Sabbath study, xviii: a step-by-step example of translating the Hebrew Bible literally
Comprehending the text as it plainly stands. Decide for yourself if this was the product of mortal human imagination!
For anyone (…anyone?) who has read my previous sabbath study posts on the topical umbrella of translating the Bible literally (the Koine Greek text of the Textus Receptus restored collation of the New Testament will be addressed some other time, because I’m even less close to fully there yet, and currently am focused particularly on the Old Testament), one might wonder exactly how I came to the solidified methodology that I apply. Self-admittedly, I didn’t sufficiently explain the resolutely substantive fullness of my translating process in those earlier postings at a comprehensive level, so on this weekly sabbath day’s study, it is your opportunity to ride along on the journey toward beholding for yourself the manifested glory of the word of the God of the universe, Aᴅᴏɴᴀɪ Jᴇʜᴏᴠᴀʜ of Hosts! (translated in the KJV as “Lord GOD of Hosts”)
The textual pericope in question to examine will be Joel 2:1-11, the apocalyptic centrality of the first at-large chiasm (a.k.a. the D shaft of the menorah) of the Book of Joel. (the first at-large chiasm spans vv. 1:1-2:27, and the second spans 2:28-3:21)
In brief and introductory summary, before diving into the bone of the detailed translation analysis itself: this passage can become very vividly dense to internalize, because it is a divine revelation of the Day of Jehovah, a.k.a. the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Not only does this as a whole pericope comprise the D shaft of an at-large chiasm that in its chiasmus entirety takes the structural orientation of A-B-C-D-C’-B’-A’, but this D shaft is delineated down to the sub-branch almonds as the central nested pericopal chiasm of the at-large chiasm, a.k.a. D.a-D.b-D.c-D.d-D.c’-D.b’-D.a’. Very patently, this apocalyptic pericope is no insignificant passage to overlook.
So lengthy and comprehensive is the word-by-word interlinear study, in fact, that this post will only cover D.a into the central D.d (a.k.a. only vv. “2:1-6”), not even for this very time being covering the latter three primed/reflected almond units! (namely, D.c’ is the most difficult unit to comprehend)
Joel χ-I.D.a-d, word by word
(if you wish to double-check for yourself, this is the Masoretic Text Biblical Hebrew interlinear resource I’m using)
D.a (vv. ‘2:1-2’ in the standard verse division)
[Tiq'û shôfär B'tziYôn w'häriyû B'har qäd'shiy yir'G'zû Kol yosh'vëy hääretz Kiy-vä yôm-y'hwäh Kiy qärôv yôm choshekh' waáfëläh yôm änän waáräfel K'shachar Pärus al-hehäriym am rav w'ätzûm Kämohû lo nih'yäh min-häôläm w'acháräyw lo yôšëf ad-sh'nëy Dôr wädôr]
תִּקְעוּ (Tiq’û): modified form of the root term taqa which means “to blast [something]” a.k.a. “enblast”—this exact word in the very beginning of Jl. ch. 2 with the suffixed “וּ” in effect indicates a future tense connotation to the command, and therefore is rendered by me as “shall enblast”
[a] {implied indefinite article, supplied for grammatical purposes}
שׁוֹפָר (shôfär): can simply be translated as “trumpet”
בְּ (B’): prefixed preposition—the word “in”
צִיּוֹן (tziYôn): Jehovah’s heavenly abode, a.k.a. the true biblical “Zion” (no, it has nothing to do with the earthly satanic concept of so-called “Zionism,” so don’t even think about conflating the Hebrew Bible with earthly misconceived Anglo-Jesuit-Masonic-Kabbalistic-Nazi perversions of it)
וְ (w’): prefixed conjunction—the word “and”
הָרִיעוּ (häriyû): modified form of the root term ruwa` which means “to shout” a.k.a. “enshout”—this exact modified term is appended with the suffixed “וּ” and therefore implies an effected future-tense connotation, a.k.a. “shall enshout”
בְּ (B’): prefixed preposition—the word “in”
[the] {implied definite article}
הַר (har): simply, “mountain” (singular)
[of] {implied preposition}
קָדְשִׁ (qäd’shi): “sanctification”
[of] {implied preposition}
י (y): suffixed first-person singular pronoun(?), in this case rendered “Mine” (capitalized because it is spoken by Jehovah)
יִרְגְּזוּ (yir’G’zû): modified form of the root word רָגַז (ragaz—the verb means more or less “to tremble,” a.k.a. “entremble”), whereby there is prefixed the letter “יִ” a.k.a. modifying “entremble” into “entrembled,” and the suffixed “וּ” means the full word would be rendered more or less as “shall be entrembled”
כֹּל (Kol): “all”
[the] {implied definite article?]
יֹשְׁבֵי (yosh’vëy): at least if this term here (yashab, a.k.a. “to situate”/“ensituate” as a verb, and “situater” as a noun?) is in effect a noun, then the suffixed “י” implies plurality, a.k.a. “situaters”
[of] {implied preposition}
הָ (hä): prefixed definite article—the word “the”
אָרֶץ (äretz): “land” (not “earth”)
כִּי (Kiy): emphatic particle indicating causal relationship—“for-indeed!”
בָא (vä): basically, the verb “enter(s),” here translated as such in more or less implied “present-tense” root form
[the] {implied definite article}
יוֹם (yôm): “day” (singular)
[of] {implied preposition}
יְהוָה (y’hwäh): the name of the One and true God (its underlying Biblical Hebrew root meaning essentially “Self-Existence”), “Jᴇʜᴏᴠᴀʜ”
כִּי (Kiy): “for-indeed!”
קָרוֹב (qärôv): “near”
[is] {implied present-tense verb?}
[the] {implied definite article}
יוֹם (yôm): “day” (singular)
[of] {implied preposition}
חֹשֶׁךְ (choshekh’): “darkness”
וַ (wa): “and”
אֲפֵלָה (áfëläh): likely valid to translate as “gloominess” (if anyone else can suggest a better word to render it as, feel free to share any insights I perhaps missed)
[the] {implied definite article}
יוֹם (yôm): “day” (singular)
[of] {implied preposition}
עָנָן (änän): while ostensibly meaning “cloud,” the word here doesn’t appear to be meant to carry a singular nor plural connotation and instead implies simply the underlying substance a la “cloud-mass,” and therefore rendered by myself as “cloudage”
וַ (wa): “and”
עֲרָפֶל (áräfel): this term is difficult to precisely render, because the mainstream choice of “darkness” simply doesn’t capture the underlying uniqueness of this term with concision—because “choshek” is already translated as “darkness,” “arafel”—which does not bear a shared root with “choshek”—evidently would not be rendered as such, and instead denotes a heavenly-descended substance of mysteriously tangible thickness—my translation choice (again, if anyone else can suggest a better idea, feel more than welcome to share in good faith any insights I perhaps missed!) is “thickdropage” (as I said before, sometimes I need to just “invent” new English words to capture the ancient Hebraic concept adequately)
כְּ (K’): prefixed comparative particle—the term “according to”
שַׁחַר (shachar): “dawn” in essence, though likely better rendered as “dayspring” to capture the vibrantly active essence through a Semitic covenantal understanding
פָּרֻשׂ (Pärus): the root word means “to spread out,” a.k.a. “outspread”—here, it likely can be rendered accurately as “outspreading”
עַל (al): preposition—the word implies to be “above [something],” “over against [something,” a.k.a. “upon”
הֶ (he): “the”
הָרִים (häriym): because the “ים” (-iym) suffix is appended to the root word “har” (mountain), the implication is plurality, a.k.a. “mountains”
[a] {implied indefinite article}
עַם (am): “people”
רַב (rav): “exceeding” (debatable as to whether this is the best translation choice)
וְ (w’): “and”
עָצוּם (ätzûm): “vast”
כָּמֹ (Kämo): more or less can be thought of as a longer variant/counterpart of the “k’” (“according to”) prefixed comparative particle, and would be rendered presumably more or less as “according like”
הוּ (hû): suffixed masculine third-person pronoun, a.k.a. “him”
לֹא (lo): “not”
נִהְיָה (nih’yäh): apparently the niphal form of the emphatic root term הָיָה (hayah: “come to exist!”), indicatively past-tense in implication and therefore likely rendered along the lines of “came to exist!”(?)
מִן (min): preposition, essentially meaning “out of”—the word “from”
הָ (hä): “the”
עוֹלָם (ôläm): the meaning of this term indicates “forever,” “perpetual,” “indefinite” et al., a.k.a. “everlasting”
וְ (w’): “and”
אַחֲרָי (acháräy): “after”
ו (w): suffixed masculine third-person pronoun—the word “him”
לֹא (lo): “not”
[shall be] {implied future-tense verb?}
יוֹסֵף (yôšëf): “again”
עַד (ad): used and understood as a preposition, the meaning of the word being “as far as,” “until,” a.k.a. “even unto”
[the] {implied definite article?}
שְׁנֵי (sh’nëy): because “י” is suffixed to the singular form of the word (שָׁנֵה: shaneh) that means “year,” therefore plurality is indicated, and hence, “years”
[of] {implied preposition}
דּוֹר (Dôr): “generation” (singular)
וָ (wä): “and”
דוֹר (dôr): “generation” (singular)
Did you follow through on all this? If so, then excellent! This what it more or less looks like when all pieced together:
(1) Shall enblast [a] trumpet in Zion, and shall enshout in [the] mountain [of] sanctification [of] Mine! (2) Shall be entrembled all [the] situaters [of] the land, for-indeed! enters [the] day [of] Jᴇʜᴏᴠᴀʜ. (3) For-indeed! near [is] [the] day [of] darkness and gloominess, [the] day [of] cloudage and thickdropage, according to dayspring outspreading upon the mountains, [a] people exceeding and vast! (4) According like him not came to exist! from the everlasting, and after him not [shall be] again even unto [the] years [of] generation and generation!
Note that it refers to the day itself with masculine pronouns when it plainly reads “According like him…”—it’s not referring to Jehovah of Hosts (Who executes His wrath upon the ungodly inhabitants of the earth in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ), but rather literally the selfsame day as personified in masculine terms when the full terrifying scene is encapsulated in this intensely sublime revelation.
And this is only D.a! There are still six more total units to consider, and I (E.G.) today am only addressing the first four of them.
D.b (v. ‘2:3’ in the standard verse division)
[l'fänäyw äkh'läh ësh w'acháräyw T'lahëţ lehäväh K'gan-ëden hääretz l'fänäyw w'acháräyw mid'Bar sh'mämäh w'gam-P'lëyţäh lo-häy'täh Lô]
לְ (l’): prefixed preposition—the word “toward”
[the] {implied definite article}
פָנָי (fänäy): “face” [singular context]
[of] {implied preposition}
ו (w): “him”
אָכְלָה (äkh’läh): “eat” (present-tense?)
[does] {implied present-tense verb?}
[a] {implied indefinite article}
אֵשׁ (ësh): “fire”
וְ (w’): “and”
אַחֲרָי (acháräy): “after”
ו (w): “him”
תְּלַהֵט (T’lahëţ): the word means “to blaze,” “to flame up [something],” a.k.a. “enflame(s)”
[a] {implied indefinite article}
לֶהָבָה (lehäväh): “flame” (note the closely shared root with “t’lahet”)
כְּ (K’): “according to”
[the] {implied definite article}
גַן (gan): “garden”
[of] {implied preposition}
עֵדֶן (ëden): the translated meaning of the term would be along the lines of “pleasure,” but here it is obviously meant to be rendered as the name “Eden”
[is] {implied present-tense verb}
הָ (hä): “the”
אָרֶץ (äretz): “land”
לְ (l’): prefixed preposition—the word “toward”
[the] {implied definite article}
פָנָי (fänäy): “face” [singular context]
[of] {implied preposition}
ו (w): “him”
וְ (w’): “and”
אַחֲרָי (acháräy): “after”
ו (w): “him”
[shall be] {implied future-tense verb?]
[the] {implied definite article}
מִדְבַּר (mid’Bar): “wilderness”
[of] {implied preposition}
שְׁמָמָה (sh’mämäh): “desolation”
וְ (w’): “and”
גַם (gam): “yea!” (emphatic)
[an] {implied indefinite article}
פְּלֵיטָה (P’lëyţäh): the word here metes out to “escaped portion,” “escaped [ones]” et al., and is rendered by myself as the coined single word “escapate”
לֹא (lo): “not”
הָיְתָה (häy’täh): “comes to exist!” (variant of hayah)
לּ (L): “toward”
וֹ (ô): “him”
(5) Toward [the] face [of] him eat [does] [a] fire, and after him enflames [a] flame! (6) According to [the] garden [of] Eden [is] the land toward [the] face [of] him, and after him [shall be] [the] wilderness [of] desolation, and yea! [an] escapate not comes to exist! toward him.
Once again, herein is personified the day itself in masculine connotation, unveiling what all the land of the earth looks like before and after the day of Jehovah arrives: before Jesus Christ returns in the Parousia, the land is as if it were the garden of Eden in lush splendor, and subsequent to the day coming to pass, there is left only en masse destruction from one end of the earth to another, and no remnant shall come to exist among the wanting punished unto resolutely absolute destruction on that day.
The apocalyptic scene is only unveiled in starkly ever-terrifying imagery!
D.c (vv. ‘2:4-5’ in the standard verse division)
[K'mar'ëh šûšiym mar'ëhû ûkh'färäshiym Kën y'rûtzûn K'qôl mar'Kävôt al-räshëy hehäriym y'raQëdûn K'qôl lahav ësh okh'läh qäsh K'am ätzûm érûkh' mil'chämäh]
כְּ (K’): “according to”
[the] {implied definite article}
מַרְאֵה (mar’ëh): “appearance”
[of] {implied preposition}
סוּסִים (šûšiym): since the rooted singular form סוּס (suws) means “horse,” the appended “-iym” suffix indicates plurality, hence “horses”
[is] {implied present-tense verb}
[the] {implied definite article}
מַרְאֵ (mar’ë): “appearance”
[of] {implied preposition}
הוּ (hû): “him”
וּ (û): “and”
כְ (kh’): “according to”
פָרָשִׁים (färäshiym): likewise, because the rooted singular form פָּרָשׁ (parash) likely means “horseman,” the attached “-iym” suffix indicates plurality, a.k.a. “horsemen”
כֵּן (Kën): “verity!” (emphatic)
יְרוּצוּ (y’rûtzû): the rooted baseline word רוּץ (ruwts) means “to run” a.k.a. “enrun,” and therefore in light of the prefixed “יְ” and suffixed “וּ,” this exact variant evidently is meant to be translated “shall be enran”
ן (n): suffixed third-person plural pronoun(?)—the word “they”
כְּ (K’): “according to”
[the] {implied definite article}
קוֹל (qôl): “voice”
[of] {implied preposition}
מַרְכָּבוֹת (mar’Kävôt): “chariots” [plural?]
עַל (al): “upon”
[the] {implied definite article}
רָאשֵׁי (räshëy): the root singular form רֹאשׁ (rosh) means “head,” and therefore the appended י (-iy) suffix here indicates plurality, a.k.a. “heads”
[of] {implied preposition}
הֶ (he): “the”
הָרִים (häriym): “mountains”
יְרַקֵּדוּ (y’raQëdû): the root verb רָקַד (raqad) means “to dance,” a.k.a. “endance,” and therefore the prefixed “y’” and suffixed “û” of course means the modified form here wouldbe rendered as “shall be endanced”
ן (n): “they”
כְּ (K’): “according to”
[the] {implied definite article}
קוֹל (qôl): “voice”
[of] {implied preposition}
[the] {implied definite article}
לַהַב (lahav): “flamepoint”
[of] {implied preposition}
אֵשׁ (ësh): “fire”
אֹכְלָה (okh’läh): “eats” (present-tense?)
קָשׁ (qäsh): “stubble”
כְּ (K’): “according to”
[a] {implied indefinite article}
עַם (am): “people”
[of] {implied preposition}
עָצוּם (ätzûm): “vast”
עֱרוּךְ (érûkh’): “preparing” (present-tense?)
מִלְחָמָה (mil’chämäh): “battle”
(7) According to [the] appearance [of] horses [is] [the] appearance [of] him, and according to horsemen, verity! shall be enran they. (8) According to [the] voice [of] chariots upon [the] heads [of] the mountains shall be endanced they! (9) According to [the] voice [of] [the] flamepoint [of] fire eats stubble according to [a] people [of] vast preparing battle!
(if you think this is a doozy to grasp, try comprehending the full depth of D.c’ past the D.d almond💀—there’s a very good reason I’m not delving past χ-I.D.d for today’s post)
D.d (v. ‘2:6’ in the standard verse division)
[miPänäyw yächiylû aMiym Käl-Päniym qiB'tzû färûr]
מִ (mi): “from”
[the] {implied definite article}
פָנָי (fänäy): “face” [singular context]
[of] {implied preposition}
ו (w): “him”
יָחִילוּ (yächiylû): the root verb חוּל (chuwl) can be understood and translated as “to bear” a.k.a. “enbear,” and hence in accordance with the prefixed “yä” and suffixed “û,” the variant here would be “shall be enbeared”
עַמִּים (aMiym): because the root noun עַם (am) means “people” in a singular sense, the appended “-iym” suffix indicates plurality, a.k.a. “peoples”
כָּל (Käl): “all”
פָּנִים (Päniym): the word here—at least locally and contextually—signifies plurality, a.k.a. “faces”
קִבְּצוּ (qiB’tzû): because the root word קָבַץ (qabats)—meaning “to assemble” a.k.a. what can be simplified to one word as i.e. “assemblify”—is suffixed with “û,” there is indicated future tense, a.k.a. “shall assemblify”
פָארוּר (färûr): just like “áräfel” which I rendered as “thickdropage,” this term is difficult to translate concisely vis-à-vis the fact that the mass bulk of mainstream translations simply don’t capture the full depth of the term—because the connotation evidently is tied to a flushing of anxiety associated with paleness, my lexical coinage rests therefore on the term “paleflush”
(10) From [the] face [of] him shall be enbeared peoples; all faces shall assemblify paleflush!
This is the absolute D.d centrality of the first at-large chiasm of the Book of Joel: the entirety of humanity’s sinful mass majority at the end of time must enbear the scathing judgment they stored up for themselves as their faces are terrified in the abasing power of Jehovah in His day into nothing less than fully accumulated paleflush!
Conclusion
As the Lord and Savior declared during the earthly ministry of His first coming preceding His crucifixion to atone for the sins of humanity: “whoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled, and whoever shall humble himself shall be exalted.”1
Just as foreshadowed in type in countless examples, so too in the culminating ultimate antitype: the sinful masses of humanity who presumptuously magnify themselves and their vain egos above their Creator will face a truly terrifying reckoning after they complete their ripened wickedness of exalting a false “pro-common-people freedom and liberation” banner to elevate the final satanic world confederation dressed up in outward appearance as “God’s kingdom on earth.” The final “New World Order” will not arrive under the auspices of a WEF-heralded guise of overt elitism, but rather will outwardly present itself as the chief “antithesis” of the NWO agenda, claiming to be the culmination of a global “liberation” and “utopia” that has replaced and supplanted the old order of earthly chaos and mass bloodshed. In reality, all that will lead to is the consolidation of the satanic final end state of the NWO of Sabbatean-Frankist inversion to its maxim, encompassing globally spearheaded en masse persecution after any remaining godly person who worships the One God of Heaven (Jehovah of Hosts) and refuses to follow suit. Once the depravity flourishes into ripeness, there is culminated nearer and nearer the the day of Jehovah.
As the apostle Peter declared:2
This, now, beloved, a second letter to you I write, in both which I stir up your pure mind in reminding [you], to be mindful of the sayings said before by the holy prophets, and of the command of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour, this first knowing, that there shall come in the latter end of the days scoffers, according to their own desires going on, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of his presence? for since the fathers did fall asleep, all things so remain from the beginning of the creation;’
For this is unobserved by them willingly, that the heavens were of old, and the earth out of water and through water standing together by the word of God, through which the then world, by water having been deluged, was destroyed;
and the present heavens and the earth, by the same word are treasured, for fire being kept to a day of judgment and destruction of the impious men.
All the earthly-minded, self-“righteous”-flaunting, virtue-signaling masses (for instance: all those abominable pro-HTS bootlickers on social media who glorify the very Jewlanist rebranded al-Qaeda rump savages astroturfed into power by the genocidal nazijewish entity, all while concurrently claiming in the most brazenly naked hypocritical chutzpah to be “pro-Palestine”) might in the present moment imagine themselves beyond any plausible reproach to abase their egos. But when the face of the day of Jehovah arrives, will they be able to stand?3
(spoiler alert! the answer is “no”)
Matt. 23:12.
II Pet. 3:1-7.
Jl. 2:11; Rev. 6:17.