John “The Super-Hebraist” Hobbins has crafted a little ditty about a biblioblogger and he challenges his readers to guess the blog and blogger alluded to in the ditty, and to what end. He offers bonus points to those who can guess which Biblical passages he’s incorporated into the ditty. My guess was that it was about Chris Heard from Higgaion, because, well, it says הגיון right in it! I also guessed Psalm 89:4 (MT) as one passage alluded to. Another commenter mentioned Psalm 92:4 (MT) for the latter half. I think it’s supposed to show the irony of Chris being a member of a church that doesn’t use musical instruments in worship (i.e., the Churches of Christ) but having a blog whose title could refer to “the music of a harp in Psa 92:3 [H 4].” (TWOT, 467c) Then again, I might have no idea what Hobbins is talking about because I really don’t read Hebrew. And לאזני is somewhat perplexing to me, if, as I believe, it refers to Ozni the son of Gad. But according to BDB the name might mean “my hearing, or my ear,” so that would seem to make sense with what I think the ditty is saying. Here’s Hobbins’ Hebrew followed by my mechanical translation:
ברית כרתי לאזני
אין הגיון בכנור
Cut off from the covenant of my hearing/ear,
Whence the melody with the lyre?
I don’t know, what do you think?
B”H
Sounds plausible to me.
By: Matt on October 5, 2009
at 9:05 pm
Matt: Cool. How would you translate it?
By: Nick Norelli on October 5, 2009
at 10:27 pm
Nick, “cut a covenant” is Hebrew idiom for “make a covenant.” I’d translate it “I made a covenant with my ears – no music from the lyre.” Compare Job 31:1.
Yours is not bad for someone who doesn’t know much Hebrew though.
By: Doug Mangum on October 5, 2009
at 11:46 pm
Doug: Thanks. I took כרתי to mean ‘cut off’ but your way makes much more sense.
By: Nick Norelli on October 5, 2009
at 11:58 pm
Not sure how I would translate it. Really, I would need to refresh my Hebrew a bit before I could give you an informed translation.
By: Matt on October 6, 2009
at 9:28 am
Nick, you’re right that’s what the verb means on its own. Look at Gen 15 where God confirms his cov’t with Abraham by having him cut and lay out a heifer, ram, goat, etc. I think that’s the kind of practice that led to the idiom.
By: Doug Mangum on October 6, 2009
at 9:59 am
Matt: I hear you, but note that my translation was totally uninformed. ;-)
Doug: Makes sense.
By: Nick Norelli on October 6, 2009
at 12:35 pm
My comment would have read much as did Doug’s first, had not Doug already written his.
By: Christopher Heard on October 6, 2009
at 2:42 pm
Chris: Thanks for the second witness.
By: Nick Norelli on October 6, 2009
at 3:57 pm