something happens, in the bible, when you get too close to death but re-turn anyway. this ‘something’ has a phrase: לֹ֣א נָכַר. it translates to “can’t be recognized,” “was not registered,” something like that, but why translate it at all? keep it semiotic. keep it leaky, risky, muddy. in the bible, when god tells you to die but then lets you live anyway, you come back and are not recognizable. job is brought to the brink of death, and his friends לֹ֣א נָכַר him. jacob, about to lose his blessings, becomes לֹ֣א נָכַר to his father. joseph, mock-killed by his brothers, is too לֹ֣א נָכַר. moses comes down from spending 40 days with god. becomes לֹ֣א נָכַר. you can’t translate what these men looked like after they didn’t-die. their didn’t-dying is above register; it, in and of itself, cannot be recognized. sometimes god tries to kill you and you live. and you’ll only know it once you see it
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