Regarding the hebrew of Genesis

[VoidCat]

I heard the first verse was mistranslated. That it means in a beginning not in the beginning. Is this true? My source wasn't reliable so Imma bout to look online and see if the hebrew is indeed like that. If it is indeed the case what does that mean in a beginning rather then the beginning?

 

[VoidCat]

I found this
“In a beginning, God created …”

In the beginning, God created ….” This is the opening phrase of most English-language Bibles. But our first Old Testament Interpretation I class revealed that a better translation is probably “In a beginning, God created ….” And that an even better translation is probably “In beginning ….[...]
The current Jewish Study Bible (Tanakh translation), containing an English translation of what some refer to as the Hebrew Bible, expresses the phrase closer to “a” beginning: “When God began to create ….”

The first class revealed that “In the beginning, …” is a plausible translation, but these other translations of the Hebrew are probably more accurate in light of what scholars now know about the text, the ancient Near East, and ancient Hebrew.
”

Don't know if it's a good source...i don't speak Hebrew so Im going off what others say

 

[VoidCat]

@Harel13 you know Hebrew...can you help? I'm just curious.

 

[rosends]

Neither "the" or "a" is a very useful insertion into the phrase. The problem has to do with the Hebrew word and its position as a root with prefixes or as a complete word on its own.

B'reisheet could be seen as "reisheet" (which means a variety of things, including 'foremost' and 'outset') introduced with a B prefix which means a variety of prepositions (in, on, at) and then there is the issue of the vowel which might be a function of meaning, or of grammar. So it is hard to tell if the best translation is "at the outset" or "in a primary sense" or something else. Quibbling about the definite or non-definite article, when neither is there and either can be inferred is not useful.

But there is another situation where the word "b'reisheet" is used as a discrete construct without a preposition introducing it -- it refers (almost as a proper noun) to a moment in time as if that "beginning" moment had a technical name which can't be broken down into parts.

 

[CBM]

I heard the first verse was mistranslated. That it means in a beginning not in the beginning. Is this true? My source wasn't reliable so Imma bout to look online and see if the hebrew is indeed like that. If it is indeed the case what does that mean in a beginning rather then the beginning?

בראשית is comprised of the prefix “ב” which can mean in, with or at, and ראשית which means beginning.

 

[Jeremiah Ames]

I heard the first verse was mistranslated. That it means in a beginning not in the beginning. Is this true? My source wasn't reliable so Imma bout to look online and see if the hebrew is indeed like that. If it is indeed the case what does that mean in a beginning rather then the beginning?

It doesn’t matter

Since it refers to hundreds of millions of beginnings, and not the beginning of a speck of rock in the vast universe, that just happens to be inhabited by us

imo

 

[Harel13]

Neither "the" or "a" is a very useful insertion into the phrase. The problem has to do with the Hebrew word and its position as a root with prefixes or as a complete word on its own.

B'reisheet could be seen as "reisheet" (which means a variety of things, including 'foremost' and 'outset') introduced with a B prefix which means a variety of prepositions (in, on, at) and then there is the issue of the vowel which might be a function of meaning, or of grammar. So it is hard to tell if the best translation is "at the outset" or "in a primary sense" or something else. Quibbling about the definite or non-definite article, when neither is there and either can be inferred is not useful.

But there is another situation where the word "b'reisheet" is used as a discrete construct without a preposition introducing it -- it refers (almost as a proper noun) to a moment in time as if that "beginning" moment had a technical name which can't be broken down into parts.

בראשית is comprised of the prefix “ב” which can mean in, with or at, and ראשית which means beginning.

What these people said.