21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 3:19-21, aspectless "on demand" verbs

Genesis 3:19-21

 

יט בְּזֵעַ֤ת אַפֶּ֨יךָ֙ תֹּ֣אכַל לֶ֔חֶם עַ֤ד שֽׁוּבְךָ֙ אֶל־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה כִּ֥י מִמֶּ֖נָּה לֻקָּ֑חְתָּ כִּֽי־עָפָ֣ר אַ֔תָּה וְאֶל־עָפָ֖ר תָּשֽׁוּב:

כ וַיִּקְרָ֧א הָֽאָדָ֛ם שֵׁ֥ם אִשְׁתּ֖וֹ חַוָּ֑ה כִּ֛י הִ֥וא הָֽיְתָ֖ה אֵ֥ם כָּל־חָֽי:

כא וַיַּ֩עַשׂ֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים לְאָדָ֧ם וּלְאִשְׁתּ֛וֹ כָּתְנ֥וֹת ע֖וֹר וַיַּלְבִּשֵֽׁם:

 

Translation:     In the sweat of your face you shall eat food, until your returning to the earth, because from it you were taken; you are dust and to dust you shall return.

The man named his wife Chavvah, because she was the mother of all life.

**** Gd must have made for Adam and his wife cloaks of skin and dressed them.

 

Vocabulary in this lesson:

זֵעַת	Sweat (construct state)
לֶחֶם	Bread, food
שׁוּבְךָ	Your returning
אֵם	mother
כָּתְנוֹת	cloaks
עוֹר	skin
יַּלְבִּשֵׁם	Dressed them

 

Notice the aspectless structure shuvkha. The timing doesn’t matter; any time a person dies, he decays into dirt. Aspectless verbs are used for actions that happen upon demand; in law, it becomes commandments that go into effect when needed, not at scheduled times, but when circumstances demand it.

 

Notice the qual agentless structure ki memenah luqachta. This throws the emphasis onto the fact that man was shaped from the ground, and that feeds back into the et with the segol in Genesis 2:7. It also feeds into the phrase ki-afar; man’s essence is dust.

 

Notice that the only situation in which the first verse can be about baked bread, is if you assume that this episode has to do with agriculture. If you don’t understand that hunter-gatherers sweat while hunting and gathering, try it some time as a lifestyle. If you don't realize that people were gathering wild grain with sickles made for the purpose before 20,000 BCE, while agriculture began about 10,000 BCE, you need to catch up on your archaeology.
 

Adam and Chavvah still have not died.