Verse 8 Hebrew Text

8:8אֵ֣ין אָדָ֞ם שַׁלִּ֤יט בָּר֙וּחַ֙ לִכְל֣וֹא אֶת־הָר֔וּחַ וְאֵ֤ין שִׁלְטוֹן֙ בְּי֣וֹם הַמָּ֔וֶת וְאֵ֥ין מִשְׁלַ֖חַת בַּמִּלְחָמָ֑ה וְלֹֽא־יְמַלֵּ֥ט רֶ֖שַׁע אֶת־בְּעָלָֽיו׃

Verse 8 Sentence Flow

לִכְל֣וֹא - preposition + Qal infinitive construct = to restrain
  אָדָ֞ם - NMS, subject = man
    שַׁלִּ֤יט - AMS, attributive adjective = ruler, ruling
      אֵ֣ין - particle of non-existence = There is/are not
  אֶת־הָר֔וּחַ - object marker + article + NFS = the wind
  בָּר֙וּחַ֙ - preposition + NFS = by means of, the wind

שִׁלְטוֹן֙ - NMS = one who has power
  וְאֵ֤ין - conjunctive waw + particle of non-existence = and there is/are not
  בְּי֣וֹם - preposition + NMS, construct = in (the) day
    הַמָּ֔וֶת - article + NCS, construct = (the) death

מִשְׁלַ֖חַת - NFS = discharge
  וְאֵ֤ין - conjunctive waw + particle of non-existence = and there is/are not
  בַּמִּלְחָמָ֑ה - preposition + NFS = in battle

וְלֹֽא־יְמַלֵּ֥ט - conjunctive waw + negator + piel imperfect third mascualine singular = and (wickedness) will not deliver
  רֶ֖שַׁע - NMS, subject = wickedness
  אֶת־בְּעָלָֽיו - object marker + NMP + 3MS Suffix = masters of it

Verse 8 Translation Rationale

Verse 8 begins with the particle of non-existence and we translate it as “There is no.” The next portion of the verse is אָדָ֞ם with an accompanying attributive adjective שַׁלִּ֤יט. Putting the two together we get “ruler, ruling man, strong man.” Based on the background of the word and the context illustrating the limitation of human capacity, I would lean towards “powerful man.” The powerful man makes up the subject of the infinitive לִכְל֣וֹא. We will need to supply the linking verb “able” to make coherent English. Translating the verb along with its subject we get “There is no powerful man able to restrain.” The last portion of the clause has the direct object and a prepositional phrase. The direct object of the verb is אֶת־הָר֔וּחַ as denoted by the object marker (אֶת־) and it’s translated “the wind.” This is followed by the prepositional phrase בָּר֙וּחַ֙ which is translated “by means of the wind.” We get “by means of” from the בָּ preposition. The final translation for our first clause is “There is no powerful man able to restrain the wind by means of the wind”

The second clause also begins with the particle of non-existence and we translate it the same as above: “there is no.” The next word is שִׁלְטוֹן֙ and means “one who has power or mastery.” Finally, we have the construct chain בְּי֣וֹם הַמָּ֔וֶת and it is translated “the day of death.” Technically, if we used a very wooden translation it would be “in day of the death.” This is probably said this way to show that no human being has power of when he or she dies. We will opt for a slightly smoother translation of “over the day of death.”

The third clause opens with the conjunctive waw and the particle of non-existence. We translate this combination as “and there is no.” Since this is a verbless clause we only have nominatives to deal with. The first noun is מִשְׁלַ֖חַת and means “discharge.” The final construction is the preposition phrase בַּמִּלְחָמָ֑ה and we translate it “in war.” The preposition בַּ is important to note here, it means in. This carries the idea of not being able to be discharged while the ware is in progress. This is an important distinction to keep from contradicting Deuteronomy 20:1-8. The Deuteronomy text offered discharge before the war. Our final translation is “there is no discharge in war.”

The final clause is admittedly a bit difficult to translate. The subject of the verb is “wickedness.” The verb וְלֹֽא־יְמַלֵּ֥ט is a piel imperfect third masculine singular with a conjunctive waw and and the negator לֹֽא affixed to the front of the construct. Altogether the subject and the verb construction receive the translation “and wickedness will not deliver.” The final construction in the clause is אֶת־בְּעָלָֽיו. The first particle is the direct object marker so we know we’re looking at the direct object of the verb. The noun is בָּעַל which means “husband or master” and the construction ends with a 3MS pronominal suffix indicating possession. A very wooden translation of the final clause would be “and wickedness will not deliver its masters.” The overall meaning, within the context of the sentence would seem to need to keep with the idea that power of the person to change the situation is impotent. It seems that the idea here is master’s of wickedness cannot escape it. Therefore, I think the most fitting translation for the context would be “and wickedness will provide no escape for its masters.”

Verse 8 English Translation

There is no powerful man able to restrain the wind by means of the wind and there is no one who has power over the day of death and there is no discharge in war and wickedness will provide no escape for its masters.

Verse 8 Interpretive Questions/Comments

1. Once again we see the limitations of human capability.