Claude has a post on untranslated words. Most if not all Hebrew names are 'translatable' but it would be tedious to translate them all. Suppose every time Bethlehem occurred, we called it House of Bread. I did note this once in the beginning of Ruth for reasons of irony. Or at least once for a name like Jonah (=dove) to show that he is an angry dove, and not a peaceable one.
But sometimes, as in Claude's post, there is a significant play to the words even when they occur only once, that makes them 'worth a stab' at translation rather than transcription. I do this rather more often than regular translations.
2 Samuel 2:16 is the end of a story of mutual destruction.
וַֽיַּחֲזִ֜קוּ אִ֣ישׁ ׀ בְּרֹ֣אשׁ רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְחַרְבּוֹ֙ בְּצַ֣ד רֵעֵ֔הוּ וַֽיִּפְּל֖וּ יַחְדָּ֑ו
וַיִּקְרָא֙ לַמָּק֣וֹם הַה֔וּא חֶלְקַ֥ת הַצֻּרִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר בְּגִבְעֽוֹן
vikziqu aiw braw riyhu vkrbo bxd riyhu viiplu ikdiv
viqra lmqom hhua klqt hxurim awr bgbyon
And they were resolute, each by the head of his friend, and his sword in the side of his friend,
and they fell as one, and that place is called, the sharing of the neck, that is in Gibeon.
In my translation, I suggest that the roots are (xvr) צור and (klq) חלק. These are both multi-faceted roots which require various glosses in English depending on the context.
klq: share, divide, flatter, smooth (as in speech)
xvr: rock, neck, fortify, siege, et al.
Some gloss the name as 'Field of ' this or that. Field is not a gloss I would use for klq since it is used for another common root and I try to reduce overlaps of one English gloss applying to multiple Hebrew roots. So I rendered the phrase for the name of the place as 'the sharing of the neck'.
What should be an embrace of comradeship is a deadly embrace. Mutual destruction. The Bible is not prescriptive in a verse like this.
The music is a declamation and after the rest - in this case of mutual destruction, a matter of fact consequence.
2 Samuel 2:16 - not a compliment to the valiant |
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