Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 3:3-4

Genesis 3:3-4

 

ג וּמִפְּרִי הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר בְּתוֹךְ־הַגָּן אָמַר אֱלֹהִים לֹא תֹאכְלוּ מִמֶּנּוּ וְלֹא תִגְּעוּ בּוֹ פֶּן תְּמֻתוּן: ד וַיֹּאמֶר הַנָּחָשׁ אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה לֹא־מוֹת תְּמֻתוּן:

 

Translation:    From the tree that is in the middle of the garden Gd said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die.  The serpent said to the woman you will not actually die.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

תִגְּעוּ	touch
פֶּן	lest

 

“Touch” has the root nun gimel ayin which means that the nun disappears in the future and the related imperative, which is what we have here. 

 

Notice that the original commandment didn’t say anything about touching.  The rabbis comment that after the serpent said this remark here, he pushed her against the tree and when she saw that she hadn’t died, she was ready to keep listening.

 

Also notice that the serpent copies the verbage in the original commandment, using that intensive construction.  When somebody is trying to pervert how you think about things you have been told, copying the construction of the phrase disguises the fact that what follows is incorrect. 

 

I’ll say more about these verses at the end of this course, because they have to do with information I didn’t have until 2014 that revolutionized how I understand Biblical Hebrew.   Be patient.

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