신명기 33:29의 ‘바못’의 번역에 관한 제안 (A Suggestion for the Translation of Bāmôt in Deuteronomy 33:29)

서지정보

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· 저자명 : 김정봉

초록

The translation of the Hebrew word bāmôt in Deu 33:29 is not consistent in Korean versions of the Bible. The meanings of the translations are quite different from one another. The same situation is found in certain versions of Dutch, German, and English translations. This observation leads one to examine the root meaning of bāmôt for a proper translation.
In the Old Testament, there is no obvious clue to determine the meaning of bamah, whose plural form is bāmôt. As a rule bamah is translated as either “high places” in the cultic context or as topographical ‘heights’. However, it is difficult to decide on a proper meaning of the word in any biblical text that does not provide a clear context for the word, as in the case of Deu 33:29. In the biblical text, many scholars translate bāmôt as “backs”. In that case, they mostly see the Ugaritic bmt as a cognate to bāmôt.
However, this researcher does not agree that the meaning of bmt is fixed as “back” as a cognate to bāmôt. Rather, it depends on a given literary and theological context. It is essential to determine the context of bāmôt to define its meaning in the text. It is proposed that analysing the literary structure of Deu 33 and the poetic structure of Deu 33:29 may yield meaningful results that will allow the discussion of a proper literary and theological context of bāmôt in the broader context of Deuteronomy. Apparently “backs” as an anatomical term possesses a tangible and concrete meaning that the biblical context indicates. The result of this research reaffirms that “backs” would be the proper meaning of bāmôt as seen in certain versions.

영어초록

The translation of the Hebrew word bāmôt in Deu 33:29 is not consistent in Korean versions of the Bible. The meanings of the translations are quite different from one another. The same situation is found in certain versions of Dutch, German, and English translations. This observation leads one to examine the root meaning of bāmôt for a proper translation.
In the Old Testament, there is no obvious clue to determine the meaning of bamah, whose plural form is bāmôt. As a rule bamah is translated as either “high places” in the cultic context or as topographical ‘heights’. However, it is difficult to decide on a proper meaning of the word in any biblical text that does not provide a clear context for the word, as in the case of Deu 33:29. In the biblical text, many scholars translate bāmôt as “backs”. In that case, they mostly see the Ugaritic bmt as a cognate to bāmôt.
However, this researcher does not agree that the meaning of bmt is fixed as “back” as a cognate to bāmôt. Rather, it depends on a given literary and theological context. It is essential to determine the context of bāmôt to define its meaning in the text. It is proposed that analysing the literary structure of Deu 33 and the poetic structure of Deu 33:29 may yield meaningful results that will allow the discussion of a proper literary and theological context of bāmôt in the broader context of Deuteronomy. Apparently “backs” as an anatomical term possesses a tangible and concrete meaning that the biblical context indicates. The result of this research reaffirms that “backs” would be the proper meaning of bāmôt as seen in certain versions.

참고자료

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