Bit at a time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:11

Genesis 1:11

 

יא וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים תַּדְשֵׁא הָאָרֶץ דֶּשֶׁא עֵשֶׂב מַזְרִיעַ זֶרַע עֵץ פְּרִי עֹשֶׂה פְּרִי לְמִינוֹ אֲשֶׁר זַרְעוֹ־בוֹ עַל־הָאָרֶץ וַיְהִי־כֵן:

 

Transliteration: Va-yomer elohim tadshe ha-arets deshe esev mazria zera ets p’ri oseh p’ri l’mino asher zaro-vo al-ha-arets va-y’hi khen.

Translation:    Gd said let the land sprout sprouts, plants having seed, fruit tree making fruit of its kind that its seed is in it on the earth and it was so.

Letters in this lesson: ז

Vocabulary in this lesson:

תַּדְשֵׁא	sprout (v)
דֶּשֶׁא	sprout (n)
עֵשֶׂב	grass, plant, herb
מַזְרִיעַ	making seed
זֶרַע	seed (n)
עֵץ	tree
פְּרִי	fruit
מִין	kind, sort, type

 

Once again, we have here a noun and a verb from the same root.  Twice.

 

In the Hebrew alphabet, there is shin and there is sin and the only way you know which is which, is the dot at the top.  It’s on the right for shin and on the left for sin.  But if you don’t have the vowels, it won’t be there at all.  This is another case where you pretty much know what the word is because the other possibility, when you know its meaning, doesn’t fit the rest of the sentence.

 

For example in Talmud there’s a phrase shen v’ayin or “tooth and eye.”  A bondsman who was a K’naani goes free if the bondholder inflicts permanent damage on him.  He took out an exclusive services contract but he didn’t sign up for physical abuse, and anyway Torah says to circumcise those bought with your money, so he’s a convert to Judaism and his bondholder is subject to the law of battery.  See the Fact-Checking thread for that.

 

At any rate, there is no Hebrew word sen.  You wouldn’t know that but use a dictionary to make sure whether you’ve got a shin or a sin in a word at first.  But the shin is in the majority of Hebrew words.

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