Exodus 13:1

[PhillipLebsack]

1 Εἶπεν δὲ κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων 2 Ἁγίασόν μοι πᾶν πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους, ἐμοί ἐστιν.

I see that the two bolded words are synonymous in BDAG. And the words γενναω and τικτω are as well. But certainly there must be some difference/nuance in meaning that BDAG isn't suggesting. What is the difference between the words γενναω and τικτω?

[Ken M. Penner]

Do you have access to any other lexica, dictionaries, or word books? LSJ, Muraoka’s GELS, Brill’s DAG, LEH would be some of the first places I’d look.

[Stirling Bartholomew]

E.Tov MT/LXX marks πρωτότοκον {d} πρωτογενὲς as a doublet. J.W. Wevers Notes on Gk Text Exodus, p195, calls πᾶν πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς an appositional construction and adds "to distinguish it (πρωτογενὲς) from the more common word (πρωτότοκον) ... (πρωτογενὲς) might be rendered "the one born first" ...

LEH glosses both terms first-born.

[Daniel Semler]

1 Εἶπεν δὲ κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν λέγων 2 Ἁγίασόν μοι πᾶν πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους, ἐμοί ἐστιν.

I see that the two bolded words are synonymous in BDAG. And the words γενναω and τικτω are as well. But certainly there must be some difference/nuance in meaning that BDAG isn't suggesting. What is the difference between the words γενναω and τικτω?

Muraoka GELS has entries for both words though πρωτογενῆς is simply said to be

first-born both humans and animals, πρωτότοκον ~ές Ex 13:2; θἱός Pr 31.2.

The πρωτότοκος entry is fuller:

*first-born: υἱός defined as πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν 'born first, opening every womb' Ex 13:2 ....

The entry goes on with other examples. So perhaps similar to Wevers though apparently treating the πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν as appositional/definition to/for πρωτότοκον.

The words appear to be very very similar in meaning.

I went and checked the Hebrew to see whether it also had two terms here and it does. כָל־בְּכ֜וֹר פֶּ֤טֶר כָּל־רֶ֙חֶם֙
As far as I can follow (weak my Hebrew is to quote Yoda) 'every first born, the first born of every womb', פֶּ֤טֶר being a construct state I believe. HALOT on פֶּ֤טֶר

what breaches the womb, first-born

.

HTH
D

[Daniel Semler]

I went and checked the Hebrew to see whether it also had two terms here and it does. כָל־בְּכ֜וֹר פֶּ֤טֶר כָּל־רֶ֙חֶם֙
As far as I can follow (weak my Hebrew is to quote Yoda) 'every first born, the first born of every womb', פֶּ֤טֶר being a construct state I believe. HALOT on פֶּ֤טֶר

what breaches the womb, first-born

It's been brought to my attention that Tov maps פטר to διανοῖγον which I cannot explain. He certainly does so in his parallel of the MT and LXX marking πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς as a 'doublet'. I cannot explain this in light of HALOT, CDCH and BDB calling פתר a construct noun and citing this passage. There is a verb of similar spelling פָטַר with a possibly relevant sense. The entries for it in both HALOT and CDCH refer to the noun for further reading.

So not sure what to make of it, but mention it for completeness.

thx
D

[Ken M. Penner]

Tov maps פטר to διανοῖγον which I cannot explain.

The translator probably read פתח “opens”.

[Stirling Bartholomew]

Probably getting in over my head here.

Doesn't take much searching to discover a pattern here.

Hebrew idiom EX 3:12 כל־פטר־רחם

LXX patterns with variations

Ex. 13:2 Ἁγίασόν μοι πᾶν πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους· ἐμοί ἐστιν.

*****πρωτογενὲς breaks the pattern, explains E. Tov and J.W. Wevers response.***

Ex. 13:12 καὶ ἀφελεῖς πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν, τὰ ἀρσενικά, τῷ κυρίῳ· πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἐκ τῶν βουκολίων ἢ ἐν τοῖς κτήνεσίν σου, ὅσα ἐὰν γένηταί σοι, τὰ ἀρσενικά, ἁγιάσεις τῷ κυρίῳ.

Ex. 13:13 πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ὄνου ἀλλάξεις προβάτῳ· ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀλλάξῃς, λυτρώσῃ αὐτό. πᾶν πρωτότοκον ἀνθρώπου τῶν υἱῶν σου λυτρώσῃ.

Ex. 13:15 ἡνίκα δὲ ἐσκλήρυνεν Φαραω ἐξαποστεῖλαι ἡμᾶς, ἀπέκτεινεν πᾶν πρωτότοκον ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ ἀπὸ πρωτοτόκων ἀνθρώπων ἕως πρωτοτόκων κτηνῶν· διὰ τοῦτο ἐγὼ θύω τῷ κυρίῳ πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν, τὰ ἀρσενικά, καὶ πᾶν πρωτότοκον τῶν υἱῶν μου λυτρώσομαι.

Ex. 34:19 πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἐμοί, τὰ ἀρσενικά, πρωτότοκον μόσχου καὶ πρωτότοκον προβάτου.

Num. 3:12 Καὶ ἐγὼ ἰδοὺ εἴληφα τοὺς Λευίτας ἐκ μέσου τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ ἀντὶ παντὸς πρωτοτόκου διανοίγοντος μήτραν παρὰ τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ· λύτρα αὐτῶν ἔσονται καὶ ἔσονται ἐμοὶ οἱ Λευῖται.

Num. 8:16 ὅτι ἀπόδομα ἀποδεδομένοι οὗτοί μοί εἰσιν ἐκ μέσου υἱῶν Ισραηλ· ἀντὶ τῶν διανοιγόντων πᾶσαν μήτραν πρωτοτόκων πάντων ἐκ τῶν υἱῶν Ισραηλ εἴληφα αὐτοὺς ἐμοί.

Num. 18:15 καὶ πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ἀπὸ πάσης σαρκός, ἃ προσφέρουσιν κυρίῳ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπου ἕως κτήνους, σοὶ ἔσται· ἀλλ᾿ ἢ λύτροις λυτρωθήσεται τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ τὰ πρωτότοκα τῶν κτηνῶν τῶν ἀκαθάρτων λυτρώσῃ.

Ezek. 20:26 καὶ μιανῶ αὐτοὺς ἐν τοῖς δόμασιν αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ διαπορεύεσθαί με πᾶν διανοῖγον μήτραν ὅπως ἀφανίσω αὐτούς.

[Ken M. Penner]

Doesn't take much searching to discover a pattern here.

While we're identifying patterns, it seems to me that διανοίγω tends have body parts as its object (eyes, ears, mouth, womb).