Christopher S. Tachick (MA, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; ThM, Bethlehem College & Seminary) is adjunct professor of Hebrew at Bethlehem College & Seminary and a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators (10 years), currently serving as a translation consultant with Seed Company. He assists Bible translation teams around the world but mostly consults in anglophone and francophone Africa. He resides in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife and three children.
“Do Not Forget” as ṯkḥ: Assessing a Ugaritic Proposal in Proverbs 4:5
Abstract
The prohibition אַל־תִּשְׁכַּח (“do not forget”) in the Hebrew text of Proverbs 4:5c does not have a direct object, and so many scholars consider this a syntactic problem requiring a resolution. This presentation examines and critiques a proposed solution by Mitchell J. Dahood, who argues that this occurrence of the Hebrew verb draws from a verbal root found in a Ugaritic text and suggests a translation value of “do not become weary.”
We present three observations to argue for the traditional translation “do not forget,” demonstrating that it poses no exegetical problem that Proverbs 4:5 does not include a direct object in the prohibition. The translator-exegete need not resolve a supposed dilemma in the text by proposing an analogy with Ugaritic texts. Even were the translator compelled to search the Ugaritic corpus for parallels to this verb, the Ugaritic text proposed by Dahood does not manifest a reliable interpretative base from which to confidently posit any direct linguistic connection to the Proverbs passage. Additionally, Dahood’s proposed definition of the Ugaritic verb ṯkḥ as “to wilt” does not seem justified in the Ugaritic texts themselves nor in Proverbs 4:5c. Perhaps most convincingly, the verb תִּשְׁכַּח in Proverbs 4:5 makes adequate, contextual sense with the normal meaning “to forget.” Using Ockham’s razor, then, we consider it wise to retain this meaning rather than emend it based on a speculative Ugaritic connection.