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Comments on What does "se" mean in Micah 6:8, "Ya se te ha declarado..."?

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What does "se" mean in Micah 6:8, "Ya se te ha declarado..."?

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What is the purpose of "se" in the following text from Micah 6:8 (Nueva Versión Internacional)?

¡Ya se te ha declarado lo que es bueno!
Ya se te ha dicho lo que de ti espera el Señor

It doesn't seem like this is "declararse" or "decirse." But the passive "se" doesn't seem to fit either.

Note that the RVR1960 doesn't include "se":

Oh hombre, él te ha declarado lo que es bueno, y qué pide Jehová de ti

Why did the translators of the NVI include "se" in this verse?

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General comments (4 comments)
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Unlike the other answerer, I speak Hebrew well but not much Spanish. Hopefully between the two of us we can resolve this question sufficiently.

The original Hebrew reads,

הגיד לך אדם מה טוב ומה ה׳ דרש ממך

which I will translate as literally as possible as:

It has been told to you, Man, that which is good and that which the L-rd seeks from you.

The word הגיד is in passive tense, "It has been told." So I suspect the phrase Ya se te ha declarado is the translation of הגיד לך, "To you has it been stated." I'll leave it to the Spanish experts to break it down further.

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General comments (7 comments)
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DonielF‭ wrote almost 4 years ago · edited almost 4 years ago

While the Spanish experts are here, what's up with the repeated verb declarado and dicho? There's only one verb outside the subordinate clauses, הגיד; if Spanish grammar requires that each object get its own verb phrase, why do they change the verb?

Conrado‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

Wow, this is thrilling, thanks for the word-for-word translation! I can confirm your suspicion, except that the "Ya" is "already"--another addition: ...se te ha declarado is the translation of הגיד לך, "To you has it been stated." About the redundant verbs: the construction that you used in your literal translation would work as well in Spanish: "Se te ha dicho, Hombre, lo que es bueno y lo que J'a espera de ti." It looks like the translators wanted to highlight a poetic aspect...

Conrado‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

... of the parallel construction (is it obviously poetry in Hebrew?)

user8078‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

הִגִּיד is not passive. הֻגַּד is passive. הֻגֵּד הֻגַּד לִי (Ruth 2:11) means "it has been told to me," but מִי הִגִּיד לְךָ (Genesis 3:11) means "who told you." Semantically הִגִּיד could be passive, but morphologically it isn't, so translating "as literally as possible" as passive is wrong

Conrado‭ wrote almost 4 years ago · edited almost 4 years ago

@user8078 So is it that הגיד by itself is just "said"? I mean, it seems like the passive voice is somehow implied in the sentence? (Donielf and you have almost hooked me on Hebrew--I am going to get a dictionary as soon as possible!)

user8078‭ wrote almost 4 years ago

@Conrado You could read it as "he (=God) told you" or "he (=someone) told you." The latter possibility could be idiomatically translated into English (or Spanish, apparently) as "it has been told to you," but the word is in active voice (hif'il form)

Conrado‭ wrote almost 4 years ago · edited almost 4 years ago

@user8078 "tense"--voice. (sheepish grin.)