17. "Davar" (Part 3) - A telling tale

So here are another 10 verses where the KJV translates the Hebrew word "davar" as "thing", and thus misses a very telling (logos-like) aspect regarding each verse. These early mistakes, as I see them, carried to most current English translations of the Hebrew Bible.

My suggestions, regarding the correct reading of "davar" in each verse, attempt to bring back the direct association to speech that is inherent to the term's root (דבר). Note how even small nuances provide a different flavor to the verse, if not an outright new meaning:

Genesis 18:14 - "Is any thing (should be "any declaration") too hard for the LORD?"

Genesis 24:66 - "And the servant told Isaac all the things (should be "all the tales") that he had done"

Deuteronomy 19:15 - "At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses,shall the matter (should be "the pronouncement",i.e. verdict statement) be established"

2-Samuel 11:18-19 - "Then Joab sent and told David all the things (should be "tales") concerning the war. And charged the messenger, saying, When thou hast made an end of telling the matters (should be "tales") of the war unto the king..."

Proverbs 18:13 - "He that answereth a matter (should be "a statement") before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him..."; this verse is about the etiqute of discourse

Genesis 41:37, after Josef delivered his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams - "And the thing (should be "the telling") was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants." A "telling" of a dream, as in an oracle, is its interpertation.

1-Kings 17:17, and numerous similar verses - "And it came to pass after these things (should be: "after these tales")..."

2-Chronicles 19:3 - "Nevertheless there are good things (should be "good accounts") found in thee, in that you have removed the [idolatrous] groves out of the land..."

Job 4:12 - "Now a thing (should be "a speaking") was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof"

Ecclesiastes 8:5 - "Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing..." should read: "Who that keeps the commandment shall know (!) no mistaken teaching", for correct action breeds correct knowledge and understanding.

And a bonus verse:

Ecclesiastes  12:13 - "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter"; should read simply: "The telling concludes, all has been heard..." (סוף דבר-הכל נשמע)

Ethan

John Tenniel's illustration, for a scene in Alice in Wonderland, suggests how in oral-lore cultures the "telling" -- the "davar" -- of an event, or of an idea, can create and define its very reality. 

In a way, Carroll's wordplay toys with the (long waggling) "thingness" of the mouse's telling:

'Mine is a long and a sad tale!' said the Mouse, turning to Alice, and sighing. 'It is a long tail, certainly,' said Alice, looking down with wonder at the Mouse's tail; 'but why do you call it sad?'

 

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