Talk:Heaven

šāmayim
Hey everybody! While certainly semantic, I've found some discrepancies between this article's view of šāmayim versus the main Heaven in Judaism one.

In introducing the concept, this article states: "The structure of heaven itself is never fully described in the Hebrew Bible, but the fact that the Hebrew word šāmayim is plural has been interpreted by scholars as an indication that the ancient Israelites envisioned the heavens as having multiple layers..."

Meanwhile, the main article, in the etymology section, states that: "šāmayīm "heavens" is pluralized from Proto-Semitic *šamāy-. This renders שָׁמַיִם šāmayīm a plurale tantum, simultaneously singular and plural. Therefore, "heaven" and "heavens" may both be legitimate translations as determined by context."

In my opinion, if the main article is correct here, we should change the former quotation to: "The structure of heaven itself is never fully described in the Hebrew Bible, but the fact that the Hebrew word šāmayim is a plurale tantum - simultaneously singular and plural - indicates to scholars that the ancient Israelites may have envisioned the heavens as having multiple layers..."

Again, rather semantic, and I'm not entirely sure which is correct or if brevity is more important here... Any input is appreciated. Princemasali (talk) 17:16, 22 November 2023 (UTC)