1: The word of YHWH that came to Joel the son of Pethuel 2: Hear this ye old men and give ear all ye inhabitants of the land Has this been in your days or even in the days of your ancestors?
Comments: Joel 1:2 James Strong’s transliteration of the Hebrew word 'āḇ, generally means “father” but not always.
The KJV
translates Strong's H1 in the following manner:
father (1,205x), chief (2x), families (2x), desire (1x), fatherless (with H369)
(1x), forefathers (with H7223) (1x), patrimony (1x), prince (1x), principal (1x).
Outline of Biblical Usage: father of an individual, of God as father of his people, head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan…ancestor.
Hebrew, like virtually every other language, including English, is an androcentric (male centered) language. That means there are some masculine words that of necessity include female members of the human race. 'Āḇ is one of those words. Context decides which of the above listed usages is the correct literal translation of the Hebrew words (אֲבֹ תֵ יכֶ ם abthi·km).
Abthi·km, the word most Bibles have translated as “your fathers,” is a plural word that has several literal translations, depending on context. It is even translated as “desire” in Job 34:36 KJV. Other versions translate the word as “would that.” One interlinear translates the singular counterpart of Abthi·km as, “will of me.” The plural Abthi·km includes the entire nation of Israel, and the context of Joel 1:2 demands the word be translated as ancestor, and not as father, in this verse, YHWH is speaking, here, to all the inhabitants of the Promised Land, at least one half of which were women. And these women were also progenitors, which is one of the biblical applications of the word āḇ, and accurately translated as “ancestors” in Joel 1:2.
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