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Old 10-14-2008, 11:34 AM   #1
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Default The Aramaic portions of the Hebrew scriptures.

Various lists (most online, one in hardcopy in front of me) give the Aramaic portions of the Bible as follows:

1. Genesis 31.47.
2. Ezra 4.8-6.18.
3. Ezra 7.12-26.
4. Jeremiah 10.11.
5. Daniel 2.4-7.28.

I can visually confirm all these passages as Aramaic (which I do not know) except for Genesis 31.47, which appears to have Aramaic placenames, but also appears to use Hebrew words otherwise:
ויקרא־לו לבן יגר שהדותא ויעקב קרא לו גלעד׃
The main sentence looks like Hebrew to me (for example, the leading verb and waw construction, ויקרא, is used frequently throughout the Hebrew scriptures), but I cheerfully admit my Hebrew is very limited. So my question, for those who are better at Hebrew and Aramaic than I am, is whether this sentence as a sentence is in Hebrew or in Aramaic.

Ben.
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Old 10-14-2008, 04:28 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by Ben C Smith View Post
Various lists (most online, one in hardcopy in front of me) give the Aramaic portions of the Bible as follows:

1. Genesis 31.47.
2. Ezra 4.8-6.18.
3. Ezra 7.12-26.
4. Jeremiah 10.11.
5. Daniel 2.4-7.28.

I can visually confirm all these passages as Aramaic (which I do not know) except for Genesis 31.47, which appears to have Aramaic placenames, but also appears to use Hebrew words otherwise:
ויקרא־לו לבן יגר שהדותא ויעקב קרא לו גלעד׃
The main sentence looks like Hebrew to me (for example, the leading verb and waw construction, ויקרא, is used frequently throughout the Hebrew scriptures), but I cheerfully admit my Hebrew is very limited. So my question, for those who are better at Hebrew and Aramaic than I am, is whether this sentence as a sentence is in Hebrew or in Aramaic.
As best as I can see it, the only thing that is Aramaic about the sentence is the place name YGR $HDWT) which seems to mean basically the same thing as GL(D. GL => YGR = "heap/(etc)". (D => $HD[W] = "witness". BDB calls $HDWT) emphatic.


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Old 10-14-2008, 06:17 PM   #3
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As best as I can see it, the only thing that is Aramaic about the sentence is the place name....
That is exactly how it seemed to me. Thanks, spin.

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