple adjustment to the interpretation of this preposition may allow for a more straightforward reading and translation of the verse.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 531 | 42 | 2 |
| Full Text Views | 276 | 3 | 1 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 83 | 5 | 2 |