II Samuel 7:10-14

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Ken M. Penner
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Re: II Samuel 7:10-14

Post by Ken M. Penner »

David Lim wrote:And by the way, Ken, can you explain why the LXX used "εσται εαν ...", instead of "εσται οταν" or something, since it is a certainty that his days will indeed be fulfilled?
Oops. I thought you were speaking of 7:14. It's 7:12 you mean.
Well, I don't have an explanation, but I can say a few things that might be relevant.

KY is translated as εαν 4 or 5 times more commonly than as οταν. ἔσται ἐὰν is quite unusual, and as you noted, unexpected in this context. Some parallel expressions:
Judges 21:22 καὶ ἔσται ὅταν ἔλθωσιν οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν ἢ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν κρίνεσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς
Exodus 12:16 καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν λέγωσιν πρὸς ὑμᾶς υἱοὶ ὑμῶν Τίς ἡ λατρία αὕτη;

The translator misread the tetragrammaton YHWH for WHYH. This is a very easy mistake to make. That's why the versification differs between the Hebrew and Greek. The Hebrew YHWH belongs with the preceding verse, but the Greek και εσται belongs with the following verse.
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
David Lim
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Joined: June 6th, 2011, 6:55 am

Re: II Samuel 7:10-14

Post by David Lim »

Ken M. Penner wrote:
David Lim wrote:And by the way, Ken, can you explain why the LXX used "εσται εαν ...", instead of "εσται οταν" or something, since it is a certainty that his days will indeed be fulfilled?
Oops. I thought you were speaking of 7:14. It's 7:12 you mean.
Well, I don't have an explanation, but I can say a few things that might be relevant.

KY is translated as εαν 4 or 5 times more commonly than as οταν. ἔσται ἐὰν is quite unusual, and as you noted, unexpected in this context. Some parallel expressions:
Judges 21:22 καὶ ἔσται ὅταν ἔλθωσιν οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν ἢ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτῶν κρίνεσθαι πρὸς ὑμᾶς
Exodus 12:16 καὶ ἔσται ἐὰν λέγωσιν πρὸς ὑμᾶς υἱοὶ ὑμῶν Τίς ἡ λατρία αὕτη;

The translator misread the tetragrammaton YHWH for WHYH. This is a very easy mistake to make. That's why the versification differs between the Hebrew and Greek. The Hebrew YHWH belongs with the preceding verse, but the Greek και εσται belongs with the following verse.
I see. I didn't read the previous verse so I didn't realize that the LXX only has one "κυριος". So if we assume that the LXX misread "YHWH" for "WHYH", do you have a guess as to why the translator used "εσται εαν" since the context still makes it so strange?
δαυιδ λιμ
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