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By bringing to bear upon the discussion of two ancient Semitic verbs meaning "to fear"-Hebrew yr' and Akkadian paldbuthe findings of the modern study of the emotions, it is possible to propose a plausible answer to the theological dilemma as to why the Hebrew Bible should employ as a term for religiosity a term which "regularly describes emotions of dread and fright". Moreover, the light shed on Hebrew yr' and Akkadian palahu will, in turn, elucidate the nuances of the verb stc (ttc) in Ugaritic, Phoenician, Ammonite, and Biblical Hebrew (see below). The Hebrew verb yr', which is commonly rendered "to fear", may refer either to virtuous feelings and behavior,2 which are prescribed,3 or to non-virtuous feelings and behavior, which are pro

En 1926, Mordecai M. Kaplan proposa - comme il le croyait - une nouvelle interpretation d'Isa 6. La demonstration de Kaplan qu' Isa 6 n'est pas une vision de vocation est aussi interessante que son incapacite a rendre serieusement compte de la distinction prophetique entre sa propre vision et celle de Dieu. Une decennie apres l'etude fondamentale de Kaplan, Abraham J. Heschel publia son ouvrage »Die Prophetie«, dans lequel il designe le prophete hebraique ideal par le terme de homo sympatheticus. Ironiquement, le message central de Heschel etait que l'exegete ne devait pas etre une lecteur sympathique, mais empathique. Comme l'ecoute etnpathique est maintenant une methode admise, il devient possible de corriger la faute eisegetique dans la lecture d'Isa 6 par Kaplan.

Responding to my 1998 article “Three Failed Dialogues from the Biblical World,” Professor Moshe Greenberg suggested that by translating the imperative mut in Job 2:9 “Drop dead” I offended Job’s wife, Hebrew Scripture, and my readers. The offense was to make Job’s wife speak not the language of higher education but that of a fishwife or wastrel. In fact, both Greenberg’s defence of Job’s wife and my attribution to her of foul language are strongly represented in biblical translation and exegesis from antiquity to the present. Moreover, the examination of the history of the interpretation of both Job’s wife’s use of the imperative mut and of Job’s referring to her words as appropriate to one of the nebalot shed important light on the rhetoric of familiarity and contempt. This subject is certainly most appropriate for an essay in honor of the foremost scholar of biblical rhetoric, Yehoshua Gitay.

A quelle divinite se refere l'expression " bekhor mawet " en Job 18 : 13? un dieu ugaritique (Mot, Reshef) ne semble pas convenir. Un contexte mesopotamien est preferable : Namtar, le premier-ne d'Ereshkigal et le vizir du " Monde-d'en-bas " correspond bien a l'expression hebraique