Psalm 75:11

Forum rules
Please quote the Greek text you are discussing directly in your post if it is reasonably short - do not ask people to look it up. This is not a beginner's forum, competence in Greek is assumed.
Post Reply
Barry Hofstetter
Posts: 2159
Joined: May 6th, 2011, 1:48 pm

Psalm 75:11

Post by Barry Hofstetter »

ὅτι ἐνθύμιον ἀνθρώπου ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι,
καὶ ἐνκατάλιμμα ἐνθυμίου ἑορτάσει σοι.

This rendered by the LES:

For the inward thought of a person will give thanks to you,
and a remnant of inward thought will celebrate you.

The NETS has a similar rendering.

ἐνθύμιον translates the Hebrew חֵמָה, "anger." If we examine the historical usage of ἐνθύμιον:

ἐνθύμιος
SHORT DEFINITION
ἐνθύμιος, taken to heart
LSJ
ἐνθῡμ-ιος
ἐνθύμιος , ον, (θυμός)
Ataken to heart, weighing upon the mind, μὴ δή τοι κεῖνός γε λίην ἐνθύμιος ἔστω let him not lie too heavy on thy soul, take not too much thought for him, Od.13.421; ἐνθύμιόν οἱ ἐγένετο ἐμπρήσαντι τὸ ἱρόν he had pricks of conscience for having done it, Hdt. 8.54; ἐνθύμιόν τί τινι προσθεῖναι Antipho3.1.2; τί δʼ ἐστί σοι τοῦτʼ . . ἐ.; what isʼt that weighs upon thy heart? S.OT739; ἐπειδή σοι τόδʼ ἐστʼ ἐ. if this matter causes thee any scruple, E.HF722; ἐ. γίγνεταί τινί τις Antipho 2.3.10, cf. App.BC5.133; ἐνθύμιον ποιεῖσθαί τι, = ἐνθυμεῖσθαι, to take to heart, to have a scruple about it, Th.7.50; ἐ. ποιεῖσθαί τινος D.C.58.6; ἐ. τιθέναι τί τινι to make him have scruples about it, E.Ion1347; ἐ. ἔχειν ὡς, c. part., Inscr.Cos319.10; ἐ. ὑπολείπεσθαί τι Antipho 3.4.9; ἐ. εὐναί a couch full of care, S.Tr.110 (lyr.); ἐνθύμιον ἔστω Δάματρος, formula in a curse, GDI3541.7 (Cnidos): ἐνθύμιον, τό, wrath, LXX Ps. 75(76).10.
II ἐνθύμια, τά, meaning, Ph.2.484; ideas, Iamb.VP5.20; ἐνθύμιον ποιεῖσθαι reflect, c. acc. et inf., Alciphr.3.10; λαμβάνω τὸ ἐ. I take the hint, Ach. Tat.2.7.

The question is why the translation "inward thought" considering that the history of the word also includes the idea of troubled inward thought, so that the semantic range could conceviably include "anger." I think we can ignore the LSJ's citation of the meaning in our passage as "anger," since they LSJ always assumes that the LXX is a direct translation of the Hebrew. Of course, ἐνθύμιον is a hapax in the LXX, but the cognate ἐνθυμέω is used of a variety of emotional states in the LXX. Suggestions?
N.E. Barry Hofstetter, M.A., Th.M.
Ph.D. Student U of FL
Instructor of Latin
Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy
καὶ σὺ τὸ σὸν ποιήσεις κἀγὼ τὸ ἐμόν. ἆρον τὸ σὸν καὶ ὕπαγε.
Ken M. Penner
Posts: 881
Joined: May 12th, 2011, 7:50 am
Location: Antigonish, NS, Canada
Contact:

Re: Psalm 75:11

Post by Ken M. Penner »

The LES is designed to be transparent to the Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint, which has "inward thought" there. The contributor of the Psalms portion of this interlinear was Fred Long, so he would have the best answer to your question.
GELS has "subst. n., that which is on one's mind, ‘thought, idea’: Ps 75.11. Cf. ἐνθυμέομαι."
LEH has "thought, concept"
According to the evidence provided by LSJ, I would think "troubled thought" would be a preferable gloss.
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
S Walch
Posts: 274
Joined: June 13th, 2011, 4:27 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Psalm 75:11

Post by S Walch »

Ken M. Penner wrote: September 3rd, 2017, 11:57 am The LES is designed to be transparent to the Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint, which has "inward thought" there.
Was it also set to more or less use word-meanings given in the Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint, which also has 'inward thought' as the meaning of ἐνθύμιος? Or vice-versa?

I'm also a little bit bemused at the LXX's use of ἐνθύμιος as a translation of the Hebrew חֵמָה.

Whilst ἐνθυμέομαι is indeed used for a variety of Hebrew words (נחם , חשׁק , חרם , חמד , דמה , זמם , שׂים), none of these are even closely related to חֵמָה, and the only other use of a cognate of ἐνθυμέομαι in the Psalms is ἐνθύμημα in 118:118, as a translation of the Hebrew תַּרְמִית/deceitfulness.

Due to the somewhat slavishness of the LXX translation in the Psalms (or as Albert Pietersma prefers, 'word-based' as opposed to 'phrase-based'), either ὀργή or θυμός is the preferred lexeme for חֵמָה. Not too dissimilar from ἐνθύμιος in form, but certainly in meaning (especially the LXX understanding of θυμός).

Could we be here looking at either a somewhat exegetical translation on behalf of the LXX translator, or even a later emendation* to the text that didn't like the idea of man's 'anger' giving thanks/celebrating Yahweh? Is there another instance of the LXX Psalms doing something somewhat similar?


*Original OG proposed reading:
ὅτι ὁ θυμὸς ἀνθρώπου ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι, καὶ ἐνκατάλιμμα θυμοῦ ἑορτάσει σοι
Ken M. Penner
Posts: 881
Joined: May 12th, 2011, 7:50 am
Location: Antigonish, NS, Canada
Contact:

Re: Psalm 75:11

Post by Ken M. Penner »

S Walch wrote: September 9th, 2017, 4:15 am
Ken M. Penner wrote: September 3rd, 2017, 11:57 am The LES is designed to be transparent to the Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint, which has "inward thought" there.
Was it also set to more or less use word-meanings given in the Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Septuagint, which also has 'inward thought' as the meaning of ἐνθύμιος? Or vice-versa?
Vice-versa. The LALS "is specifically based on The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint: H.B. Swete Edition (Swete LXX)."
And I agree with the rest of your post, except for the emendation.
The translator of Psalms preferred to translate the root יחם as ὀργή (7 times) over θυμός (4 times).
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
S Walch
Posts: 274
Joined: June 13th, 2011, 4:27 pm
Location: Manchester, UK

Re: Psalm 75:11

Post by S Walch »

Ken M. Penner wrote: September 9th, 2017, 10:00 amVice-versa. The LALS "is specifically based on The Lexham Greek-English Interlinear Septuagint: H.B. Swete Edition (Swete LXX)."
Ah, as stated in the preface (which I've only just now read) :)

I'll admit that I'm not all that thrilled that a lot seems to have been based on an interlinear. Thought we didn't like interlinears? Or is that just a select few of us...
And I agree with the rest of your post, except for the emendation.
The translator of Psalms preferred to translate the root יחם as ὀργή (7 times) over θυμός (4 times).
Peaking my interest, I decided to look at all the uses of θυμός in the LXX Psalms.

In the 24 uses in the Psalms, only 7 of them don't appear with ὀργή or cognate within the same verse (6:8; 9:35; 30:10; 57:5; 84:5; 87:8; 105:40), and only two of these translate חֵמָה (57:5; 87:8).

In the remaining 17, 2 have ὀργή or cognate translating חֵמָה (6:2; 77:38); 1 has θυμός or ὀργή translating an instance of אף or cognate (2:12), and the rest either have ὀργή (or cognate) or θυμός translating different roots.

In no instance though, does ὀργή (or cognate) or θυμός appear as translating the same route word, with 12 instances of ὀργή (or cognate) translating a Hebrew word for 'anger, wrath, fury' before another one translated with θυμός (2:5; 2:12; 29:6; 36:8; 68:25; 73:1; 77:49; 84:4; 89:7; 89:11; 101:11; 123:3), and 5 doing vice-versa (6:2; 37:2; 77:38; 77:49; 105:23).

Allow me therefore to amend my emendation!

Original OG proposed reading:
ὅτι ὀργή ἀνθρώπου ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι, καὶ ἐνκατάλιμμα θυμοῦ ἑορτάσει σοι
Post Reply

Return to “Septuagint and Pseudepigrapha”