Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Rarely used words in the Psalter - 22

The rare word today is bruise - not מחץ as in Psalm 110:6 - wound, not דכא to be crushed or broken as in Isaiah 53:10, but שוף used only 4 times in the Bible, Genesis 3:15 twice, Job 9:17 who with a tempest bruises me - hence my current interest, and Psalm 139:11 - surely darkness will crush me... remarkable! Not where we might expect it. Traditional translations have cover, I chose crush, but I did not notice the connection with the promise to the woman in Genesis.

Job is capturing all my attention these days - an occasional foray back to psalms ... This word seems structurally insignificant in Job. Just another complaint - all in a day's work.

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