Who "became mighty men"?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Heartstrings

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I would like some help with some "Jacobean English". In the sentence below, who became mighty men? Was it the giants, the sons of God, or the children? Thanks

Genesis 6:4There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
 

virus99

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Twi
Home Country
Bhutan
Current Location
Tuvalu
Not a teacher!

I think the children became mighty men. The giants and the sons of god were already mighty :mrgreen:. What does 'Jacobean English' mean?
 

Heartstrings

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Not a teacher!

I think the children became mighty men. The giants and the sons of god were already mighty :mrgreen:. What does 'Jacobean English' mean?
King James
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Wasn't it "bore?"
 

Grumpy

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Not in the Authorised King James version of the Bible, from which this passage is taken. Perhaps it was the plural of "bore" in the 17th century...
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
...What does 'Jacobean English' mean?

Not in the Authorised King James version of the Bible, from which this passage is taken....

Latin for 'James' was Jacobus, so the phrase 'Jacobean English' makes sense. On the other hand, it's not a phrase I've met.

b
 

Rover_KE

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Perhaps one of the other translations of the Bible listed here makes it clear (click on the underlined link).

Rover
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Shakespeare studies, along with King James Bible courses, refer to Jacobean almost as often as Elizabethan. I believe one came right before the other, and both Shakespeare and that new Bible overlapped the two monarchs a little bit.
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
It's used for the literature of the period.
 

Grumpy

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
King James VI of Scotland became James I of England on Queen Elizabeth I's death in 1603. He commissioned the new translation, which became known as the King James Bible, the following year. Shakespeare, on the other hand, did overlap both monarchs - and both were enthusiastic patrons of his works.
 

Heartstrings

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Not in the Authorised King James version of the Bible, from which this passage is taken. Perhaps it was the plural of "bore" in the 17th century...

Interesting!
I looked it up and it seems that 'bore', in the King James Bible, means to drill a hole and 'bare' means to birth a child.
 
Last edited:

Heartstrings

Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thanks guys,
I was looking for more insight on deciphering the grammar in the sentence. First of all, I noticed that these events all take place "in those days" so, I cannot see how "after that" could be referring to "later in time". The word "after" also can mean "subsequent to", "in consequence of", in imitation of", "in accordance with", or "in conformity to". The sentence makes a statement "there were giants in the earth in those days" followed by a semicolon(;). Could it be that the existence of 'giants'(tall warriors such as the Maasai) was a contemporary but separate "circumstance" in which the part, following the semicolon, is a response to? And could it be that the response was to secure political alliances with other chieftains by marrying lots of wives which 'bare' great numbers of children, thereby multiplying their tribe/s into a political, economic, and military force to be reckoned with "in conformity to", "in accordance with and "In consequence of" the corrupted political, economic and military threats faced in their violent world?

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Genesis 6:11
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
It's used for the literature of the period.
But you hear 'Restoration Drama' (the reigns of the Jacobean kings marked the restoration of the monarchy) rather than 'Jacobean Drama'. I think.

b
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top