Re: Poem for the day

On Wed, 11 Sep 2002 10:49:47 -0400 Roger Mills <romilly@...> writes:
> Written years ago, but it seems appropriate at this time.
> It would be interesting to see it translated "back" into Biblical
> Hebrew,
> Greek and/or Latin.
> > A New Psalm
-

Here is me trying to do it in Biblical Hebrew.  Of course, i never
actually studied Biblical Hebrew itself, so i'm working on what 'sounds
right'.  Anyone who actually can consciously distinguish between Biblical
and post-Biblical Hebrews, please tell me if i made any horrible errors!
:-P

Mizmor Hhadash

> The Lord raises up the grain to become the bread on our table--
-

Dagan meirim Y--H, lihyot lehhem shulhhaneinu--
(grain raises God, to-be bread(of) our-table)

> His Sun ripens the grape, and it is the wine of our delight.
-

Tirosh mevasheil shimsho, vehu yayin simhhateinu.
(grape ripens his-sun, and-it wine(of) our-happiness)
[ti:ro:S] is the general 'crop' of grapes, like |dagan| is of grains;
they usually appear mentioned together in the Bible, along with |yitzhar|
'oil-producing olive crop'.  I highly doubt an actual Biblical psalm
would use this phrasing, though - generally everything is attributed
directly to God, talking about "his sun" as an intermediary between God
and his blessing would be weird.

> He has raised up Man, fairest flower of His field,
-

Et ha'adam heirim, et perahh sedeihu hana'e,
((dir.obj.) the-humanity (he)raised, (dir.obj.) flower(of) his-field
the-pleasant/pretty)
I couldn't figure out how to Biblically express "fairest flower of His
field", so i left it ambiguous whether the |hana'e| is referring to the
flower or the field.

> And given him dominion over earth--
-

Venatan lo shilton `al peney ha'aretz--
(and-(he)gave him rulership on surface/face(of) the-earth)
|shilton| may be a post-Biblical word, i'm not sure.

> But even as wheat and grape are certain in their destiny,
-

Akh ka`atid hahhita veha`anavim,
(but as-(the)future/destiny(of) the-wheat and-the-grapes)

> The ending of our season is kept secret in His heart.
-

Qeitz `onateinu nistar betokh libo.
((the)end(of) our-season concealed inside his-heart)

> His blessings surround us on every hand--
-

Brakhotav otanu tesovevena mikol tzad--
(his-blessings us surround from-every side)

> But the evils of this world are never absent.
-

Verish`ot ha'aretz af pa`am lo' yehhsaru.
(and-evils(of) the-earth any time no are-lacking)

> Lord, help us to be humble in the midst of plenty,
-

`Azrenu, Y--H, lihyot `anav bihyot hasova`,
(help-us, God, to-be humble in-being the-satiation)

> That all our days attest the wisdom of Thy creation.
-

Vekhol yameinu hhokhmatekha yabi`u.
(and-all our-days your-wisdom express)
I couldn't figure out a way to say "the wisdom of Thy creation" without
it sounding like the wisdom belonging to the creatures themselves, and
not the wisdom inherent in (or expressed by) the act of creation.


-Stephen (Steg)
 "there is darkness all around us,
  but if darkness *is*, and the darkness is of the forest,
  then the darkness must be good."
     ~ song of the BaMbuti in troubled times
 "tii raflep suddari.hlao nga'amsh,
  akh ikh raflep uzoi-tzat, i raflep-a tza'aurdzaasht-a uz,
  raflep-a ngausgaur sudtub."
     ~ song of the BaMbuti in troubled times (in Rokbeigalmki)

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