[b-greek] Re: b-greek digest: December 03, 2000

From: Jason Hare (language_lover64801@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Dec 04 2000 - 03:17:35 EST


> Lev 18:5
> BAHEM WAKAI HAADAM OTAM YAASEH ASHER
> in-them then lives-he the-man them does which
>
> (Which if man does he will live in them)

In English, we say, "The chair upon which I sat..." However, in Hebrew the
same idea is expressed, "The chair which I sat upon it..." That is what we
find in this passage. "Which things man will do them, and he lives by
them." The English would surely be: "By which things man will live, if he
does them." (The "if" comes from the imperfect [ya'aseh] set in opposition
to the resultative perfect [vakhai].)

The resulting LXX translation includes this hebraism in "hA POIHSAS AUTA
ANQRWPAS, ZHSETAI EN AUTOIS" = "which things a man having done, he will
live in them."

> It is translated as follows:
>
> hO POIHSAS AUTA ZHSETAI EN AUTOIS
>
> "If man does [which], he will live in them" is translated to
> "the one doing them will live in them".

Here, please note specifically that you mean Paul translated it like this.
The LXX has hA POIHSAS AUTA ANQRWPOS, ZHSETAI EN AUTOIS (as noted above).

> Here YAASEH (does) is in imperfective. The imperfective situation is
> expressed by the aorist participial clause hO POIHSAS AUTA in Gal 3:12.
>
> I wonder why the translators of LXX did not translate the imperfective
> situation expressed by the clause ASHER YAASEH OTAM into
>
> hO POIWN AUTA.

I think that the reason for this is that the idea is focusing on the man
who has completed the things required. If a man has done the statutes and
judgments of God, he will live.

> My guess is that the imperfective situation of ASHER YAASHE OTAM does
> not emphasize the on-goingness of the situation, rather points to the
> potentiality of the situation as a whole. The situation as a whole is
> best expressed by the aorist in Greek. The aorist does not necessarily
> refer to the completion of the situation. So, translating hO POIHAS
> AUTA into "the one who gets them performed" seems reading too much into
> the passage.

Actually, aorist participles are often seen as having happened before the
action of the main verb. Wallace: "With a present [or future!] tense main
verb, the aorist participle is usually antecedent in time" (p. 625). "The
one having finished the assignment will get an A." "The man having done
them will live."

Regards,
Jason

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jason A. Hare
Ozark Christian College
1111 N. Main (Strong 220)
Joplin, MO 64801
(877) 207-3881


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