Give ear: Revisited

I regret my post of last Sunday. It was the wrong way and the wrong place to take on the topic of women in the church. Fortunately, this week someone asked me how much shorthand Arrian could be expected to have known. Drifting through a book written in German on Roman shorthand calmed the spirit.

Then I realized that what I was reading in shorthand was part of the beautiful poem in Deuteronomy 32 in Latin. Here is how it opens.

audite caeli quae loquor audiat terra verba oris mei Vulgate

My curiosity was peaked. Where was that famous phrase "Give ear." Did Paula and Jerome flatten out the Hebrew idiom? Clearly they dropped the parataxis. There was only one thing to do - line up the history and see how and when the phrase 'give ear' entered the English Bible. Wayne has written about this before.

Deut. 32:1

הַאֲזִינוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם, וַאֲדַבֵּרָה; וְתִשְׁמַע הָאָרֶץ, אִמְרֵי-פִי

πρόσεχε οὐρανέ καὶ λαλήσω καὶ ἀκουέτω γῆ ῥήματα ἐκ στόματός μου

Ye heuenes, here what thingis Y schal speke; the erthe here the wordis of my mouth. Wycliffe

Merkt auf, ihr Himmel, ich will reden, und die Erde höre die Rede meines Mundes Luther

Herken (O ye heauens) I wyll speake: and let the earth heare the wordes of my mouth. Coverdale

Heare O ye heauens, and I shal speake, and let the earth heare the wordes of my mouth. Bishops

Hearken, ye heauens, and I will speake: and let the earth heare the words of my mouth. Geneva

Giue eare, O yee heauens, and I will speake; And heare, O earth, the words of my mouth. KJV

Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth NIV

Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; hear, you earth, the words of my mouth. TNIV

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ESV

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; let the earth hear the words of my mouth NRSV

Of course, 'give ear' is an English idiom that was used outside the Bible. Here is a little rundown of it use. So I have no complaints about the use of 'give ear'. But it should not be taken as a more literal or historic translation of the Hebrew. It is simply one option among many. It is a case of deciding on English style, not Hebrew idiom. The Hebrew word for 'give ear', is related to the word 'ear', but is simply a word for 'listen', or 'pay attention'. I think.