Bit at a time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 1:21

Genesis 1:21

 

כא וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הַתַּנִּינִם הַגְּדֹלִים וְאֵת כָּל־נֶפֶשׁ הַחַיָּה הָרֹמֶשֶׂת אֲשֶׁר שָׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם לְמִינֵהֶם וְאֵת כָּל־עוֹף כָּנָף לְמִינֵהוּ וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב:

 

Transliteration: Va-yivra elohim et-ha-taninim ha-g’dolim v’et kal-nefesh ha-chayah ha-romeset asher shartsu ha-maim l’minehem v’et kal-of kanaf l’minehu va-yar elohim ki-tov.

Translation:    Gd created the great serpents and all living soul that creeps with which the waters swarm for their kind and all winged flier for its kind and Gd look for it was good.

Letters in this lesson:

Vocabulary in this lesson:

יִּבְרָא	He created (aorist)
תַּנִּינִם	Serpents
גְּדֹלִים	Big, great, large
רֹמֶשֶׂת	Creeps
כָּנָף	wing

 

With “big” you see another example of things dropping out.

 

Singular	Plural	Gender
גָּדוֹל	גְּדוֹלִים	Masculine
גְדוֹלָה	גְדוֹלוֹת	Feminine

 

Notice that back with meir, only the masculine singular had a vowel under the initial gimel, other than shva.  Also notice that in the verse, g’dolim is written chaser while in the table it is written plene.

 

Most translations have “whales” instead of “serpents,” but that’s because the Septuagint put kitae, the root of “cetaceans.”  The Septuagint used a lot of words that aren’t supported by the Hebrew.  But that’s a different project.

 

Another place where taninim appears is Deuteronomy 32:33, and it is used in parallel with p’tanim meaning cobras.  Parallel means comparable or alike in some way and whales are not at all like cobras.  Here, too, the taninim creep and whales cannot be described as creeping.

 

 

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