What Is That?

BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

They gave for my nourishment wormwood, and for my thirst they made me drink vinegar.  Psalm 69:22 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter Wormwood – I’m guessing that you have no idea what “wormwood” is.  And I’ll bet you’re no better informed about “gall,” the other English translation.  But I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the verse before…

Translating without Reading

BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.  Exodus 1:21  ESV Families – Here’s the problem.  The pronoun expression “them” is lahem.  It is the preposition le plus the pronoun hem.  But the pronoun here is masculine in spite of the fact that we assume it refers to the midwives.  Something doesn’t look…