Vocabulary, Lexicography and Idiom
The lexicon is a tool, not an answer
A dictionary supplies a semantic range, not a translation. BDB, HALOT and Koehler-Baumgartner list glosses by root and stem; the correct gloss is the one the context selects. Two habits raise your mark. First, always check the binyan: עָבַד in Qal is 'serve', in Hiphil 'cause to serve'. Second, check whether the root is homonymous: עָנָה may mean 'answer' or 'be afflicted', and only context decides which root is present.
Idiom and idiom-like phrases
Hebrew prefers concrete imagery where English prefers abstraction.
- 'In the eyes of' = in the estimation of.
- 'To lift the face' = to show favour, or to be partial.
- 'To set one's face' = to resolve firmly.
- 'Son of ...' marks class membership: 'son of death' = one doomed to die; 'sons of the prophets' = a prophetic guild.
- יָדַע, 'to know', can mean to know by experience or to choose.
- 'Hand' regularly denotes power or control; 'to go in to' is a sexual euphemism.
- חֶסֶד is covenantal loyalty, not merely 'kindness'.
Traps
- Taking the first gloss listed in the lexicon.
- Guessing confidently at a hapax legomenon; better to name the uncertainty.
- Treating a preposition as a fixed equivalent - עַל is not always 'on', it may be 'because of' or 'against'.
- Forgetting that personal names carry meaning and often drive the narrative.
- Confusing near-identical roots and so mis-parsing the whole clause.
Worked example
וַיִּחַר אַף literally reads 'and the nose burned', meaning 'and he became angry'. A purely literal gloss fails, while a functional gloss that ignores the imagery loses the exegetical point. Rule of thumb: give the functional meaning in translation, then unpack the literal image when commenting on the passage.