Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 2:23

Genesis 2:23

 

כג וַיֹּאמֶר הָאָדָם זֹאת הַפַּעַם עֶצֶם מֵעֲצָמַי וּבָשָׂר מִבְּשָׂרִי לְזֹאת יִקָּרֵא אִשָּׁה כִּי מֵאִישׁ לֻקֳחָה־זֹּאת:

 

Transliteration: va-yomer ha-adam zot ha-paam etsem me-atsamay u-vasar mi-b’sari l-zot yiqre ishah ki me-ish luqacha-zot.

Translation:    The man said this, this time, is a bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh, this shall be called woman for from man this was taken.

Vocabulary in this lesson:

זֹאת	this
פַּעַם	time
עֶצֶם	Bone

 

Here you see the passive tense of laqach, that verb I had to eat my words on in a previous lesson.

 

Demonstrative pronouns

 

“This”

Singular	Plural	Gender
זֶה	אֵלֶּה	Masculine
זֹאת	אֵלֶּה	Feminine

 

“That”

Singular	Plural	Gender
הַהוּא	הַהֶם	Masculine
הַהִיא	הַהֶן	Feminine

 

The only two languages that I knew of where the pun on man and woman works, are Hebrew and English.  But remember, English developed after the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain and thus has a German basis, while Hebrew is a Semitic language.   In German itself the pun doesn’t work. 

 

Some online research turned up that in Akkadian there was a pun awilu and awiltu, man and woman respectively, but not in Sumerian.

 

Notice the change from etsem to atsamay.  It’s the same as a change from erets to aratsot.

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