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Richard

Young's Literal Translation for Exodus 3.10-12:

10and now, come, and I send thee unto Pharaoh, and bring thou out My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’
11 And Moses saith unto God, ‘Who am I, that I go unto Pharaoh, and that I bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt?’ 12and He saith, ‘Because I am with thee, and this is to thee the sign that I have sent thee: in thy bringing out the people from Egypt—ye do serve God on this mount.’

Edward Cook

The problem with ארי here and elsewhere in the targums is that frequently it is just an "automatic" translation equivalent for KY. I'm not sure much stock should be put in the targum in this particular case, unless it can be shown that the word was used advisedly.

JohnFH

Richard,

Hurray for Young's Literal.

Edward,

That was what went through my mind as well. It's possible that one of the commentators in Miqraot Gedolot cites the Targum (I don't have a copy at home to peruse), or at least seems to depend on it, in defense of a causal interpretation, but even in that case, ארי per se may be an automatic translation. To get at the question, one would have to explore variation in terms of translation equivalents (if any) across occurrences of כי.

blop2008

Yeah, I see, even the new upcoming ISV (International Standard Version) has it with asseverative "KI" (I certainly will be with you).

David E. S. Stein

Hi, John!

With regard to your main point, this post is informative and convincing, thank you.

At the same time, I am less convinced with regard to your rendering in Judges 6 of כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד as "down to the last man.” I perceive a different nuance to this idiom, for it seems to me that it is elliptical: "like [a group that has only] one member." (The bracketed piece is implied by the context, which collocates 'ish with a group noun.) In context, then, the idiom refers not to the thoroughness of the predicted victory against the Midianites, but rather to the ease and swiftness of its execution. In English idiom: in one fell swoop.

JohnFH

Hi David,

You could well be right. I hesitated with כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד, not really sure about its precise nuance; my translation is no more than a guess. Your suggestion is the best I've heard. It would be nice to have a linguistically informed analysis of this sort of idiom, across perhaps two or three languages, such as Akkadian, Hebrew, and non-translation Aramaic.

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