Continuing my theme of the untranslatable, there is a large degree of wordplay in the Old Testament that don’t easily translate from the Hebrew.

• There are naming wordplays like in Genesis 11:9 -”Therefore, one called it’s name Babel, for their the Lord confounded (balal) the language of all the earth”, and in  Genesis 2:23 between ‘arum (subtle) and ‘arummim (naked).
• Words with double meanings, for example in “Truly, has God said ‘You shall eat from any tree in the garden?’, where the word for ‘any’ (kol) also means ‘every’. Kol also plays on the word for eat, ‘akhol. The word for tree, ‘etz, can be both singular and collective, confusing matters further.
• Wordplays that involve switching letters, for example levenah (brick) and navelah (let’s confuse) in the Babel story.
• Complex wordplays can involve many words, for example ‘ed (mist), ‘adamah (soil), ‘adam (human being), tardemah (deep sleep), dam (blood). all occurring Genesis 2-4.

I find these things interesting – they spur me on to study biblical languages myself, though I will, no doubt, begin with Greek. The interesting thing is that, whilst these wordplays contain meaning, can I be sure that this meaning is essential to my understanding? I’m not sure.