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θυσίας in Leviticus 2. 3

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 4:50 am
by Mindy
I have been learning Leviticus 2. 3 in both Hebrew and Greek.

ג וְהַנּוֹתֶרֶת, מִן-הַמִּנְחָה--לְאַהֲרֹן, וּלְבָנָיו: קֹדֶשׁ קָדָשִׁים, מֵאִשֵּׁי יְהוָה.

LXX
καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀπὸ τῆς θυσίας Ααρων καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ· ἅγιον τῶν ἁγίων ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν κυρίου.—

KJV
3 And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons': it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

הַמִּנְחָה = meal or meat sacrifice?

It means meal sacrifice in the Jewish and Chinese translations.

θυσίας only means sacrifice, and doesn't say whether it means meal or meat.

Re: θυσίας in Leviticus 2. 3

Posted: April 21st, 2018, 8:11 am
by Barry Hofstetter
Mindy, remember that this forum is for the discussion of biblical Greek, although it's true that where the LXX is involved occasional discussion of Hebrew arises. In this case the LXX is singularly unhelpful to answer your question:

καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἀπὸ τῆς θυσίας Ἀαρὼν καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, ἅγιον τῶν ἁγίων ἀπὸ τῶν θυσιῶν Κυρίου.

It renders the Hebrew with just the generic term for sacrifice, θυσία.

As for the Hebrew,


: cs. מִנְחַת, sf. מִנְחָתִי, מִנְחָֽתְךָ, מִנְתָתֶֽךָ; pl. sf. מִנְחֹתֶךָ, מִנְחֹתֵיכֶם: gift.
I. (37 ×) (secular) gift, present, to express: a) reverence or respect: people to king 1 S 10:27, king to prophet 2 K 8:8; b) thanks: Jews to king 2 C 17:5; c) homage, allegiance: Jacob to Esau Gn 32:14; d) (political) friendship between kings & empires 1 K 5:1; 2 K 20:12; e) tribute 2 K 17:3f.
II. offering, sacrifice: a) older passages: offering or sacrifice of homage, allegiance (of either meat or cereal) Gn 4:3ff, so also prob. 1 S 2:29 &c.; b) in the laws (never in Dt): vegetable offering, usu. cereal, Ex 29:41 &c.; c) so in oth. passages 1 K 8:64; as designation of time 1 K 18:29.


Holladay, W. L., & Köhler, L. (2000). A concise Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (p. 202). Leiden: Brill.

Re: θυσίας in Leviticus 2. 3

Posted: April 22nd, 2018, 7:47 am
by daveburt
This question seems to be about neither Greek nor Hebrew, but English!

I think the confusion is coming from the 1611 archaic usage of "meat" which then meant what we now mean by "a meal" or "food" in general. The context (Leviticus 2:1) specifies that this θυσια/מנחה is not animal flesh but grain flour: σεμίδαλις/סֹלֶת.

An Oxford Dictionary lists this as a second meaning:
2. archaic Food of any kind.

2.1 A meal.
‘we have talked at meat with this stranger’
Most English translations describe it as a "grain offering," (some use "meal" probably meaning "flour", another secondary definition) but Barry is right to point out that the Greek and Hebrew terms are not so specific: it's just an "offering," but translators have found it helpful to name the particular one being described here to distinguish it from the others in this section of Leviticus.

So I would say neither meal nor meat, but grain or food, or just "offering".

Re: θυσίας in Leviticus 2. 3

Posted: April 23rd, 2018, 8:03 am
by Barry Hofstetter
daveburt wrote: April 22nd, 2018, 7:47 am This question seems to be about neither Greek nor Hebrew, but English!

I think the confusion is coming from the 1611 archaic usage of "meat" which then meant what we now mean by "a meal" or "food" in general. The context (Leviticus 2:1) specifies that this θυσια/מנחה is not animal flesh but grain flour: σεμίδαλις/סֹלֶת.

An Oxford Dictionary lists this as a second meaning:
2. archaic Food of any kind.

2.1 A meal.
‘we have talked at meat with this stranger’
Most English translations describe it as a "grain offering," (some use "meal" probably meaning "flour", another secondary definition) but Barry is right to point out that the Greek and Hebrew terms are not so specific: it's just an "offering," but translators have found it helpful to name the particular one being described here to distinguish it from the others in this section of Leviticus.

So I would say neither meal nor meat, but grain or food, or just "offering".
Except that CHALOT above notes that it can be either meat or grain, and I don't think they are using 17th century English. So also it's big brother lexicon:

B. offering (Gray Sacrifice 13ff; Ringgren Rel. 152f; Rendtorff Studien zur Geschichte d. Opfers im Alten Israel (1967):169ff): —1. in older texts the sacrifice of homage (either with meat or grain)

Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., Richardson, M. E. J., & Stamm, J. J. (1994–2000). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 601). Leiden: E.J. Brill.