@2024-02-23: TRANSLATING THE TANAKH

In re: an earlier conversation on Facebook....

Proverbs 13:20 JPS 1917:

"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but the companion of fools shall smart for it." 

Proverbs 13:20 BHS:

הֹלֵ֣וךְ* אֶת־חֲכָמִ֣ים וֶחְכָּ֑ם* וְרֹעֶ֖ה כְסִילִ֣ים יֵרֹֽועַ׃ 

Thanks to the Letteris & BHS Hebrew editions (and several MS. facsimiles, e.g. Aleppo and B-19), I not only can taste the flavor of Biblical Hebrew (which is surprisingly difficult in many Proverbs) and see the difficulties posed by the two K/Q readings, but how the ancient versions deal with all these. Plus, I can sing the Proverb, Psalm-style, according to "the accents of Scripture (טעמי המקרא)" as originally understood. Only a handful of people can do that (thanks to Suzanne Haik-Vantoura's work). Only one (I) can also conduct it with the original hand-gestures behind the accents! And if the Tetragrammaton were used in this verse, I could remove the veil Judaism has laid on it and give its original, Pi`el form.

Where does all that leave me as a native English speaker? Oddly enough, much where I was when I started. Translation [unlike circumlocution, as with (יהוה)] is not a "veil"; it's a conveying of the basic sense in another form. It takes away something, but it also adds something. That is inevitable. 

Put another way, Biblical Hebrew (as originally sung) puts its message where the *authors of the Tanakh were; any good modern translation, where *we are. 

True, the first should inform the second as much as possible - but I'm grateful for both.

(יוחנן רכב)