קוד: באש או ביש? בתנ"ך
סוג: פרטים1
מאת: אבנר רמו
אל:
In the Book of Samuel we read:
ויבא יואב אל-המלך הבית; ויאמר הבשת היום את-פני כל-עבדיך, הממלטים את-נפשך היום, ואת נפש בניך ובנתיך, ונפש נשיך ונפש פלגשיך.
“And Joab came into the house to the king, and said: You have shamed this day the faces of all your servants, who this day have saved your life, and the lives of your sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of your wives, and the lives of your concubines” (2 Sam 19:6).
Yet three chapters earlier we find:
ויאמר אחיתפל אל-אבשלם, בוא אל-פלגשי אביך אשר הניח לשמור הבית; ושמע כל-ישראל כי-נבאשת את-אביך, וחזקו ידי כל-אשר אתך.
“And Ahithophel said to Absalom: Go in to your father's concubines, that he had left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred of your father; then will the hands of all that are with you be strong” (2 Sam 16:21).
The Greek translator wrote here: “that you put your father to shame” which suggests that he believed that נבאשת (nivashtha) is letter-substitution and letter-insertion error of בישת (biyashtha) - “you put to shame.”
We also read in this book:
ויאמן אכיש בדוד לאמר: הבאש הבאיש בעמו בישראל, והיה לי לעבד עולם.
“And Achish believed David, saying: He had made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever” (1 Sam 27:12).
The Greek translator wrote here: “Shaming he has made himself shamed” and it appears that he believed that הבאש הבאיש (havesh hivish) is the same as הבש הביש (havesh hevish) - “surly ashamed.”
The superfluous א (a) letter in the Hebrew word for shame is found also in other biblical verses.
The Psalmist wrote: יבשו ויחפרו יחדו- שמחי רעתי - “Let them be ashamed and abashed together that rejoice at my hurt” (Ps 35:26; see also: Is 24:23; Jer 15:9; 50:12; 51:31; Mic 3:7; Ps 40:15; 70:3; 71:24; Job 6:20).
Yet in the Book of Proverbs we find: ורשע יבאיש ויחפיר “and a wicked man behaves vilely and shamefully” (Prov 13:5).
It is not clear how the English translator determined that here יבאיש (yavish) means: “behaves vilely” and such an understanding is not supported by the Greek translator who wrote here: “is ashamed” which suggests that he believed that יבאיש (yavish) is a letter-insertion error of יבש (yavosh). The comparison between these verses and the reading of: יבשו רשעים - “let the wicked be ashamed” (Ps 31:18) supports the Greek translator’s assumption
We read in the Book of Isaiah:
כל הבאיש על-עם לא-יועילו למו: לא לעזר ולא להועיל, כי לבשת וגם-לחרפה.
“They shall all be ashamed of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach” (Is 30:5).
Here the English (but not the Greek) translator assumed that הבאיש (hoviish) is a letter-insertion error of הביש (hovish) - “to put to sham.”
In the Book of Samuel we read that the king of the Ammonites put to shame David’s messengers and then:
ויראו בני עמון, כי נבאשו בדוד; וישלחו בני-עמון וישכרו את-ארם בית-רחוב ואת-ארם צובא, עשרים אלף רגלי, ואת-מלך מעכה אלף איש, ואיש טוב שנים-עשר אלף איש.
“And when the children of Ammon saw that they were become odious to David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob, and the Arameans of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men” (2 Sam 10:6; see also 1 Sam 13:4).
The Greek translator wrote here: “that the people of Dauid were put to shame” which suggests that he believed that here again נבאשו (nivashu) is a misspelled בשו (biyeshu) - “put to shame.”