8:26 before he made the earth and its fields, 1
or the beginning 2 of the dust of the world.
8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, 3
and delighting 4 in its people. 5
1 tn Heb “open places.”
2 tn Here רֹאשׁ (ro’sh) means “beginning” with reference to time (BDB 911 s.v. 4.b).
3 tn The two words are synonymous in general and so could be taken to express a superlative idea – the “whole world” (cf. NIV, NCV). But תֵּבֵל (tevel) also means the inhabited world, and so the construct may be interpreted as a partitive genitive.
4 tn Heb “and my delights” [were] with/in.”
5 tn Heb “the sons of man.”