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Community Rule 7:26

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 3:59 am
by R.J. Furuli
Dear list-membeers,

I have a question about translation from Hebrew to English. When I read Bible translations and other translations from the Tamnakh, sometimes I say that "this is an inaccurate rendering," or "this is a tendentious" rendering." But only rarely do a say, "this rendering is wrong." By "wrong" I mean a rendering that includes an idea that is not found in the original text, or do not render an idea that is in the original text.

The Community Rule of the Qumran community 7:26 says something about the divine name. I have just looked at three different translations of this text, and all three are wrong. Could you please analyze the Hebrew words below and make a literal translation of them into English.

וא]שׄר יזכיר דבר בשם הנכבד על כול ה◦[ -- ]

Best regrds,

Rolf J. Furuli
Stavern
Norway

Re: Community Rule 7:26

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 4:01 am
by R.J. Furuli
Dear list-members,

The verse in the Community Rule is 7:27 and not 7:26.


Best regards,

Rolf J. Furuli
Stavern
Norway

Re: Community Rule 7:26

Posted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:29 am
by kwrandolph
This is not good Biblical Hebrew, but from Biblical Hebrew seems to mean “[wh]ich should cause to remember expressing in the name [which is] honored above all” “[which is]” is added for English, understood in Hebrew.

Karl W. Randolph.

Re: Community Rule 7:26

Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2018 4:24 am
by R.J. Furuli
Dear Karl,

K.W. Randolph wrote:
This is not good Biblical Hebrew, but from Biblical Hebrew seems to mean “[wh]ich should cause to remember expressing in the name [which is] honored above all” “[which is]” is added for English, understood in Hebrew.
This is an excellent translation, because you have followed the Hebrew syntax carefully, and because you do not know the context and the idioms used in the DSS.

Dr. M.G. Abegg Jr., who has translated the DSS in the Gramcord program, has the following translation: "Anyone who speaks aloud the M[ost] Holy Name of God, [whether in …] or." This translation is wrong, because it violates the Hebrew syntax and add an idea not found in the Hebrew text.

The words in the Community Rule 7:27 occur in a context where different wrong actions that will be punished are described. I analyse the words in the following way: The verb is יזכיר and the subject is וא]שׄר (anyone who). The object is דבר (word), and בשם הנכבד על כול (in the name honored above all) is adverbial.

Your translation (which is) is fine. But because of the context "anyone who" or "the one who" is better. Your suggestion "should cause to remember" is also fine. But here I point to the DSS idiom. The verb is used 49 times in the DSS with the meaning "to remember." But three times-always in connection with the divine name- it has the meaning "to mention." If we use this sense, we get the phrase "whoever mentions." What should not be mentioned is not "the name honored above all," because this is prefixed by the preposition be, and therefore is adverbial. But the object is דבר (word).

To return to DSS idiom, דבר in The Community Rule has the references "(spoken) word; matter; commandment; accusation; false thing." Exactly what דבר refers to in the clause is not easy to know. But the menbers of the Qumran community evidently knew what the meaning was. Because of documents outside The Community Rule דבר could also possibly refer to an oath or a promise. So, what was forbidden, was not "to speak aloud the Most Holy Name of God," but it was to mention a דבר (whatever that referred to) in the name honored above all.

Karl, you have grasped the important difference between the object and the adverbial and have shown that in your translation—Abegg did not do that. The 11Q Temple Scrolla was written about the same time as The community Rule, and as I showed in my previous post this morning, it shows that the name was pronounced at this time. This fact also contradicts Abegg's translation. The Temple Scrolla has 46 occurrences of yhwh, and The Temple Scrollb (11Q20), dated between 20 and 50 CE, has seven occurrences of yhwh.


Best regards,

Rolf J. Furuli
Stavern
Norway