Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

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Ethan Bohr
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Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2021 2:50 pm

Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by Ethan Bohr »

The way I read things, ויתן is a 3rd person, singular, and masculine, past tense verb that indicates the source (the one giving) is causing one or more objects to be transferred to a destination. The verb indicates what objects are being passed by inserting a “את” in front of the object. Here, we have two objects, the “rashaim” (evil doers, or bad guys), and the wealthy (ashir). If I translated the words in Isaiah 53:9 in their original order, it would be “And he tossed bad guys his grave and wealthy with its corpses."

Thoughts?
kwrandolph
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Re: Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by kwrandolph »

There are a few things that need to be answered, not just one.
Ethan Bohr wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:11 pm The way I read things, ויתן is a 3rd person, singular, and masculine, past tense verb that indicates the source (the one giving) is causing one or more objects to be transferred to a destination.
First of all, there were no tenses in Biblical Hebrew. Tenses came later. Therefore this is not past tense.
Secondly in the unpointed text, this for can either be Qal (active) or Hophal (passive).
Third, the Hebrew verb נתן had a wider range of meaning than does the English verb “to give”.
Ethan Bohr wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:11 pm The verb indicates what objects are being passed by inserting a “את” in front of the object.
In this case, the את means “with”. “He was caused to be furnished a grave with the wicked (the action that resulted in his death) and he was with the rich in his status of being dead (the plural of “death” refers to a time of life or status).”
Ethan Bohr wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:11 pm Thoughts?
Well, my comments are above.

Karl W. Randolph.
S_Walch
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Re: Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by S_Walch »

Isaiah 53:9 (Mas Hebrew)
וַיִּתֵּ֤ן אֶת־רְשָׁעִים֙ קִבְר֔וֹ וְאֶת־עָשִׁ֖יר בְּמֹתָ֑יו ...

I think understanding the אֶת as "with" makes more sense than having them as direct-object markers.

If we were to throw the DSS into the mix though, specifically the Great Isaiah Scroll:

ויתנו את רשעים קברו וערמן עשיר בומתו

The second אֶת becomes an וערמן (corrected from ועמ), which looks to be a defective spelling of וערמון ("and plane tree"), the singular וַיִּתֵּ֤ן becomes the plural ויתנו ("and they gave"), and the plural בְּמֹתָ֑יו becomes the singular בומתו ("his high place/funeral mound")

To translate this, I'm guessing would be:

And they gave his grave with wicked people, and a rich plane-tree [as] his funeral mound

Whatever you make of the above, it's even more cryptic than the Masoretic. :)

4QIsad has the singular ויתן at the beginning, but is not extant for the rest of the words in question, coming back at עשה
Ste Walch
Ethan Bohr
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Re: Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by Ethan Bohr »

Thanks for your responses. Just to follow up, Mr. Walch, why do you think that את is better understood as the preposition with" here? To cite a parallel text, in Genesis 1:1, "את" identifies what is being created, and Elohim, which does not have an את is the creator. In Isaiah 53:9, we see a similar verb style of לתת, which means to transfer one or more objects to a recipient. The objects being transferred are preceded by a את also.

Ethan Bohr
S_Walch
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Re: Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by S_Walch »

Gen 1:1 really isn't a parallel text. For your translation to work, I would expect the preposition ל to proceed קִבְר֔וֹ, to indicate the bad guys/wealthy are being given "to" his grave. Else your translation seems to indicate that his grave is being given to the "bad guys", as opposed to vice-versa. "He gave David his bike" would be an equivalent English sentence (David is being given the bike; not David being given to the bike).

Compare with Gen 12:7. Without this preposition, אֶת as "with" is the understanding of the Masoretic Hebrew. :)
Ste Walch
Ethan Bohr
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Re: Is the element ’eth in Isaiah 53:9a an object marker or the preposition "with"?

Post by Ethan Bohr »

Thanks for your thoughts.

Ethan Bohr
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