EXAMPLE (Genesis 32:21-22):<\/strong><\/p>\n The setting is the patriarch Yaakov (Jacob) returning home after being away for twenty years. He is terrified of his brother Esav, who had sworn to kill him for stealing his birthright and blessing:<\/p>\n In the run-up to their meeting, Jacob expresses his anxiety and comes up with a strategy. Compare the following two translations of this moment:<\/p>\n New English Bible<\/em><\/strong>: Five Books of Moses<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n For he said to himself: This Hebrew text is built on variations of the word panim<\/em>, whose basic meaning is \u201cface,\u201d although the Hebrew uses it idiomatically to encompass several different ideas.\u00a0 If the text is translated with attention to sound, its quite striking oral character emerges. What does the reader gain by hearing the literalness of the Hebrew? And what is lost by the use of its idiomatic meaning? The text itself here seems to be mirroring something of significance. The motif of \u201cface\u201d (which might be interpreted as \u201cfacing\u201d or confrontation) occurs at crucial points in the story. The night before his fateful meeting with Esav, as he is left to ponder the next day\u2019s events, Jacob wrestles with a mysterious stranger\u2014a divine being. After Jacob\u2019s victory, the text reports (32:31):<\/p>\n Yaakov called the name of the place: Peniel\/Face of <\/em>God The repetition suggests a thematic link with what has gone before. One could interpret that once the hero has met and actually bested this divine being, his coming human confrontation is assured of success. Thus, upon meeting Esav at last, Yaakov says to him (33:10)<\/p>\n For I have, after all, seen your face<\/em>, as one sees the face <\/em>of God, The above interpretation depends entirely on sound. Once that focus is dropped, either because the text is not read aloud or a standard translation, the inner connections are simply lost and the reader is robbed of the opportunity to make these connections for himself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>For he thought, \u201cI will appease him with the present that I have sent on ahead, and afterwards, when I come into his presence, he will perhaps receive me kindly.\u201d So Jacob\u2019s present went on ahead of him\u2026<\/p>\n
\nI will wipe (the anger from) his face (phanav)
\n<\/em>with the gift that goes ahead of my face (le-phanai)
\n<\/em>afterward, when I see his face, (phanav)
\n<\/em>perhaps he will lift up my face! (phanai)
\n<\/em>The gift crossed over ahead of his face\u2026(al panav)<\/em><\/p>\n
\nfor: I have seen God,
\nface to face,<\/em>and my life has been saved.<\/p>\n
\nand you have been gracious to me.<\/p>\n