From: gordon brown <gbrown@euclid.Colorado.EDU>
> On Thu, 14 Mar 2002, Allen Roy wrote:
> > There is a simple solution to this apparent conundrum. The NIV
translates
> > it this way: GE 2:19 "Now the LORD God HAD FORMED out of the ground all
the
> > beasts of the field and all the birds of the air." This makes verse 19
> > parenthetical; referring to what God HAD previously done. Thus God
brings
> > to Adam the beasts and birds which had been previously created for Adam
to
> > name.
> > GE 2:7 the LORD God formed the man* from the dust of the ground and
> > breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a
living
> > being.
> > GE 2:8 Now the LORD God HAD PLANTED a garden in the east, in Eden; and
> > there he put the man he had formed.
> Hebrew verbs have only two tenses. Thus translators may feel free to
> choose whichever of our English past tenses makes the most sense to them.
> The NIV translators have done this apparently to avoid an apparent
> contradiction between Gen. 1 and Gen. 2, although some commentators are
> not comfortable with what they did. I don't think they had to do this in
> verse 8 since "plant" does not mean "create".
To be sure the Hebrew language has fewer verb tenses that English, however
the following note by W. Shea explains why it is allowable for the past
perfect tense of English to apply to the texts (both 19 and 8).
"The Hebrew verbal system differs from that of English by having only
two tenses, the imperfect and the perfect, and the word "tense" in the
temporal sense does not fit them very well. The imperfect verb yiser in
Genesis 2:19 is preceded by the conjunctional letter waw which in Hebrew has
the standard grammatical effect of converting it into a perfect. In the
simplest cases Hebrew perfects are translated with the English past tense;
so this verb commonly has been translated "formed." The spectrum of English
translations for perfect verbs in Hebrew is broader than just the simple
past, however, and in this verse an English past perfect fits the context
best.
One reason for preferring a past perfect translation here is the
parenthetical nature of this verse. The preceding verse quotes God as
stating that He would make ('e'esê) a helper (singular) for Adam. This
intent was fulfilled in verse 22 which states that God built (yiben) woman
from the rib which He had taken (note the past perfect translation of this
Hebrew perfect) from man. That God did not intend one of the animals to be
Adam's helper is evident from the singular versus plural contrast here and
probably also from the different verbs that were juxtaposed in verses 18 and
19. The reference to the animals in verse 19 is parenthetical, therefore,
and the conjunction with which this verse begins should be translated in a
disjunctive manner to bring out this point. This fits the past perfect
translation proposed for the verb which follows it. Thus the opening of
Genesis 2:19 is best translated, "Now Yahweh God had formed every beast...."
The preferable past perfect translation of this verb refers back to the
creation of the beasts and birds on the 6th and 5th days of the preceding
narrative respectively (note that both are mentioned here in an inverted
order), and the verb at the beginning of Genesis 2:19 does not need to imply
they were created again after man."
William H. Shea
Associate Professor of Old Testament
Andrews University
From http://www.grisda.org/origins/06059.htm#Anderson
Allen
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