Middle and Passive Voice: Semantic Distinctions of the Niphal in Biblical Hebrew

Jones, Ethan

doi:10.1515/zaw-2020-3004

Cited by 2 publications

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“…As can be seen, the root ngp is a stage 5 verb in both the qal (active voice, 9a) and the niphal (non-active voice, 9b). 23 In particular in the qal, where Yahweh is the subject, this is consistent 2019), to which may be added the response by Jones (2020). The point of discussion is to what extent the niphal expresses the passive and/or middle voice.…”

Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 85%

Lip̄nē ‘in the face of’: A Locative Preposition with a Threatening Connotation

Staps

2022

JHS

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The expression lip̄nē, literally "to the face of," is commonly translated as "before." In combination with the root ngp ("inflict/defeat"), this leads to awkward English translations; e.g., "Israel was defeated before the Philistines" (1 Sam 4:2). What exactly is the role of the Philistines in this event? In recent years, some scholars have used grammaticalization theory to argue that lip̄nē in this context is an Agent marker: "Israel was defeated by the Philistines." However, this view is untenable in the face of arguments from narratology, syntactic-semantic restrictions, grammaticalization theory, and language typology. In present-day English, the near-literal translation "in the face of" is a better alternative: lip̄nē is a simple Locative prepositional expression, but the element "face" has the connotation that Israel is threatened by the Philistines. In other words, Israel is in the "realm of influence" of the Philistines. The actual Agent of ngp is Yahweh, who determines the result of battles, as can be seen in the active voice: "Yahweh defeated Benjamin in the face of Israel" (Judg 20:35). In fact, the meaning of the Hebrew expression is cross-linguistically common; the only problem is that the meaning of the English preposition "before" has shifted, so that the original translation came to be misunderstood.

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Section: Contextmentioning

confidence: 85%

Lip̄nē ‘in the face of’: A Locative Preposition with a Threatening Connotation

Staps

2022

JHS

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“He May Do Harm . . .”: Translation and Meaning of 2 Sam 12.18

Jones

2020

The Bible Translator

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Three major English translations, NRSV, ESV, and NASB, render וְאֵיךְ נֹאמַר אֵלָיו מֵת הַיֶּלֶד וְעָשָׂה רָעָה׃‎ as “How then can we tell him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.” These translations insert the reflexive pronoun “himself” as the object of עשׂה‎. While such a reading is possible, it is not at all probable when we take into account how reflexives are expressed in Biblical Hebrew, as well as the syntax and semantics of עשׂה‎. This article contributes to our understanding of 2 Sam 12.18 not by offering a new translation of וְעָשָׂה רָעָה‎, but by providing a linguistic explanation for why translators should reject the reflexive “harm himself” and instead render the phrase as “he may do harm” (so MEV).

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Middle and Passive Voice: Semantic Distinctions of the Niphal in Biblical Hebrew

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Lip̄nē ‘in the face of’: A Locative Preposition with a Threatening Connotation

Lip̄nē ‘in the face of’: A Locative Preposition with a Threatening Connotation

“He May Do Harm . . .”: Translation and Meaning of 2 Sam 12.18

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