Day 64 of 75 · Judgment and liberation
Ḥ-Ṭ-ʾ
ḥṭa: miss the mark
חטא · חטיא
ܚܛܐ · ܚܛܝܐ
The feel
Ḥ-Ṭ-ʾ is the root of doing wrong, of failing or falling short. Where most translations say sin and sinner, the Qala says miss the mark and one who misses the mark. Ḥaṭaya, one who misses the mark, appears 34 times, and the noun ḥṭāhā, a wrong, 32 times.
The root family
| Form | Pattern | Translit | Script | Standard | Qala rendering |
|---|
| ḥṭa | verb (Peal) | ḥṭā | חטא ܚܛܐ | to sin | to miss the mark |
| ḥaṭaya | adjective / noun, qaṭṭāl pattern | ḥaṭṭāyā | חטיא ܚܛܝܐ | sinner, sinful | one who misses the mark: 34 occurrences |
| ḥṭaha | noun | ḥṭāhā | חטהא ܚܛܗܐ | sin | wrongs (32×, e.g. Luke 7:47) |
In the Gospels the verb appears in the Peal, ḥṭa, to miss the mark or do wrong, as ḥṭit, I have missed the mark (Luke 15:18).
In his voice
Matthew 9:13
Go and learn what this means: I want compassion, not sacrifice. I did not come to call those doing what is right, but those who miss the mark."
l-ḥaṭaye, "those who miss the mark." Yeshua says it at a dinner table, in front of the very people the word was being used against.
Luke 15:7
I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in the heavens over one who misses the mark and turns around than over ninety-nine doing what is right, who have no need to turn around."
ḥaṭaya d-taev, "one who misses the mark and turns around." Two roots stand side by side here, the miss and the turn, and the joy in the heavens is over that one person.
Luke 15:18
I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him: Father, I have missed the mark against the heavens and before you.
ḥṭit, "I have missed the mark." The son's rehearsed confession, with the verb at last in the first person. Palestinian Aramaic sources use the verb too.
Practice
Recall one thing you said or did this week that missed what you meant to do. Name what you meant and what happened, then say ḥṭit, I have missed the mark, without excuses.
Connections