Bible Word Study/ Verb Tense Question
Today I was studying Isaiah 40:22 using the NRSV Interlinear. I was particularly interested in the tense of the verb "stretches". It appears that by reading the English translation that it is present tense and having no higher education, I obviously would have no reason to doubt the translation unless other English (my only tongue) translations would show differently.
For future studies, is there a way for me to determine the tense of a verb using Bible Word Study or any other resource that I might not be utilizing correctly?
Sorry if this sounds like a very novice question but I have found that no one here seems to care about a person's education/knowledge level! I thank you for that.
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yes, in your interlinear turn on "Morphology" in Display, and then as you mouse over it it will tell you in english what it is..
Never Deprive Anyone of Hope.. It Might Be ALL They Have
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Rick Hypes said:
Today I was studying Isaiah 40:22 using the NRSV Interlinear. I was particularly interested in the tense of the verb "stretches". It appears that by reading the English translation that it is present tense and having no higher education, I obviously would have no reason to doubt the translation unless other English (my only tongue) translations would show differently.
For future studies, is there a way for me to determine the tense of a verb using Bible Word Study or any other resource that I might not be utilizing correctly?
Sorry if this sounds like a very novice question but I have found that no one here seems to care about a person's education/knowledge level! I thank you for that.
If you interlinear display includes the "Morph" text, you can hover over that gobbledygook for an explanation of what the letters stand for. In this case the verb tense is "Qal." You could look up "Qal" in a Hebrew grammar (if you have one), for a brief explanation of what the tense means.
To answer your question, in the context, the verb is in what we would call the present tense. How much theological significance you would give to that observation is an entirely different matter.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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Qal is a stem, not a tense. The verb for 'stretches' in Is 40:22 is a participle, so it doesn't have any tense/aspect. (You can see in the parsing of non-participle forms the tense/aspect tags 'perfect' and 'imperfect', but the participle doesn't include those. For example, later in the same verse, the parallel verb rendered 'spreads' in the ESV is marked as 'imperfect'. Verse 23 continues with another participle with a parallel 'perfect' verb.)
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For Bible students who speak only one language, all is not lost. There are two types of translations: (a) word by word, and (b) idea by idea.
For example, the Mexican slang, "No tome mi pelo" has words that translate, "Don't drink my hair, " but the idea is the same as the American expression, "Don't pull my leg." Of course, if you translate the American slang back into literal Spanish, its meaning is also lost.
A Bible translation that tries to get the ideas to be the same: NIV
A Bible translation that tries to get the equivalent words the same: NASB
So get several of each and compare them. Luckily for us, LOGOS makes it easy to do.
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JackHairston said:
For example, the Mexican slang, "No tome mi pelo" has words that translate, "Don't drink my hair, " but the idea is the same as the American expression, "Don't pull my leg."
A bit off-topic but, couldn't let it go.
"No tome mi pelo" would better translate into English as "don't take my hair." As in English, a Spanish speaker can 'take' a drink, and tomar is used to express the idea of "drink." But no Spanish speaker would think 'drink' when he/she said "No tome mi pelo." BTW, a Spanish speaker would be more likely to say "No me tome el pelo," but that's a cultural more than a linguistic point.
Help links: WIKI; Logos 6 FAQ. (Phil. 2:14, NIV)
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Thank you all for the input.
Thought: Probably a bit over my head and maybe I should just compare the translations. [:$]
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Rick,
Don't be discouraged. You are asking the right questions. My guess is that the Lord has given you a hunger to dig deeper.
Yeah Logos!
Paul
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