Continued from
post #1045
Fourth, it's time to apply proper translation.
In
Genesis 2:16, the final two words "אכל תאכל" (to-eat you-eating) are of significant relevance to this topic since both of these words are of the root "eat".
The first of the two words "אכל" (
Strongs 398 - eat) is the infinitive verb form thus it translates to English as "to-eat"; however, some English translations use the word "freely", yet "freely" is an inappropriate translation of "eat" because the word is not the Hebrew word for "free" while it is the Hebrew word for "eat".
The second of the two words "תאכל" (
Strongs 398 - eat) is the imperfect verb form thus it translates to English as "you-eating".
These two words essentially result in the first part of the command being "of every tree in the garden to eat you will be eating" thus liberty of action without punishment is expressed. Also, instead of the permissive of "may" as part of the "eat" verb, it is appropriate for "will" to be part of the "eat" verb; in other words, "may eat" is the wrong translation., and "will eat" is the correct translation.
In
Genesis 2:17, the final two words "מות תמות" (to-die you-dying) are of significant relevance to this topic since both of these words are of the root "die".
The first of the two words "מות" (
Strongs 4191 - die) is the infinitive verb form thus it translates to English as "to-die"; however, some English translations use the word "surely", yet "surely" is an inappropriate translation of "die".
The second of the two words "תמות" (
Strongs 4191 - die) is the imperfect verb form thus it translates to English as "you-dying".
These two words essentially cause the end of the command to say "day you are to eat of it to die you will be dying" thus the punishment is expressed.
Fifth, conclusions based on the above.
Since some people say proper translation of "to eat" and "to die" depend on the Hebrew language construct, so then there should be no problem switching "freely" to "surely" in
Genesis 2:16; furthermore, there should be no problem switching "surely" to "freely" in
Genesis 2:17; however, switching or keeping "freely" and/or "surely" causes confusion, yet God is not of confusion but of peace (
1 Corinthians 14:33).
After all, "to-eat" followed by "you-will-be-eating" and "to-die" followed by "you-will-be-dying" have the same language construct of "qal infinitive absolute verb form" (to eat/to die) followed by "qal imperfect second person masculine singular verb form" (you-will-be-eating/you-will-be-dying).
The current English translation of "to eat" to "freely" is arbitrary in
Genesis 2:16.
As it stands in the English translations, the translation of "to die" to "surely" is arbitrary in
Genesis 2:17.
If one says that the vowel marks dictate the language construct, then such a one relies on the Masoretic Manuscript edits that the Masoretes added nearly 2,000 years after the original manuscripts, so that is arbitrary and capricous in
Genesis 2:16-17.
The bottom line is that "to eat" must be translated "to eat", and "to die" must be translated "to die".
The word "freely" in the English translations of
Genesis 2:16 should not be used because the underlying Hebrew word truly means "to eat".
The word "surely" in the English translations of
Genesis 2:17 should not be used because the underlying Hebrew word truly means "to die".
The word "may" in the English translations of
Genesis 2:16 improperly represents the underlying Hebrew; rather, the word "will" (verb future tense) is appropriate based on the underlying Hebrew word.
Genesis 2:16-17 contains a command, the word "command" in
Genesis 2:16 is singular, not plural, but singular, so all of the Word of God recorded in
Genesis 2:16-17 is a single command. The word "may" in
Genesis 2:16 used in the English translations linguistically reduces the command to a request because the option of eating from none of the trees would be valid with the word "may"; however, with the word "will" (verb future tense) then the Integrity of a command linguistically remains intact.
For the sake of consistency, if we apply the word "may" into the last of the final two words of
Genesis 2:17, just as the English translators did in
Genesis 2:16, then it becomes err apparent that the word "may" fails in that position for both verses. The result for
Genesis 2:17 would be essentially "day you are to eat of it to die you may be dying" thus a potential punishment is expressed, so this is ambiguous. God is precise, so ambiguous does not work.
This demonstrates that the verbs used by God to construct the final two words of
Genesis 2:16 and
Genesis 2:17 do not contain the word "may".
For
Genesis 2:16-17 to be true to form, conjugates of "eat" must be used for each of the final two words in
Genesis 2:16, and conjugates of "die" must be used for each of the final two words in
Genesis 2:17.
Proper Translastion Based On The Hebrew
First,
Genesis 2:16:
and commanded YHWH God to the man, saying "Of every tree in the garden to eat you will be eating"Second, please see this essay's
"The Meaning Of The Hebrew Word כִּ֗י(ki)/'for'/'when' in Genesis 2:17 Comparison With Other Portions of Scripture" section explaining the usage of the grammatically accurate word "when".
Third,
Genesis 2:17:
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not eating from, when in the day you are to eat of it to die you will be dying"
Fourth, properly bringing the two verses cohesively together to illuminate the entire command Genesis 2:16-17:
and commanded YHWH God to the man, saying "Of every tree in the garden to eat you will be eating, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not eating from, when in the day you are to eat of it to die you will be dying"
Behold, the context of Genesis 2:16-17 is not man's will, but the context is a precise command of God unto man.
