Bit at a time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:14

Genesis 1:14

 

יד וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בִּרְקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה וְהָיוּ לְאֹתֹת וּלְמוֹעֲדִים וּלְיָמִים וְשָׁנִים:

 

Transliteration: Va-yomer elohim y’hi m’orot birqia ha-shamaim l’havdil beyn ha-yom u-veyn ha-laylah v’hayu l’otot ul’moadim ul’yamim v’shanim.

Translation:    Gd said let there be lights in the raqia of the heaven to separate day and night and they shall be for signs and warnings and days and years.

Letters in this lesson:

Vocabulary in this lesson:

מְאֹרֹת	lights
אֹתֹת	signs
מוֹעֲדִים	warnings
שָׁנִים	years

 

Quick quiz:  Which of these words are masculine gender and which are feminine gender?  This is not a trick question.

 

Usually moadim is translated as “seasons” because of its relationship to the phrase chol ha-moed which means the days of Pesach and Sukkot which are not “holy convocations.”  That is, some work is permitted on them, though the religious do not go to their jobs on those days.  You can cook on them, you can light lights, and so on.

 

The relationship to “warning” is that when the celestial signs are in a given configuration, you know that a holy convocation is approaching.  Every 7^th sun is Shabbat; every 29^th or 30^th day is New Moon; every 12^th New Moon is Rosh Ha-Shanah; the 10^th day after that is Yom Kippur; the next full moon is Sukkot; every 6^th New Moon after Rosh Ha-Shanah is Adar; if this Adar comes so early in the year that the barley will not be ripe 6 weeks later, then the next New Moon is Adar II and the New Moon after that is Nisan; the Full Moon of Nisan is Passover; the 50^th day after Passover is Shavuot.

 

A year has 12 or 13 New Moons in it; they alternate. 

 

You will need to know the word moadim because forms of it will turn up in Exodus and Numbers.  An ox is muad if it has gored somebody to death 2 days in a row; if it gores somebody to death on the 3^rd day, it must be put to death.  It is too dangerous to keep around, and its owner can also be put to death for failing to keep it locked up carefully enough or keep people away from it.  Likewise a person who tries three times to kill somebody and finally succeeds can be tried and executed if convicted.  There is more about this on the Fact-Checking page.

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