# Deuteronomy 32:42



## Skyler (Feb 6, 2011)

ESV said:


> I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
> and my sword shall devour flesh—
> with the blood of the slain and the captives,
> from the long-haired heads of the enemy.'





KJV said:


> I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.





NASB said:


> 'I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
> And My sword will devour flesh,
> With the blood of the slain and the captives,
> From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.'





NIV said:


> I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
> while my sword devours flesh:
> the blood of the slain and the captives,
> the heads of the enemy leaders.”



Where does the "long-haired" / "leaders" discrepancy come from? Is it a textual variant? A cultural reference?


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## Contra_Mundum (Feb 6, 2011)

מראשׁ פרעות אויב...

The first challenge is that its poetry, and thus terse and minimalist.

The words in question are these last three of the verse (which read in Hebrew R-->L)

The first is a compound: from (mem preformative) [the] head/top/first (as in *Rosh* Hashana, the *first/beginning* of the year)

Second, the word that invites disparity of meaning.
1) "locks" (of hair) In Num.6:5 you have a masc. form of the word closely associated with "head" again, ref. the Nazirite not to shave the "locks of the hair of his head."
2) The words seems to derive from a root word, meaning "loosened" "unbound" "primitive condition," which may relate it to the verbal idea of "lead".
Maybe there was a connection (supposed?) to "wild" fighters, who "led" charges against foes, I'm not so sure. The KJV seems to use this kind of "let loose against" here, and in Jud.5:2, with the idea of "vengeance." In the last, the ESV goes with "leaders, leading"
3) maybe a unique rendering of the root, Prv.4:15, "avoid"

There is another place using the root word, familiar to many, Prv.29:18, which the KJV translated, "where there is no vision, the people *perish*." Most newer translations go back to the idea of "loosen," rendering it, "...the people act without restraint." This fits well with the use Ex.32:35.

Finally, the third word means enemy/adversary/hated (one)

Put together, you have: from the head {loosened} enemy. Very terse, enigmatic phrasing. Often requires a good contextual read to even make something like that intelligible to us. But I think you can make out how that middle term is variously put into play with the other two in the different translations. Sometimes two of the words are made into modifiers of the other. Sometimes one is made adjectival to one other, which is put in construct-chain with the remaining.

Hebrew can be challenging.


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