[b-hebrew] Gen 1:22,28 ("replenish the earth"?)

Hello George :)

I used "Earthlings" (in quotations) because I was referring to Herman's
rendering of "ha’adam" (mankind) in this chapter (see below the statements
of his I was replying too). So yeah, your reading a little too much into
what I said :) I was not trying to indicate that I believe this is an
indirect reference to Martians here or anywhere else in the Bible! <egad!>

I cannot speak for Herman, maybe he can elaborate on his use of "earthlings"
and "replenish".

Sincerely,

Joshua Luna



-----Original Message-----
From: George F. Somsel [mailto:gfsomsel at juno.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 10:47 AM
To: joshua at can-do.net
Cc: b-hebrew at lists.ibiblio.org; Ephraim49 at aol.com
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Gen 1:22,28 ("replenish the earth"?)


I won't argue with you regarding the fact that "replenish" is not a
proper representation of the meaning of ML) in these passages.  I'm
wondering though regarding your use of the word "earthlings" and its
placement in quotations (It was necessary for me to do so since I was
referring to a word, but not for your usage).  Who would you suppose was
intended -- Martians, Venusians?  Or am I reading too much into this?

gfsomsel
_________

On Wed, 9 Jun 2004 10:15:11 -0500 "Joshua at can-do.net" 
writes:

> Herman,
>
> "Earthlings" were not instructed to, "REPLENISH the Earth". I believe you  are deriving this (correct me if I am wrong) from the KJV which has
> "replenish" in Gen 1:28:
>
>
> KJV Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish (ûmil’û) the earth, and subdue it: and
> have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Also see Gen 9:1
> which uses "replenish" for the same construction and instruction).
>
>
> The word translated "replenish" in the KJV of Gen 1:28 is __ûmil’û__ (Waw conjunction + Qal Imperative mp of ML’). Yet ML’ is found in the
> same form and construction (ûmil’û followed by DDO + maqqef + def. article and absolute noun) six verses earlier in Gen 1:22, and is translated "fill":
>
>
> KJV Genesis 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill (ûmil’û) the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
>
>
> The Lexicons and Dictionaries I have (HALOT, BDB, TWOT, NIDOTTE, TDOT) give no indication of "replenish" being an accepted meaning for the verb
> ML’ in the Qal (or any other stem for that matter).
>
> So, why did the KJV translators translate the same word/construction with two different words within 6 verses of each other? Why "replenish"
> in v.28 and "fill" in v.22? It appears that "replenish" had a broader meaning in the 1600's and could be used with no indication of the action being a
> repetitive or recurring action; the use of "replenish" instead of "fill" in  v.28 was simply a stylistic decision by the translators. The American
> Heritage Dictionary confirms this:
>
> =====
> Middle English replenisshen, from Old French replenir, repleniss-  : re-, re- + plenir, to fill (from plein, full, from Latin plenus. See pele- in  pean Roots).
>
> FROM: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by
> Houghton  Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
> =====
>
> The modern translations agree with this analysis that ML’ in these  verses  means "fill". The NIV, NASB, YLT, NRS, and so forth all have "fill"
> in these two verses instead of "replenish". This is an example of how words change over a SHORT period of time. In this case, "fill" gives the correct
> sense to the modern reader, while "replenish" is misleading to those unfamiliar with the archaic usage.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Joshua Luna