1:14 VA YOMER ELOHIM YEHI ME'OROT BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM LEHAVDIL BEIN HA YOM U VEIN HA LAILAH VE HAYU LE OTOT U LE MO'ADIM U LE YAMIM VE SHANIM
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים
KJ (King James translation): And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
BN (BibleNet translation): And Elohim said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to distinguish the day from the night; and let them serve as symbols, and for anniversaries, and for days and years."
BIRKIY'A: This is really BI REKIY'A, but Yehudit generally conjoins prefictual prepositions to the noun, making a single word where English uses two, and regularly that ellision also compresses the sound (grammatically, the sheva or double-dot under the second letter goes silent; however, as we shall see, this is not always the case, and sometimes cannot be determined).
YEHI ME'OROT BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM (יהי מארת ברקיע השמים): Curious grammar, why not YEHIY'U (יהיו) since ME'OROT is plural? In the second part of the verse HAYU is plural, for the OTOT. In a sense this note follows more logically after verse 5 than here. Here RAKIY'A and SHAMAYIM are two separate concepts where in verse 8 they were interchangeable.
LEHAVDIL BEIN HA YOM U VEIN HA LAILAH (להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה): This is also odd, as the distinction had already been made in verse 4. The only difference is that now they are called YOM and LAILAH - Day and Night - instead or OR and CHOSHECH - Light and Darkness.
VE HAYU LE OTOT (והיו לאתות): OTOT is often used as a military ensign, but this probably derives from a much later period than this text. Originally it meant a sign or symbol; of something past, as in a monument or memorial; of something future, as in a portent or omen. Here it signifies the various covenant days, festivals, high holidays and so forth, none of which, of course, have yet been created! The 15th of the month, the day of the full-moon, is normally the day of the festival; that day, in letters, should be Yud Hey (יה), but as these letters also give one of the names of god (or actually the name of the goddess), it is always known as Tu (from Tet Vav - טו = 9+6) rather than Yah (from Yud Hey - 10+5 = יה). In Greek and Minoan cults omens, oracles and prophecies etc are connected to Mercury, who is the patron saint of the fourth day of the week (Mercredi in French).
At this stage seasonal festivals were linked both to sun and moon.
U LE MO'ADIM (ולמועדים): From YA'AD (יעד) = "a set time, appointment". Festival sacrifices as well. Also "an assembly", though this usage is less common than KENESET (כנסת), as in the modern Knesset or Parliament. The "cities of refuge" defined in Numbers 35:6-34, and referred to in Joshua 20:9 and elsewhere, are called AREY HAMU'ADA (ערי המועדה), from the same root. OHEL MO'ED (אהל מועד) is the name of the tent in which Mosheh and Aharon met with Elohim in the wilderness. MO'ADOT (מועדות) also = "festivals", e.g. 2 Chronicles 8:13.
1:15 VE HAYU LI ME'OROT BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM LEHA'IR AL HA ARETS VA YEHI CHEN
YEHI ME'OROT BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM (יהי מארת ברקיע השמים): Curious grammar, why not YEHIY'U (יהיו) since ME'OROT is plural? In the second part of the verse HAYU is plural, for the OTOT. In a sense this note follows more logically after verse 5 than here. Here RAKIY'A and SHAMAYIM are two separate concepts where in verse 8 they were interchangeable.
LEHAVDIL BEIN HA YOM U VEIN HA LAILAH (להבדיל בין היום ובין הלילה): This is also odd, as the distinction had already been made in verse 4. The only difference is that now they are called YOM and LAILAH - Day and Night - instead or OR and CHOSHECH - Light and Darkness.
VE HAYU LE OTOT (והיו לאתות): OTOT is often used as a military ensign, but this probably derives from a much later period than this text. Originally it meant a sign or symbol; of something past, as in a monument or memorial; of something future, as in a portent or omen. Here it signifies the various covenant days, festivals, high holidays and so forth, none of which, of course, have yet been created! The 15th of the month, the day of the full-moon, is normally the day of the festival; that day, in letters, should be Yud Hey (יה), but as these letters also give one of the names of god (or actually the name of the goddess), it is always known as Tu (from Tet Vav - טו = 9+6) rather than Yah (from Yud Hey - 10+5 = יה). In Greek and Minoan cults omens, oracles and prophecies etc are connected to Mercury, who is the patron saint of the fourth day of the week (Mercredi in French).
At this stage seasonal festivals were linked both to sun and moon.
U LE MO'ADIM (ולמועדים): From YA'AD (יעד) = "a set time, appointment". Festival sacrifices as well. Also "an assembly", though this usage is less common than KENESET (כנסת), as in the modern Knesset or Parliament. The "cities of refuge" defined in Numbers 35:6-34, and referred to in Joshua 20:9 and elsewhere, are called AREY HAMU'ADA (ערי המועדה), from the same root. OHEL MO'ED (אהל מועד) is the name of the tent in which Mosheh and Aharon met with Elohim in the wilderness. MO'ADOT (מועדות) also = "festivals", e.g. 2 Chronicles 8:13.
1:15 VE HAYU LI ME'OROT BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM LEHA'IR AL HA ARETS VA YEHI CHEN
וְהָיוּ לִמְאוֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהָאִיר עַל הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי כֵן
KJ: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
BN: "And let them serve as lights in the firmament of the heavens, to provide light for the Earth." And so it was.
1:16 VA YA'AS ELOHIM ET SHENEY HA ME'OROT HA GEDOLIM ET HA MA'OR HA GADOL LE MEMSHELET HA YOM VE ET HA MA'OR HA KATAN LE MEMSHELET HA LAILAH VE ET HA KOCHAVIM
KJ: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
BN: Then Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to regulate the day and the lesser light to regulate the night; and the stars.
VA YA'AS (ויעש): LA'ASOT (לעשות) here, rather than LIVRO'A (לברע); where something has to be invented, rather than merely fashioned from existing materials.
The convoluted language allows the scribes to avoid referring to the god-names of the "the two great lights"; the sun is Shamas (in Yehudit SHEMESH - שמש - whence Shimshon/Samson), the moon is Sin or Shin (שין)or sometimes Su'en in parts of Babylonia. As Elohim has superseded all other gods, they have to removed.
HA KOCHAVIM (הכוכבים): KOCHAV (כוכב) here and not MAZAL (מזל). MAZAL means "destiny", and is connected to MAZALOT, the "circle of palaces" (MAZAL properly speaking is "a palace"), or the signs of the Zodiac, the 12 stations of the sun on its annual journey. So KOCHAVIM are the indivisual stars, but the MAZALIM the contellations; GAL-GAL MAZALAYA (גלגל מזליא) = "the circle of 12 signs", in Aramaic rather than Yehudit. In fact the original root of MAZAL was "a lodging-place"; and the zodiacal signs were held to be the sun's lodging place for each month of the year. 2 Kings 23:5 notes the superstitious worship of the zodiac. A GAL-GAL is "a wheel", or any kind of circle, and used for "a skull", as in the variation Golgotha (Yehudit גלגלת - Gulgolet) associated with Jesus. One of the major Kena'ani (Canaanite) shrines was at a site based on the same name: Gil-Gal; both Shemu-El (Samuel) and Sha'ul (Saul) sacrificed there, and later prophets lived there; idol worship was also prevalent at Gil-Gal.
MEMSHELET (ממשלת) from MASHAL (משל) = "to rule".
HA MA'OR HA GADOL: English translates "the big... the lesser", suggesting the sun is more powerful/important than the moon. Yehudit distinguishes only the physical size, not the status.
HA LAILAH (הלילה): thus LILIT is superseded too.
As we attempt to discern just how much physics, chemistry and biology the ancients understood, the first major error now becomes apparent - no understanding at all of the difference between a star, a planet and a moon, nor any awareness that there is no light emanating from the moon itself, but only the reflection of intense sunlight on its surface.
1:17 VA YITEN OTAM ELOHIM BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM LEHA'IR AL HA ARETS
1:16 VA YA'AS ELOHIM ET SHENEY HA ME'OROT HA GEDOLIM ET HA MA'OR HA GADOL LE MEMSHELET HA YOM VE ET HA MA'OR HA KATAN LE MEMSHELET HA LAILAH VE ET HA KOCHAVIM
וַיַּעַשׂ אֱלֹהִים אֶת שְׁנֵי הַמְּאֹרֹת הַגְּדֹלִים אֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַגָּדֹל לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת הַמָּאוֹר הַקָּטֹן לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת הַלַּיְלָה וְאֵת הַכּוֹכָבִים
KJ: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
BN: Then Elohim made the two great lights: the greater light to regulate the day and the lesser light to regulate the night; and the stars.
VA YA'AS (ויעש): LA'ASOT (לעשות) here, rather than LIVRO'A (לברע); where something has to be invented, rather than merely fashioned from existing materials.
The convoluted language allows the scribes to avoid referring to the god-names of the "the two great lights"; the sun is Shamas (in Yehudit SHEMESH - שמש - whence Shimshon/Samson), the moon is Sin or Shin (שין)or sometimes Su'en in parts of Babylonia. As Elohim has superseded all other gods, they have to removed.
HA KOCHAVIM (הכוכבים): KOCHAV (כוכב) here and not MAZAL (מזל). MAZAL means "destiny", and is connected to MAZALOT, the "circle of palaces" (MAZAL properly speaking is "a palace"), or the signs of the Zodiac, the 12 stations of the sun on its annual journey. So KOCHAVIM are the indivisual stars, but the MAZALIM the contellations; GAL-GAL MAZALAYA (גלגל מזליא) = "the circle of 12 signs", in Aramaic rather than Yehudit. In fact the original root of MAZAL was "a lodging-place"; and the zodiacal signs were held to be the sun's lodging place for each month of the year. 2 Kings 23:5 notes the superstitious worship of the zodiac. A GAL-GAL is "a wheel", or any kind of circle, and used for "a skull", as in the variation Golgotha (Yehudit גלגלת - Gulgolet) associated with Jesus. One of the major Kena'ani (Canaanite) shrines was at a site based on the same name: Gil-Gal; both Shemu-El (Samuel) and Sha'ul (Saul) sacrificed there, and later prophets lived there; idol worship was also prevalent at Gil-Gal.
MEMSHELET (ממשלת) from MASHAL (משל) = "to rule".
HA MA'OR HA GADOL: English translates "the big... the lesser", suggesting the sun is more powerful/important than the moon. Yehudit distinguishes only the physical size, not the status.
HA LAILAH (הלילה): thus LILIT is superseded too.
As we attempt to discern just how much physics, chemistry and biology the ancients understood, the first major error now becomes apparent - no understanding at all of the difference between a star, a planet and a moon, nor any awareness that there is no light emanating from the moon itself, but only the reflection of intense sunlight on its surface.
1:17 VA YITEN OTAM ELOHIM BIRKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM LEHA'IR AL HA ARETS
וַיִּתֵּן אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם לְהָאִיר עַל הָאָרֶץ
KJ: And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
BN: And Elohim gave them to the firmament of the heavens to provide light for the Earth.
VA YITEN (ויתן): Interesting use of NATAN (נתן) = "to give", though KJ translates as if LASIM (לשים) had been used. Stars are masculine, and later (post-exile, when Zoroastrianism was absorbed from Persia - Biblical Eylam, today's Iran, Medea at the time of the writing down of the Tanach) the light from the stars would become seen as message-writing in the skies by the gods, and that in turn would become anthropomorphised into the concept of angels, MAL'ACHIM (מלאכים) in the Yehudit, which means "messengers", and then, eventually, read as horoscopes. Male angels, because male stars.
1:18 VE LIMSHOL BA YOM U VA LAILAH U LAHAVDIL BEIN HA OR U VEIN HA CHOSHECH VA YAR ELOHIM KI TOV
וְלִמְשֹׁל בַּיּוֹם וּבַלַּיְלָה וּלֲהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הָאוֹר וּבֵין הַחֹשֶׁךְ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי טוֹב
KJ: And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
BN: And to regulate the day and the night, and to distinguish the light from the darkness; and Elohim saw that it was good.
To regulate - which seems to me more precise than "to rule" - the day and the night; to distinguish - which is achieved by dividing - light and dark. One set are gods, the other not.
1:19 VA YEHI EREV VA YEHI VOKER YOM REVIY'I
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם רְבִיעִי
KJ: And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
BN: And it was evening, and it was morning, day four.
REVIY'I (רביעי): RAVA (רבע) = "to lie down", whether alone or with someone else. It is only just distinguishable from the verb SHACHAV (שכב). Why it is the root of four, and of REVA (רבע) = "quarter", is not obvious, unless it refers to the fourth quarter of the heavens, the western quarter, in which the sun sets.
Pey break, the fourth strophe ends here.
1:20 VA YOMER ELOHIM YISHRETSU HA MAYIM SHERETS NEPHESH CHAYAH VE OPH YE'OPHEPH AL HA ARETS AL PENEY REKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM
Pey break, the fourth strophe ends here.
1:20 VA YOMER ELOHIM YISHRETSU HA MAYIM SHERETS NEPHESH CHAYAH VE OPH YE'OPHEPH AL HA ARETS AL PENEY REKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה וְעוֹף יְעוֹפֵף עַל הָאָרֶץ עַל פְּנֵי רְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמָיִם
KJ: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
BN: And Elohim said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let fowl fly above the Earth in the open firmament of the heavens."
YISHRETSU HA MAYIM SHERETS (ישרצו המים שרץ): SHARATZ (שרץ) = "to creep, crawl"; used of all reptiles and smaller water animals. SHERETZ HA OPH (שרץ העוף) are 4-footed and winged reptiles such as bats, but not 6-footed ones such as crickets. The verb LESHARETS (לשרץ) also has the sense of "to multiply", picking up again the construct that all original creation was endowed with reproductive powers.
I am drawing up a list, which I will post at the end of the chapter, of all the verbs used for the Creation. YISHRETSU may or may not make that list. Ostensibly it is secondary creation, the created waters now becoming a source of life; but are they - we were never actually told of the creation of the MAYIM, only of the SHAMAYIM. The MAYIM appear to have been there from before the "very beginning", alongside the TOHU and the BOHU and the CHOSHECH, and in verse 2 the Ru'ach Elohim was brooding over them like a nestful of eggs. So perhaps we can now understand MAYIM as "elements" rather more than mere water, but we still can't include them on the verb-list as Elohim does not appear to have created them, only used them.
NEPHESH CHAYAH (נפש חיה): From the root CHAVAH (חוה) = "to breathe, live". From the same root comes the name Chavah (חוה) = Eve, "the Mother of All Living Things". The verb LECHIYOT (לחיות) = "to be" connects thus to her, whereas the verb LEHIYOT (להיות) also = "to be", is connected with YHVH (יהוה).
VE OPH YE'OPHEPH (ועוף יעופף): OPH = "a wing", therefore all winged creatures, fowl or bird.
AL PENEY REKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM (על פני רקיע השמים): The vault of the heavens cannot be crossed by living creatures. Why is it not Rakiy'at ha-Shamayim? See my previous note, which this verse endorses: the Rakiy'a is the Shamayim; the two words are synonymous. Rakiy'at ha-Shamayim would give the translation that we have here; but it is not the Yehudit that we have here. "The vault which is the heavens" would be more accurate.
1:21: VA YIVRA ELOHIM ET HA TANIYNIM HA GEDOLIM VE ET KOL NEPHESH HA CHAYAH HA ROMESET ASHER SHARTSU HA MAYIM LE MIYNEHEM VE ET KOL OPH KANAPH LEMIYNEHU VA YAR ELOHIM KI TOV
HA TANIYNIM (התנינם): This connects to the writing of Yechezke-El (Ezekiel 29:3), and thereby again helps us to date the piece to not earlier than the 6th century BCE. Yechezke-El tells of the great serpent or sea monster TANIN (תנין), probably a form of TANIM (תנים) from TAN (תן), a beast dwelling in the desert which suckles its young and gives a mournful cry (perhaps a jackal or wild wolf-hound). In Arabic TANIN is a sea monster or vast fish. Exodus 7:9 gives a land serpent. Deuteronomy 32:33 and Psalm 91:13 give a dragon, while Jeremiah 51:34 has a crocodile (all the texts I have linked to in fact offer alternatives; which is why I have chosen them: scholars, as you will see, are in much dispute over this creature). In Job 26:12 the sea monster is Rachav (Rahab), who is connected to TAHAMAT and also to Liv-Yatan (Leviathan). The root is TANAN (תנן) = "to extend". Syriac and Chaldean = "to smoke", whence ATNUN (אתנון) = "a furnace", and perhaps, through the land-monster equivalent, Behemot, this is the root of the dragon that breathes fire. Most English translators here give "great whales", which is quite possible, though far less colourful than the above might infer.
Rabbinic scholars have long maintained that Ha Taniynim are the Egyptian crocodile, and probably they are; but the term is clearly used here to mean sea-monsters in general. It is plausible that the original text gave Tahamat and the Redactor needed to sanitise the text.
NEPHESH HA CHAYAH (נפש החיה): Curious use of the definite article, suggesting the soul of The Earth Mother or Great Mother - Chavah/Eve, of course.
HA ROMESET (הרמשת): RAMAS (רמש) = "to creep, crawl" (cf SHARATS above). Used for small land animals with four or more feet, such as mice, lizards, crabs etc; and also for those with no feet, such as worms, serpents etc. It can be used of aquatic animals. REMES = reptile.
ASHER SHARTSU HA MAYIM (אשר שרצו המים): Does this suggest knowledge that human origins lay in the sea? It certainly appears to.
LE MIYNEHEM (למינהם): Self-reproductive. These old-timers were not as ignorant as we moderns like to make out!
KANAPH (כנף): Probably the original form of OPH (עוף); note that KAPH (כף) is also a form used for "a wing", and is likewise probably a corruption from KANAPH.
1:22 VA YEVARECH OTAM ELOHIM LEMOR PERU U REVU U MIL'U ET HA MAYIM BA YAMIM VE HA OPH YIREV BA ARETS
PERU (פרו): PARAH (פרה) = "to bear, to be fruitful". Hence PARAH (פרה) = "a young cow, heifer, milking cow". Hence PURAH (פורה) = "a branch". Hence PERI (פרי) = "fruit", whether of earth, field, vine or tree. The First Commandment, requiring the process of eternal creation to be sustained, but also empowering it. So Creation engenders creation through procreation. Yet again, god the verb, not god the noun.
U REVU (ורבו): RAV (רב) = "many, great, large". Used to mean "an elder" (whence Rabbi), "a great man", or "a leader" in general. RAVAV (רבב) = "to become many". REVAVAH (רבבה) = "a myriad" (which in Yehudit was not an indefinite number, but precisely ten thousand). RABAH (רבה) = "a capital city". At this point the teacher should ask the students: how many commandments are there? Ten. Ten indeed! 613 to be as precise as the Rabbinic scholars are able to be in deducing them, of which this is the first, and considered by many to be therefore the most important - Go Forth and Multiply!
U MIL'U (ומלאו): One lot fills while the other lot multiplies; it is probably only for stylistic reasons that this difference occurs.
ET HA MAYIM...ARETS (את המים בימים והעוף ירב בארץ): This appears to be an attempt at a complicated pun that hasn't really come off. MAYIM (מים), YAMIM (ימים), YOM (יום); RAVAH (רבה), EREV (ערב). BOKER (בקר) could be read, without vowels, as BAKAR (בקר) = "cattle", which is what the PARAH (פרה = "calf") becomes once it has been fruitful and multiplied. But the triple play on consonants certainly does come off.
1:23 VA YEHI EREV VA YEHI VOKER YOM CHAMISHI
I am drawing up a list, which I will post at the end of the chapter, of all the verbs used for the Creation. YISHRETSU may or may not make that list. Ostensibly it is secondary creation, the created waters now becoming a source of life; but are they - we were never actually told of the creation of the MAYIM, only of the SHAMAYIM. The MAYIM appear to have been there from before the "very beginning", alongside the TOHU and the BOHU and the CHOSHECH, and in verse 2 the Ru'ach Elohim was brooding over them like a nestful of eggs. So perhaps we can now understand MAYIM as "elements" rather more than mere water, but we still can't include them on the verb-list as Elohim does not appear to have created them, only used them.
NEPHESH CHAYAH (נפש חיה): From the root CHAVAH (חוה) = "to breathe, live". From the same root comes the name Chavah (חוה) = Eve, "the Mother of All Living Things". The verb LECHIYOT (לחיות) = "to be" connects thus to her, whereas the verb LEHIYOT (להיות) also = "to be", is connected with YHVH (יהוה).
VE OPH YE'OPHEPH (ועוף יעופף): OPH = "a wing", therefore all winged creatures, fowl or bird.
AL PENEY REKIY'A HA SHAMAYIM (על פני רקיע השמים): The vault of the heavens cannot be crossed by living creatures. Why is it not Rakiy'at ha-Shamayim? See my previous note, which this verse endorses: the Rakiy'a is the Shamayim; the two words are synonymous. Rakiy'at ha-Shamayim would give the translation that we have here; but it is not the Yehudit that we have here. "The vault which is the heavens" would be more accurate.
1:21: VA YIVRA ELOHIM ET HA TANIYNIM HA GEDOLIM VE ET KOL NEPHESH HA CHAYAH HA ROMESET ASHER SHARTSU HA MAYIM LE MIYNEHEM VE ET KOL OPH KANAPH LEMIYNEHU VA YAR ELOHIM KI TOV
וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי טוֹב
KJ: And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
BN: And Elohim created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that crept and crawled and swam out of the elemental waters, each its own species, and every winged fowl according to its species; and Elohim saw that it was good.
VA YIVRA (ויברא): Here again BARA (ברא); for Humankind later YATSAR (יצר) is used, as LA'ASOT (לעשות) was earlier.
HA TANIYNIM (התנינם): This connects to the writing of Yechezke-El (Ezekiel 29:3), and thereby again helps us to date the piece to not earlier than the 6th century BCE. Yechezke-El tells of the great serpent or sea monster TANIN (תנין), probably a form of TANIM (תנים) from TAN (תן), a beast dwelling in the desert which suckles its young and gives a mournful cry (perhaps a jackal or wild wolf-hound). In Arabic TANIN is a sea monster or vast fish. Exodus 7:9 gives a land serpent. Deuteronomy 32:33 and Psalm 91:13 give a dragon, while Jeremiah 51:34 has a crocodile (all the texts I have linked to in fact offer alternatives; which is why I have chosen them: scholars, as you will see, are in much dispute over this creature). In Job 26:12 the sea monster is Rachav (Rahab), who is connected to TAHAMAT and also to Liv-Yatan (Leviathan). The root is TANAN (תנן) = "to extend". Syriac and Chaldean = "to smoke", whence ATNUN (אתנון) = "a furnace", and perhaps, through the land-monster equivalent, Behemot, this is the root of the dragon that breathes fire. Most English translators here give "great whales", which is quite possible, though far less colourful than the above might infer.
Rabbinic scholars have long maintained that Ha Taniynim are the Egyptian crocodile, and probably they are; but the term is clearly used here to mean sea-monsters in general. It is plausible that the original text gave Tahamat and the Redactor needed to sanitise the text.
NEPHESH HA CHAYAH (נפש החיה): Curious use of the definite article, suggesting the soul of The Earth Mother or Great Mother - Chavah/Eve, of course.
HA ROMESET (הרמשת): RAMAS (רמש) = "to creep, crawl" (cf SHARATS above). Used for small land animals with four or more feet, such as mice, lizards, crabs etc; and also for those with no feet, such as worms, serpents etc. It can be used of aquatic animals. REMES = reptile.
ASHER SHARTSU HA MAYIM (אשר שרצו המים): Does this suggest knowledge that human origins lay in the sea? It certainly appears to.
LE MIYNEHEM (למינהם): Self-reproductive. These old-timers were not as ignorant as we moderns like to make out!
KANAPH (כנף): Probably the original form of OPH (עוף); note that KAPH (כף) is also a form used for "a wing", and is likewise probably a corruption from KANAPH.
1:22 VA YEVARECH OTAM ELOHIM LEMOR PERU U REVU U MIL'U ET HA MAYIM BA YAMIM VE HA OPH YIREV BA ARETS
וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם אֱלֹהִים לֵאמֹר פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הַמַּיִם בַּיַּמִּים וְהָעוֹף יִרֶב בָּאָרֶץ
KJ: And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
BN: And Elohim blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the Earth."
VA YEVARECH OTAM (ויברך אתם): Fascinating! BERECH (ברך) = "a knee". In ancient times prayer and kingly obedience were not achieved by kneeling, but by full-scale prostration. Usually kneeling was a form of salute, if it was just oneknee, or grovelling, if it was both. The concept of "blessing" someone or something, in either the Jewish or the Christian sense, comes very much later, though, like knighting them, we wouild expect them to bend on one knee to receive the blessing. But in this instance we should not think of Elohim "blessing" his Creation like a saintly father on the balcony at St Peter's, but rather of him "saluting" them, like a Soviet general in Red Square as the endless parade of his armies goes marching by.
PERU (פרו): PARAH (פרה) = "to bear, to be fruitful". Hence PARAH (פרה) = "a young cow, heifer, milking cow". Hence PURAH (פורה) = "a branch". Hence PERI (פרי) = "fruit", whether of earth, field, vine or tree. The First Commandment, requiring the process of eternal creation to be sustained, but also empowering it. So Creation engenders creation through procreation. Yet again, god the verb, not god the noun.
U REVU (ורבו): RAV (רב) = "many, great, large". Used to mean "an elder" (whence Rabbi), "a great man", or "a leader" in general. RAVAV (רבב) = "to become many". REVAVAH (רבבה) = "a myriad" (which in Yehudit was not an indefinite number, but precisely ten thousand). RABAH (רבה) = "a capital city". At this point the teacher should ask the students: how many commandments are there? Ten. Ten indeed! 613 to be as precise as the Rabbinic scholars are able to be in deducing them, of which this is the first, and considered by many to be therefore the most important - Go Forth and Multiply!
U MIL'U (ומלאו): One lot fills while the other lot multiplies; it is probably only for stylistic reasons that this difference occurs.
ET HA MAYIM...ARETS (את המים בימים והעוף ירב בארץ): This appears to be an attempt at a complicated pun that hasn't really come off. MAYIM (מים), YAMIM (ימים), YOM (יום); RAVAH (רבה), EREV (ערב). BOKER (בקר) could be read, without vowels, as BAKAR (בקר) = "cattle", which is what the PARAH (פרה = "calf") becomes once it has been fruitful and multiplied. But the triple play on consonants certainly does come off.
1:23 VA YEHI EREV VA YEHI VOKER YOM CHAMISHI
וַיְהִי עֶרֶב וַיְהִי בֹקֶר יוֹם חֲמִישִׁי
KJ: And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
BN: And it was evening, and then morning, day five.
Day of Jupiter, Bel, Marduk. CHAMASH (חמש) = "to be fat" (therefore day of growth, expansion, multiplication). CHOMESH (חומש) = "the abdomen". CHAMASH (חמש) also = "to be eager", "manly in battle", "to be angry" or "to make angry"". How this gets to be the number 5 is a mystery, unless it is a description of the perceived character of this day's god. 5 also stands for the 5 minor planets and the 5 elements. 5 is represented by the letter HAY (ה).
Pey break; end of fifth strophe and second fragment.
But also the list that I promised earlier, of all the verbs used in the (primary) Creation: BARA (v1) YEHI (v3), YAVDEL (v4), YA'AS (v7), YIKRA (v8), YIKAVU (v9), TERA'EH (v9), TADSH'E (v11), NATAN (v17). If any more occur in chapter 2, on the final day, I will update the list there.
Pey break; end of fifth strophe and second fragment.
But also the list that I promised earlier, of all the verbs used in the (primary) Creation: BARA (v1) YEHI (v3), YAVDEL (v4), YA'AS (v7), YIKRA (v8), YIKAVU (v9), TERA'EH (v9), TADSH'E (v11), NATAN (v17). If any more occur in chapter 2, on the final day, I will update the list there.
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