שְׁמֹנֶה

From the study of 1 Samuel 17:12

Range of meaning

'Eight sons'. Shemonah is the ordinary cardinal number eight.

Against the English

All English versions say 'eight sons'. The issue is not translation but agreement with 1 Chronicles 2:13–15, which lists seven sons (Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem, David).

Used elsewhere in the period

1 Sam 16:10–11 has seven sons passing before Samuel, then David fetched from the flock, which makes eight. 1 Chr 2:15 makes David 'the seventh'. 1 Chr 27:18 names an 'Elihu, one of David's brothers' who does not appear in the 2:13–15 list.

From the study of Genesis 17:12

Range of meaning

'A son of eight days' = eight days old. The 'son of [time]' idiom gives age (compare 'Noah was a son of five hundred years,' Gen 5:32). In practice it meant circumcision on the eighth day (Gen 21:4; Lev 12:3).

Against the English

English versions handle this well ('eight days old'). YLT keeps the Hebrew picture, 'a son of eight days.'

Used elsewhere in the period

The eighth day recurs in Israel's ritual law as the day when something enters its proper status after a seven-day period. Firstborn animals stay with the mother seven days and are given to God on the eighth (Exod 22:30). An animal can be offered from the eighth day on (Lev 22:27). The mother's first stage of birth impurity lasts seven days, and the boy is circumcised on the eighth (Lev 12:2–3). Priests are installed over seven days and begin serving on the eighth (Lev 8:33; 9:1). Cleansed lepers and others with bodily discharges bring offerings on the eighth day (Lev 14:10; 15:14). In the New Testament: Luke 1:59; 2:21; Phil 3:5 (Paul's 'circumcised on the eighth day,' a claim to be Jewish from birth rather than a convert). Later practice let circumcision override the Sabbath (John 7:22–23; Mishnah Shabbat 19).