How Hebrew words are translated for the Bible

Kmal

Kmal

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Before answering, if you'd like to read moar! http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/27_faith.html
Good and Evil said:
What does "good" mean? The first use of this word is in Genesis chapter one where calls his handiwork "good". It should always be remembered that the Hebrews often relate descriptions to functionality. The word tov would best be translated with the word "functional". When looked at his handiwork he did not see that it was "good", he saw that it was functional, kind of like a well oiled and tuned machine. In contrast to this word is the Hebrew word "ra". These two words, tov and ra are used for the tree of the knowledge of "good" and "evil". While "ra" is often translated as evil it is best translated as "dysfunctional".
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This in mind, does this change how you are viewing the (figurative) good vs evil battle at the; end of the world' as depicted in the Bible? Does this change anything for you? It probably implies sin is what facilitates dysfunctionality.
Another great one
Life said:
The Hebrew word hhai is usually translated as life. In the Hebrew language all words are related to something concrete or physical, something that can be observed by one of the five senses. Some examples of concrete words would be tree, water, hot, sweet or loud. The western Greek mind frequently uses abstracts or mental words to convey ideas. An abstract word is something that cannot be sensed by the five senses. Some examples would be bless, believe, and the word life. Whenever working with an abstract word in the Biblical text it will help to uncover the concrete background to the word for proper interpretation. How did the ancient Hebrew perceive "life". A clue can be found in Job 38:39, "Will you hunt prey for the lion and will you fill the stomach of the young lion?". In this verse the word "stomach" is the Hebrew word hhai. What does the stomach have to do with life? In our culture it is very uncommon for anyone to experience true hunger but this was an all too often experience for the Ancient Hebrews. To the Ancient Hebrews life is seen as a full stomach while an empty stomach is seen as death.
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and
Eternal said:
In the ancient Hebrew words that are used to described distance and direction are also used to describe time. The Hebrew word for east is qedem and literally means "the direction of the rising sun". We use north as our major orientation such as in maps which are always oriented to the north. While we use the north as our major direction the Hebrews used the east and all directions are oriented to this direction. For example one of the words for south is teyman from the root yaman meaning "to the right". The word qedem is also the word for the past. In the ancient Hebrew mind the past is in front of you while the future is behind you, the opposite way we think of the past and future. The Hebrew word olam means in the far distance. When looking off in the far distance it is difficult to make out any details and what is beyond that horizon cannot be seen. This concept is the olam. The word olam is also used for time for the distant past or the distant future as a time that is difficult to know or perceive. This word is frequently translated as eternity or forever but in the English language it is misunderstood to mean a continual span of time that never ends. In the Hebrew mind it is simply what is at or beyond the horizon, a very distant time. A common phrase in the Hebrew is "l'olam va'ed" and is usually translated as "forever and ever" but in the Hebrew it means "to the distant horizon and again" meaning "a very distant time and even further" and is used to express the idea of a very ancient or future time.
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What do you guys think?
 
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Personally, I think if you have a question regarding Hebrew, go to a rabbi. I wouldn't trust an internet site to give me a straight answer. The site you refer to (ancient-hebrew.org) uses second hand sources such as Strong's Exhaustive concordance, which we know contains a lot of errors.

For example, "olam" simply means world. It can mean a future world, as in the world to come, "Ha-Olam Haba," or it can refer to the present world, as in the repair of the world, "Tikkun Olam."

I also question the statement regarding Chai (life).
לט הֲתָצוּד לְלָבִיא טָרֶף; וְחַיַּת כְּפִירִים תְּמַלֵּא. 39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lioness? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
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Notice that the word Chai is not used.

As to the ra and tov, context is important. Normally HaRa means the evil and HaTov means the good. However, we have stories such as when the Rabbi prayed for our Yetzer Hara (evil inclination) to be removed, and suddenly there were no babies, no flowers, nothing indicating procreation of any sort. The story underscores that even our Yetzer Hara has its function.

Hebrew is NOT an easy language. It is built around root words, but while the root may shape the meaning of a word, it doesn't absolutely determine in. Please go to a reputable site or person. There is a website www.askmoses.com where you can chat live with a rabbi or scholar (except on shabbat).
 
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I wrote a paper on "Why there is no Hell" in college....it was about how the word "Hell" actually was never in the bible to begin with and the origional words "Hades" "Gehenna" "Tartaros" "Sheol" didn't even come close to the evangelical or Dantesque version of Hell....in fact the word "Hell" comes from the Norse word "Hel" who was a female goddess ruler of the underworld...in medieval times the word "Hell" taken from this Goddess was a hole in the ground to store potatoes and things for the summer....
It wasn't until these words that all mean significantly different things were combined into one word that the meaning was changed and lost....
 
The oldest Hebrew world for the afterlife is Sheol. It simply means the abode of the dead. During our captivity in Babylon, we adopted the idea of a kind of after=life school where remaining evil could be purged from us, and we called this concept Gehinnom (and it loosely translates as Purgatory). No where does Judaism teach an eternal torment -- rather the damned are simply destroyed, unmade.
 
Judaism lacks the concept of original sin. And doesn't focus on what comes after, but instead on doing good while here (not because of rewards in the afterlife but because it is good).

Olam literally just means world. Though tikkun olam - repair the world - does bring up really fascinating debates as to whether that means religiously or by the simple concept leave it better than you found it.

Pirkei Avot is a very good book of the Talmud to read on the concept of goodness, the world, and mitzvot.
 
origamipuzzleboxes said:
Judaism lacks the concept of original sin. And doesn't focus on what comes after, but instead on doing good while here (not because of rewards in the afterlife but because it is good).
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Indeed. They plagiarized the older and wiser Egyptian Book of the Dead.

The Gnostic Christian type of purity in life came out of their esoteric mystical views and we stuck with it.

I don't know if you will agree, but the older the tradition, the better it seems to be.

Judaism was not all that bad, but Christianity usurped it and corrupted it, then Islam took Christianity, plagiarized and corrupted it even further.

To the point where now secular forces have to protect itself from the god religions and institute laïcité to smarten the god religions and their immoral homophobic, misogynous and fascist ways up.

Regards
DL
 
origamipuzzleboxes said:
Judaism lacks the concept of original sin.
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As an aside. Judaism has an Original Virtue concept for Eden.

You might wonder why Christianity did a full reverse on this while at the same time screwing up their Original Sin concept by singing that Adam's sin was a happy fault and necessary to Yahweh's plan.

It sounds stupid but it is true. It must be because every Christian whom I ask to explain this contradiction runs away.

Regards
DL
 
It's said that with Hebrew words, or Lashon Kodesh (the holy tongue), the actual root of the word shows the essence of the word. An example I can remember hearing a while ago - Davar means thing and has the root of Dalet, Bet and Resh. The word speak has the same root. Why? When you speak you are taking energy and materializing it in a way. I don't know if I am remembering correctly but it was something like that.
Another example the word give is Nasan - Nun Tav Nun. It's a palindrome - reads the same forwards and backwards - to signify that as a giver you are actually receiving in a way. The good feeling etc. that comes along with giving.
The word Ahava (love) has the root of Hei and Bet which means to give as love develops once you give of yourself to another.

There's so much more. I would post when/ if I remember more.
 
hithere said:
It's said that with Hebrew words, or Lashon Kodesh (the holy tongue), the actual root of the word shows the essence of the word. An example I can remember hearing a while ago - Davar means thing and has the root of Dalet, Bet and Resh. The word speak has the same root. Why? When you speak you are taking energy and materializing it in a way. I don't know if I am remembering correctly but it was something like that.
Another example the word give is Nasan - Nun Tav Nun. It's a palindrome - reads the same forwards and backwards - to signify that as a giver you are actually receiving in a way. The good feeling etc. that comes along with giving.
The word Ahava (love) has the root of Hei and Bet which means to give as love develops once you give of yourself to another.

There's so much more. I would post when/ if I remember more.
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WHO ARE YOU
 
hithere said:
I'm a 28 year old Jewish women. Is that a problem? What are you suspicious of?
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No not a problem at all.

You kind of exploded onto the forum here without introduction, making these intricate yet assertive posts, so naturally people become curious.

In my case I'm a tad suspicious of people with your writing pattern and temperament potentially being sock puppets for my ex, so nothing you need to be worried about really.
 
In reply to Gracie Ruth's earlier post - can't seem to quote it:

There is a concept of a maximum one year "purging" which basically means your soul gets restored through a process your soul may find uncomfortable (and deeply painful - but I don't beleive it can be understood in physical terms) but necessary. I believe I've heard only people who caused fundemental damage to their actual souls (which is harder to do than you might think) need to get "unmade".

Additionally, it's said that ultimately every soul will be in a circle around G-d's presence (whatever that means) equidistant from Him. It's just a question of how long it will take you to get there, what type of pain you will subject yourself to with wrong choices and having to be redirected.
 
Yehudi - the Hebrew word for Jew - comes from the root to acknowledge. Why? Because a Jew should live in acknowledgement of the fact that there is a Creatorand all that it entails.
Ivri - (Hebrew) comes from the root across from/ on the other side, as Abraham figuratively stood on the other side of the popular philosophies and beliefs of his time.
Vayeda - Means to know. It also is used for intimacy since genuine intimacy is truly knowing another.
 
Can you show in Hebrew that was used in the Bible and Torah, then with the translations from then? That is how I studied the Greek: with Lexicons and interlinear translations. It would be interesting for me.
 
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