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Document Details :

Title: Towards a New Translation of דבה in Genesis 37,2
Author(s): FULLER, David J.
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 97    Issue: 4   Date: 2016   
Pages: 481-491
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.97.4.3186051

Abstract :
In gen 37,2, Joseph brings a דבה, usually translated 'bad report'. The various lexica differ considerably in their treatments of the word. The approach to lexical meaning adopted in the present study seeks only a minimal core of meaning intrinsic to individual words. Its usage is examined in nine places in the Hebrew Bible and four places in the Apocrypha and Qumran writings. This study contends that the treatments of several influential Hebrew lexica may be flawed and that דבה is consistently used in the Hebrew Bible to denote a report that is deliberately malicious.

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