1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

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
Louis L Sorenson
Posts: 711
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 9:21 pm
Location: Burnsville, MN, USA
Contact:

1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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?
timothy_p_mcmahon
Posts: 259
Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 10:47 pm

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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.‬
Louis L Sorenson
Posts: 711
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 9:21 pm
Location: Burnsville, MN, USA
Contact:

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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.
Jason Hare
Posts: 951
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 5:28 pm
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Contact:

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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 2187 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).
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Louis L Sorenson
Posts: 711
Joined: May 5th, 2011, 9:21 pm
Location: Burnsville, MN, USA
Contact:

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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"
Jason Hare
Posts: 951
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 5:28 pm
Location: Tel Aviv, Israel
Contact:

Re: 1 Reigns 1:3 ἐξ ἡμερῶν εἰς ἡμέρας

Post 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.
Jason A. Hare
The Hebrew Café
Tel Aviv, Israel
Post Reply

Return to “Septuagint and Pseudepigrapha”