Gmalathu Prov. 31:12

[Wellshum]

:yo:Hello!

I was reading Proverbs 31 the other day and looking at the Hebrew text. In verse twelve the computer-translation of the Hebrew text brings up the word Gmalathu, does anyone know what that means or could mean? The original hebrew word is גְּמָלַתְהוּ. Also I found that in verse 14 ("She is like the merchant-ships; she bringeth her food from afar.") the original Hebrew is הָיְתָה, כָּאֳנִיּוֹת סוֹחֵר; מִמֶּרְחָק, תָּבִיא לַחְמָהּ. The last word -according to a computer translation- means war, why would it say that?

[Richard Amiel McGough]

:yo:Hello!

I was reading Proverbs 31 the other day and looking at the Hebrew text. In verse twelve the computer-translation of the Hebrew text brings up the word Gmalathu, does anyone know what that means or could mean? The original hebrew word is גְּמָלַתְהוּ. Also I found that in verse 14 ("She is like the merchant-ships; she bringeth her food from afar.") the original Hebrew is הָיְתָה, כָּאֳנִיּוֹת סוֹחֵר; מִמֶּרְחָק, תָּבִיא לַחְמָהּ. The last word -according to a computer translation- means war, why would it say that?
Hello Wellshum,

Welcome to our forum!

:welcome:

You came to the right place - there are a number of us here who love digging into the Greek and Hebrew text.

I have closely studied the passage you are asking about because it is structured on the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet and so gives us a lot of knowledge of the symbolic meanings of the Hebrew letters, and these, in turn, inform us about the large-scale structure of the Bible in the form of the Bible Wheel (http://biblewheel.com/wheel/intro.asp).

The word g'maltu is part of the phrase g'maltu tov. Tov means "good" and g'maltu is an inflection of the tri-literal root gamal which has a variety of related meanings. Here is how Strong's defines it:
gamal: Meaning: 1) to deal fully with, recompense 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to deal out to, do to 1a2) to deal bountifully with 1a3) to recompense, repay, requite 2) (Qal) to wean a child (Niphal) to be weaned 3) (Qal) to ripen, bear ripe (almonds)
And here is a table of how this root is translated in the KJV, from my article on Spoke 3 (http://biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/Gimel_Spirit.asp) of the Bible Wheel:

http://biblewheel.com/wheel/spokes/Spoke03_gamaltrans.gif

Now the reason I did all this research is because God designed the Bible upon the pattern of the Hebrew alphabet, and the meanings of the letters are profoundly connected with the content of the books on the corresponding Spokes. Case in point, Gimel is the name of the third letter. It literally denotes a camel (note the phonetic similarity with Gimel). And in the Bible, the camel is a sign of wealth and abundance, and this links to the meaning of the verb gamal, as seen in the definitions given above. I talk about this in many articles explaining the third Spoke (http://biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/Gimel_Spirit.asp) of the Bible Wheel.

Now as for the last word of Prov 31:14 - your computer program incorrectly identified that word. It's really very simple. The actual word is lachmah (her bread) from lechem (bread, as in Bethleham) suffixed with the letter Hey to indicate the third person feminine possessive (her bread). Your program mistook it for the word war "lacham" spelled with the same consonants and differing only in vowel points.

I hope that helps!

And thanks for the interesting questions! Don't hesitate to ask more. I enjoy answering.

Many blessings to you,

Richard

[Wellshum]

:signthankspin: so much!
I find it interesting that one of the translations of gamel is "wean". Hmm, well I've got to go now, I will have to do more work later.