[1] “
ha’aretz” The land – in the biblical story of creation, the second thing that was created, according
to chapter one of the Book of Genesis.
[2] “
veheeneh” This word, in which “
ve”
is the prefix meaning “and”, is often translated as “and behold”.
Heeneh though, is not a verb and does
not relate to looking or seeing. It has the same root as the word for “here”
and emphasizes presence, in this context generating tension between present and
past. Further tension is generated by the fact that this same prefix
“ve”, the letter
vuv, is often employed in scripture to alter tense from past to future or future to past as noted below.
[3] “
tohu vebohu” In all of Hebrew scripture, these two words occur together twice – once in Genesis describing a state of creation, and here in Jeremiah, describing a state of destruction. The word “
tohu” has as its root the same word which is root for the word meaning chasm or abyss. The first letter of the word,
tuv, is the last letter of the alphabet – often associated with telos. The word “
bohu” appears not to share a root with any other Hebrew words. This has led it to be considered a nonce term, coined to rhyme with
tohu. Its first letter,
bet, is the first letter of the
Torah (the five books of Moses), usually taken to signify genesis. The two letters
heh, one in each word, are symbols for the presence of
Yahweh, God of the Jews. The other three characters in these two words are the letter
vuv. In scripture, the letter
vuv is often employed to reverse the tense of a verb, changing it from past to future or vice versa. That these words occur here is the first suggestion to the reader that Jeremiah will invert the language of the story of creation in the Book of Genesis.
[4] “shamayim” In biblical and vernaclar Hebrew this means sky, or literally “there is water”. Its form is that of a plural noun. This is the first thing that was created according to the book of Genesis.
[5] The absence of light, another creation of the first day – also an inversion
of Genesis.
[6] “
veheeneh” See note 2.
[7] “
hitqalqalu” This word occurs
but once in all of Hebrew scripture. Its root,
qilqal, occurs twice. In
the Book of Ezekiel, the Babylonian king shakes his arrows back and forth as a
means of divining. In Ecclesiastes, the same term is used for the motion of
sharpening of a blade.
[8] “
veheeneh” See note 2.
[9] The word for “man” here is the name Adam, creation of the sixth day.
[10] Birds – a creation of the fifth day.
[11]“
nadedu” In the Book of Esther, the
related word
nadeda is used to
recount the insomnia of King Ahasuerus: “sleep fled the king”.
[12]“
veheeneh” See note 2.
[13] Isaiah
32:15 – “… the desert will be a grove …”
[14] “Yahweh”. This is the not-to-be uttered
name of God. Its letters and structure strongly suggest that it is a unique
form of the verb “to be” – one that is neither past, present nor future
but possibly all three at once. As a proper name it is not translatable but it
is simultaneously a proper name and a unique verb. To the extent that there are
two words here they are at once homonyms and synonyms. Two identical words, one
a name, one a verb or, two words, a verb and a name that both have the same
meaning.
[15] The idiom used for “anger” here is “
kharon upoh”,
literally, “his burning nose”.
© Simon Glass, 2010