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1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 14th, 2011, 10:22 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
1 Reigns 1.3 reads καὶ ἀνέβαινεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας... What I am wondering is about the phrase ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας. The Hebrew reads מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה (an idiom "from days - to day(?) (locative)). I really don't understand what the Greek means -- the plural seems to mimic the Hebrew. What is the frequency of Elkana frequenting Shiloh? Daily, weekly, some other periodic frequency (e.g. the feasts) - yearly is written as . (1.7) ἐνιαυτὸν κατ̓ ἐνιαυτὸν (singular). The standard Greek phrase καθ' ἡμεραν 'daily' would seem to be too frequent here. The meaning of the Greek must be subject to the Hebrew idiom? Yes? But what does it really mean?

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 15th, 2011, 10:58 pm
by timothy_p_mcmahon
From its use elsewhere (Exodus 13:10; Judges 11:40 & 21:19; 1 Samuel 2:19), it can be deduced that Hebrew מימים ימימה is an idiom meaning 'annual(ly)'. The LXX consistently renders it by
‏εξ ημερων εις ημερας or αφ ημερων εις ημερας‪,‬ apparently indicating that the translator‪(‬s‪)‬ didn‪'‬t comprehend the idiom‪,‬ leaving an unintelligible Greek version‪.‬

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 16th, 2011, 5:53 am
by Louis L Sorenson
But in 1 Reigns 1:7 שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה "year in year" occurs (Greek ἐνιαυτὸν κατ̓ ἐνιαυτὸν). The Hebrew is different in the two passages - and the Greek translator translated it literally, not helping the understanding. (FYI, a search of the TLG database found only 9 occurrences of ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας (mostly LXX and commentators), so this has to be Hebraicized Greek. But the passages in Judges (Jephthah's vow - Judges 11:40 "That the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year." and Judges 21:19 (The tribe of Benjamin going to the feast in Bethel to get wives - " So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” ) could just as well be understood as "periodically". I'm not well enough read in Hebrew to be able to make any judgement on this.

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 18th, 2011, 8:14 am
by Jason Hare
Louis L Sorenson wrote:But in 1 Reigns 1:7 שָׁנָה בְשָׁנָה "year in year" occurs (Greek ἐνιαυτὸν κατ̓ ἐνιαυτὸν). The Hebrew is different in the two passages - and the Greek translator translated it literally, not helping the understanding. (FYI, a search of the TLG database found only 9 occurrences of ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας (mostly LXX and commentators), so this has to be Hebraicized Greek. But the passages in Judges (Jephthah's vow - Judges 11:40 "That the daughters of Israel went year by year to lament the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in the year." and Judges 21:19 (The tribe of Benjamin going to the feast in Bethel to get wives - " So they said, “Behold, there is the yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, on the east of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.” ) could just as well be understood as "periodically". I'm not well enough read in Hebrew to be able to make any judgement on this.
This use of יָמִים is covered by BDB under יוֹם section 6.c.
miyamim yamima - from year to year
miyamim yamima - from year to year
bdb_miyamim_yamima.png (49.38 KiB) Viewed 2158 times
Seems natural that it should be read "from year to year."

The Comprehensive Ariel (Hebrew-Hebrew) Dictionary has this:
מִיָּמִים יָמִימָה [מק] כָּל שָׁנָה בְּתַאֲרִיךְ קָבוּעַ
That is: every year on a fixed date. The abbreviation [מק] means that this is given as the meaning of the phrase in the Scriptures (מקרא mikra).

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 18th, 2011, 9:38 pm
by Louis L Sorenson
I just looked at the NETS (New English Translation of the Septuagint) and they gloss their translation "from days to days" with a footnote "i.e. time to time"

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Posted: October 19th, 2011, 8:44 am
by Jason Hare
Louis L Sorenson wrote:I just looked at the NETS (New English Translation of the Septuagint) and they gloss their translation "from days to days" with a footnote "i.e. time to time"
Out of disregard for the Hebrew idiom? That might be how you understand it if you don't have recourse to Hebrew, but we know from Hebrew that it means "annually." So, I wonder what makes them leave it like that.