Thank you for the kind words, Tim.
Tim Evans wrote: ↑June 3rd, 2017, 8:53 pm
I notice that you translate v26 "to crush all their
support with an iron rod", in contrast to NETS which has a slightly less clear v24 "to shatter all their
substance with an iron rod"
Was there a reason you chose one over the other?
B-Greek policy is to quote the text.
PsSol 17.21-25 wrote:21 Ἰδέ, κύριε, καὶ ἀνάστησον αὐτοῖς τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῶν υἱὸν Δαυιδ εἰς τὸν καιρόν, ὃν εἵλου σύ, ὁ θεός, τοῦ βασιλεῦσαι ἐπὶ Ισραηλ παῖδά σου, 22 καὶ ὑπόζωσον αὐτὸν ἰσχὺν τοῦ θραῦσαι ἄρχοντας ἀδίκους, καθαρίσαι Ιερουσαλημ ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν καταπατούντων ἐν ἀπωλείᾳ, 23 ἐν σοφίᾳ δικαιοσύνης ἐξῶσαι ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἀπὸ κληρονομίας, ἐκτρῖψαι ὑπερηφανίαν ἁμαρτωλοῦ ὡς σκεύη κεραμέως, 24 ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ συντρῖψαι πᾶσαν ὑπόστασιν αὐτῶν, ὀλεθρεῦσαι ἔθνη παράνομα ἐν λόγῳ στόματος αὐτοῦ, 25 ἐν ἀπειλῇ αὐτοῦ φυγεῖν ἔθνη ἀπὸ προσώπου αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐλέγξαι ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἐν λόγῳ καρδίας αὐτῶν.
My primary reason for choosing "support" rather than "substance" is simple.
Because the LES is "Based on the work of the popular
Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint," the LES translation policy was to be "transparent" to this Interlinear, and this meant matching the Interlinear's glosses when reasonable. Fred Long of Asbury Seminary, the editor for the Psalms of Solomon in the Interlinear, had "support" as the gloss for ὑπόστασις here.
That said, in Psalms of Solomon 15:5, Fred chose "substance."
Psalms of Solomon 15:5 wrote:ὅταν ἐξέλθῃ ἐπὶ ἁμαρτωλοὺς ἀπὸ προσώπου κυρίου ὀλεθρεῦσαι πᾶσαν ὑπόστασιν ἁμαρτωλῶν
Tim Evans wrote: ↑June 3rd, 2017, 8:53 pm
I was drawn to the BDAG option for translating ὑπόστασιν as "plan, project, endeavour", i.e. "to crush their all plans with an iron rod".
Etymologically, "substance" matches ὑπόστασις more closely. ὑπόστασις is a versatile word; prototypically it refers to something's underlying structure. So it gets used for foundations and essences. "Plan" is getting a bit far from that prototypical meaning, so I'd avoid it in a translation because its semantic range does not overlap much with the semantic range of ὑπόστασις. Even if I thought that was the sense of its use in this context, I'd make that point in a comment or note rather than in the translation itself.
For what it's worth, Muraoka categorizes this instance under "existence."
Muraoka, GELS wrote:4. existence: ἡ ὑ. μου ώσεὶ οὐθέν ἐνώπιον σου ‘my existence counts for almost nothing in your eyes’ Ps 38.6; 88.48, 138.15; ἡ ὐ. μου παρά σοῦ ἐστιν ‘my existence is derived from you’ 38.8; “I am trapped in the slime of the depth, and οὐκ ἔστιν ὐ. ‘I have no foothold’” 68.3; PSol 15.5, 17.24.
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org