Women's Head Covering- 1Cor. 11:15 Never Before Understood- Clarified from the Aramaic
Shalom all,
I have recently been studying 1Cor. 11 and the issue of head coverings. While seeking to understand Paul's halacha on the issue I began studying the text in detail in the original Aramaic. In doing so I discovered that the Aramaic of verse 15 has been poorly translated in the past, even in the HRV (we will correct it in future editions). The Aramaic itself reads:
ואנתא מא דמרב סערה תשבוחתא הי לה
מטל דסערה חלף תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
Now the first phrase is simple enough:
"And [for] a woman, it is a glory to her when her hair is abundant..."
But the second phrase has presented some difficulty. The following are some past translations from the Aramaic:
...because her hair for a covering was given to her.
(Ethridge)
...for her hair is given to her for a covering.
(Murdock)
...for her hair is given her for a covering.
(Lamsa)
...for her hair is given to her for a covering.
(Roth)
...because her hair is given to her for a covering.
(HRV)
Now the Aramaic is :
מטל דסערה חלף תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
Lets break this down:
מטל דסערה
"because of her hair"
The next word is:
חלף
This word has been the difficult word to translate, in the past it has been translated as a preposition "for" however the word is generally a verb meaning "to exchange" or "to transform". It is often used as if it was a make shift preposition in the sense of "instead of" "in place of" or "on behalf of" indicating that one thing is exchanged so that it stands instead of another.
The next phrase is
תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
"a covering is given to her"
I am convinced from the context, that the passage should be translated in one of the following ways:
...because of her hair, on its behalf, a covering is given to her.
...because of her hair, in its stead, a covering is given to her.
...because of her hair, in its place, a covering is given to her.
Meaning that the covering or veil is over her hair, so that the veil stands in place of her hair. Instead of praying or prophesying with her hair flowing loose, in its stead is a veil over her hair.
I am interested in your feedback as to which of the three above translations best conveys the idea, as we will be revising future editions of the HRV with this clarified translation.
I am very excited about the work this ministry is accomplishing in bringing the message of Torah and Messiah to the world. We are also working on major projects to benefit the Nazarene community such as a Hebraic Roots Version of the Apocrypha.
I am asking you all to chip in and help support the work that we are doing here at WNAE.
The month is coming to a close and as many of you know the last two months donations were at an all time low. As a result we were unable to pay our bills. While donations have been picking back up in October we are now playing catch up on bills.
Friends this ministry continues to spread the teaching of Torah and Messiah to a dark world, but we need your help.
I know you are out there and I know you support the work we are doing because you have so often told us how invaluable you believe this ministry is to restoration of Torah truth and Messiah truth to the world.
Now we need you to put your money where your faith is. I often ask the question, is this work worthy of your support? Ask yourself, have you learned anything from this ministry? If so then chip in and do your part to help spread this truth.
I have recently been studying 1Cor. 11 and the issue of head coverings. While seeking to understand Paul's halacha on the issue I began studying the text in detail in the original Aramaic. In doing so I discovered that the Aramaic of verse 15 has been poorly translated in the past, even in the HRV (we will correct it in future editions). The Aramaic itself reads:
ואנתא מא דמרב סערה תשבוחתא הי לה
מטל דסערה חלף תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
Now the first phrase is simple enough:
"And [for] a woman, it is a glory to her when her hair is abundant..."
But the second phrase has presented some difficulty. The following are some past translations from the Aramaic:
...because her hair for a covering was given to her.
(Ethridge)
...for her hair is given to her for a covering.
(Murdock)
...for her hair is given her for a covering.
(Lamsa)
...for her hair is given to her for a covering.
(Roth)
...because her hair is given to her for a covering.
(HRV)
Now the Aramaic is :
מטל דסערה חלף תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
Lets break this down:
מטל דסערה
"because of her hair"
The next word is:
חלף
This word has been the difficult word to translate, in the past it has been translated as a preposition "for" however the word is generally a verb meaning "to exchange" or "to transform". It is often used as if it was a make shift preposition in the sense of "instead of" "in place of" or "on behalf of" indicating that one thing is exchanged so that it stands instead of another.
The next phrase is
תכסיתא הו אתיהב לה
"a covering is given to her"
I am convinced from the context, that the passage should be translated in one of the following ways:
...because of her hair, on its behalf, a covering is given to her.
...because of her hair, in its stead, a covering is given to her.
...because of her hair, in its place, a covering is given to her.
Meaning that the covering or veil is over her hair, so that the veil stands in place of her hair. Instead of praying or prophesying with her hair flowing loose, in its stead is a veil over her hair.
I am interested in your feedback as to which of the three above translations best conveys the idea, as we will be revising future editions of the HRV with this clarified translation.
I am very excited about the work this ministry is accomplishing in bringing the message of Torah and Messiah to the world. We are also working on major projects to benefit the Nazarene community such as a Hebraic Roots Version of the Apocrypha.
I am asking you all to chip in and help support the work that we are doing here at WNAE.
The month is coming to a close and as many of you know the last two months donations were at an all time low. As a result we were unable to pay our bills. While donations have been picking back up in October we are now playing catch up on bills.
Friends this ministry continues to spread the teaching of Torah and Messiah to a dark world, but we need your help.
I know you are out there and I know you support the work we are doing because you have so often told us how invaluable you believe this ministry is to restoration of Torah truth and Messiah truth to the world.
Now we need you to put your money where your faith is. I often ask the question, is this work worthy of your support? Ask yourself, have you learned anything from this ministry? If so then chip in and do your part to help spread this truth.
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