Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The Two Sons

1 Kings 3:21-22
(21) When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne."
(22) But the other woman said, "No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours." The first said, "No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine." Thus they spoke before the king.

I'm translating 1 Kings 3:16-28 for Hebrew class. Translation is tedious work, particularly when you don't know very many words in the language. I know maybe 450 words in Hebrew which really is not very many. I spend a lot of time flipping through the lexicon.

I also spend a lot of time repeating phrases that I've translated to make sure I hang on to the overall thread of the passage. I've read this story plenty of times. However, I don't think I've ever gone through it with a fine-toothed comb while I can hear my son making little noises on the baby monitor.

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