It Really May Be Thousands of Millions! A Problem of Translation Solved! (or at least along the line)
Contents:
1. Introduction.
2. The KJ Rendering of thousands of millions and Hebrew Grammar
3. The Other Translations
4. The Alternative Hebrew Terms.
5. R.M . Shlanger: "Revavah Means Without Limitation!"
6. Conclusion
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Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
1. Introduction.
We do research and come to conclusions. In some cases our conclusions are considered definitive by us. At other times they are more in the realm of productive speculation and suggestion. This is one of those times. We may (or may not) be found mistaken on this occasion. Nevertheless even though there may be still some doubt as to our suggestions below we still think them worth considering.
Rebecca was the wife of Isaac and mother of Israel. Blessings given to Rebecca were destined to come to fruition through her descendants who received those blessings i.e. through Israelites.
See:
Geneaology of the Blessings. Development of the Promises to the Patriarchs of Israel from One Generation to Another.
Rebecca was blessed to become the mother of a very great number of people. The KJV renders the number as thousands of millions. Other translations give it as tens of ten thousands i.e. tens of millions. In the past based on our own knowledge of the Hebrew Language we thought that the other translations were correct and the KJV mistaken. We have now revised this opinion. It would seem that the KJV understanding may be nearer to the truth as explained below.
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2. The KJ Rendering of thousands of millions and Hebrew Grammar
The King James translates the blessing to Rebecca (future wife of Isaac) and mother of Israel as predicting thousands of millions.
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
The Hebrew expression translated in the KJ as thousands of millions is "alfei revava". "Alfei" means "thousands of". Revava is usually taken to be a plural form of "revo" and to mean "tens of thousands". "Revo" means ten thousand. We therefore should render "alfei revava" as thousands of tens of thousands i.e. tens of millions. Most translations (apart from the KJV) do indeed translate it this way. We however now think that revava is not a plural form of "revo" (also rendered as "rebo") but rather a unitary element after it. We would say that "revo" means ten thousand and revava could mean hundreds of thousands or thousands of thousands.
Alfei Revava would then be translateable as "thousands of thousands of thousands" i.e. thousands of millions.
The term "revava" is from the root "rov" connoting many. It has a doubling over of the end of the word root. According to the Early Sages (e.g. Midrash Torat Cohanim, see Rashi on Lev. 14:49) when a root is doubled over it implies a strengthening of the meaning.
Leviticus 14:
49 and if the plague is greenish [yerakrak] or reddish [adamdam] in the garment or in the leather, whether in the warp or in the woof, or in anything made of leather, it is a leprous plague and shall be shown to the priest.
Here the Hebrew words for green "yerak" and for red "adam" have had their word roots doubled making them yerakrak and adamdam. In Modern Hebrew and according to Iben Ezra this doubling over implies a weakening of the meaning. This gives us "greenish" and "reddish" as translated. The Sages however understood the effect to be the opposite and to imply an intensification of the root meaning.
We may accept the Sages understanding of Hebrew to be more reliable. Revavah would therefore imply an intensification of revo i.e. not just ten thousands but ten thousands doubled over and intensified and possibly multiplied with itself!
Apart from the KJ, the American King James Version, Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible , and the Geneva Study Bible , also render "alfei revava" as thousands of millions. These other versions however are probably copying the KJV.
The Geneva Bible preceded the King James Version and influenced it. A messsage we received from "Jay" tells us that the Geneva Bible translated Genesis 24:60 like the KJV did.
Jay:
For Gen 24:60, the 1560 Geneva Bible writes "...thousand thousands..."
"And thei blessed Rebekah, and said vnto her, Thou art our sister, growe
into thousand thousands, and thy sede possesse the gate of his
ennemies."
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3. All the Other Translations
All the other translations (including the Jewish ones) as far as we know, Â render Genesis 24:60 as thousands of ten thousands. Kaplan's The Living Torah gives, "thousands of myriads". A myriad may mean ten thousands or a very great or indefinitely great number.
The New King James Version says:
Genesis 24:
60 And they blessed Rebekah and said to her:
Our sister, may you become
The mother of thousands of ten thousands;
And may your descendants possess
The gates of those who hate them.
This was either agreed to by the following OR an even lesser number was suggest e.g. the Douay-Rheims Bible renders it as "thousands of thousands" and not "thousands of ten thousands".
See: Genesis 24:60 at:
Parallel Translations
http://bible.cc/genesis/24-60.htm
English Revised Version
Webster's Bible Translation
World English Bible
Young's Literal Translation
Clarke's Commentary on the Bible
New International Version (1984)
New Living Translation (2007)
English Standard Version (2001)
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (2009)
International Standard Version (2012)
GOD'S WORD Translation (1995)
American Standard Version
Douay-Rheims Bible
Darby Bible Translation
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4. The Alternative Hebrew Terms.
In Hebrew the word for one is "echad",
a hundred is mayah
a thousand is eleph
ten thousand is revo ("rebo")
Revavah (plural: revavot) is often taken as another form of revo but is it?
Here are examples of revo:
rebo -(RBOA)
Ezra 2:64
The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,
forty-two thousand is written as "arba [four] ribo [ten thousand] alpayim [two thousand] i.e. four times ribo [ten thousand] and two thousand].
Nehemiah 7:66
66 Altogether the whole assembly was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,
forty-two thousand i.e. arba [four] ribo [ten thousand] ... i.e. four times ribo [ten thousand] ...
Nehemiah 7
71 Some of the heads of the fathers' houses gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand gold drachmas, and two thousand two hundred silver minas.In Hebrew "stai ribo" i.e. two ten thousands ....i.e. twenty thousand.
We see from the above that when the unit ten thousand is needed precisely then the term ribo is used.
What about the word "revavah" that is usually thought to be synonymous with ribo?
Deuteronomy 33:
17 His glory is like a firstborn bull,
And his horns like the horns of the wild ox;
Together with them
He shall push the peoples
To the ends of the earth;
They are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.
The Hebrew "revavot Ephraim" the ten thousands of Ephraim.... the thousands of Manasseh (alfei Manasseh).
Here the KJV translates "revavot" as "the ten thousands" and not the hundred thousands or the thousand thousands.
This is how the expression could appear according to our suggestion:
# They are the hundred thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.#
This result makes it look as if it is stretching the point somewhat. Nevertheless it is a possibility.
Alternately,
Deuteronomy 33:
17...# They are the hundred thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.#
could also be rendered as
"# They are the hundred thousands of Ephraim within the the thousands of Manasseh.#
Other instances of the expression "revavah" include,
Ezekiel 16:7 I made you thrive like a plant in the field...
The word translated as "I made you thrive" in Hebrew is revavah. Here it is used in verbal form and connotes uncontrolled increase.
In Deuteronomy 32:30
30 How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand [revava] to flight,
Unless their Rock had sold them,
And the LORD had surrendered them?
Leviticus 26:8
8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand [Hebrew "revavah"] to flight;
your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
In these last two instances the word "revavah" does indeed appear to mean "ten thousand" though it might mean more.
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5. R.M . Shlanger: "Revavah Means Without Limitation!"
R.M . Shlanger, "Manasseh in Rabbinical Sources" raises the possibility that the two terms "Thousands" (in Hebrew "Eleph" = Thousand, and "Revavah"= Ten Thousand) do not refer to different absolute multitudes. He suggests that the two terms "eleph" and "revavah" refer to unitary measures that reflect different social-political attitudes. A "Thousand" according to this concept is a limited unit over which the leader had limited control within clearly defined parameters. This indeed was the case. There were leaders of tens, of hundreds, and of thousands. A revavah (translated as "Ten Thousand") on the other hand was not clearly defined and suggests a greater degree of possible autocracy. Saul became jealous of David when the women ascribed "ten thousands" (revavah) to David and only "thousands" to Saul. According to this explanation the reason for the jealousy of Saul was the greater potential control they were predicting would accrue to David.
[1-Samuel 18:7] AND THE WOMEN ANSWERED ONE ANOTHER AS THEY PLAYED, AND SAID, SAUL HATH SLAIN HIS THOUSANDS, AND DAVID HIS TEN THOUSANDS [in Hebrew "revavotav" from the word "revavah"].
This has been translated by the King James to say that Saul killed thousands and David ten thousands.
[1-Samuel 18:8] AND SAUL WAS VERY WROTH, AND THE SAYING DISPLEASED HIM; AND HE SAID, THEY HAVE ASCRIBED UNTO DAVID TEN THOUSANDS [Hebrew: revavot], AND TO ME THEY HAVE ASCRIBED BUT THOUSANDS: AND WHAT CAN HE HAVE MORE BUT THE KINGDOM?
R.M . Shlanger suggests that the difference did not lie in the quantities concerned but in the style of leadership the unitary units of quantity represented. It was being said that Saul ruled with a style of leadership of limited defined authority whereas David ruled or would rule with unlimited control implied by "revavot" .
Shlanger doubles the implication by saying that not only would David rule with unlimited authority but also that he would embody the will of the masses of people.
He says that both unlimited authority and the will of the masses of people are implied by the term "revavah". Revavah is cognate with the word "rov" meaning majority and with "rav" implying both many and control or mastery.
# Revavah is the style of management of the monarch as Saul said, THEY HAVE ASCRIBED UNTO DAVID TEN THOUSANDS [Revavot] WHAT CAN HE HAVE MORE BUT THE KINGDOM (1-Samuel 18:8). ... the honor [of leading a "revavah" emanates from the population masses [i.e. the mass (rov) of people empower the king] as it says,
IN THE MULTITUDE [Hebrew: "Rov" also from the same root as "revavah"] OF PEOPLE IS THE KING'S HONOUR [Proverbs 14:28].
# ..On this point we may discern the difference between Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim received his name from the principle of increase ["ribui-revavah"], EPHRAIM: FOR GOD HATH CAUSED ME TO BE FRUITFUL (Genesis 41:52). The power of Ephraim is to direct a "MULTITUDE [Hebrew: "Rov" associated with "revavah"] OF PEOPLE" (Proverbs 14:28) like a King. Thus Joshua from the Tribe of Ephraim continues the power of the Kingdom established by Moses over all Israel, as it says: WHOSOEVER HE BE THAT DOTH REBEL AGAINST THY COMMANDMENT, AND WILL NOT HEARKEN UNTO THY WORDS IN ALL THAT THOU COMMANDEST HIM, HE SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH [Joshua 1:18].
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6. Conclusion:
The blessing to Rebecca as interpreted by KJ may be correct. The promise to Rebecca may indeed involve thousands of millions. Alternately it may have meant hundreds of millions. Or it may have meant merely tens of millions as most modern translations put it.
We however are inclined to a higher figure.
Revavah does seem to imply a higher unit than rabo which means ten thousands. Ravavah also implies an increase without limitation.
Perhaps we shall live and see?
Genesis 24:60
And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
Important Note:
Rabbi Moshe ("Ha-Chatam") Sofer (1762-1839) was one of the leading Orthodox Rabbis of European Jewry in the early 1800s. Many of the leading Rabbis in succeeding generations were strongly influenced by him. In our time he is still often quoted and considered to have been a leading authority in legal Torah matters. The Chatam Softer (based on the Midrash Sifrei) said that "Revavah" means a multiplying factor of at least a million, when the context suggests it. See:Hundreds of Millions!-2articles/biblical-proof/blessings/billions1b.html
See also: