On the Vorlage, Tendenz, and Scribal Negligence of AT Esth 1:10–15

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Lydia Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Sitz Im Leben

Abstract In this article, a section of the Alpha-Text Esther story (1:10–15) is brought to the foreground to reveal the hitherto unrecognized hints that point to the Hebrew Vorlage, the literary Tendenz, and the scribal negligence unparalleled in either the Septuagint or the Masoretic text. All these literary phenomena suggest that the Alpha-Text and the Masoretic text versions reflect two variant archetypes of a Hebrew text, but this does not mean that both archetypes cannot overlap at places. When the archetypes do overlap, some of the unique readings in the Alpha-Text actually reflect later exegeses or misunderstandings that are dependent on the readings preserved in both the Masoretic text and the Septuagint. The later exegeses in particular help locate the Sitz im Leben of Alpha-Text Esth 1:10–15 in the Hasmonean period and thereafter when the Jewish-gentile relationship is strained.

scholarly journals The Tyrian King in MT and LXX Ezekiel 28:12b–15

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Lydia Lee
Keyword(s):  
Late Antiquity ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Second Temple ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Second Temple Period ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Israelite Religion ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Fluid Boundary

The biblical prophecy in Ezekiel 28:11–19 records a dirge against the king from Tyre. While the Hebrew Masoretic Text (MT) identifies the monarch as a cherub, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) distinguishes the royal from the cherub. Scholarly debates arise as to which edition represents the more original version of the prophecy. This article aims to contribute to the debates by adopting a text-critical approach to the two variant literary editions of the dirge, comparing and analyzing their differences, while incorporating insights gleaned from the extra-biblical literature originating from the ancient Near East, Second Temple Period, and Late Antiquity. The study reaches the conclusion that the current MT, with its presentation of a fluid boundary between the mortal and divine, likely builds on a more ancient interpretation of the Tyrian king. On the other hand, while the Hebrew Vorlage of LXX Ezekiel 28:12b–15 resembles the Hebrew text of the MT, the Greek translator modifies the text via literary allusions and syntactical rearrangement, so that the final result represents a later reception that suppresses any hints at the divinity of the Tyrian ruler. The result will contribute to our understanding of the historical development of the ancient Israelite religion.

The Books of Samuel

2021 ◽  
pp. 215-224
Author(s):  
Anneli Aejmelaeus
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Textual History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Books Of Samuel ◽  
Textual Research

The textual history of the books of Samuel, both in Greek and in Hebrew, is laden with problems that the researcher needs to be acquainted with, whatever the focus of textual research. The Septuagint translation shows a close word-for-word correspondence to its Hebrew Vorlage, however, not without occasional freedom of translation, especially in lexical choices and grammatical forms, as well as erroneous translation due to defective knowledge of Hebrew. The Hebrew Vorlage used by the translator differed at times substantially from the later Masoretic Text, used for comparison during the early textual history of the Septuagint text as well as in research today. Not only is the Masoretic Text corrupted but it underwent editorial changes until the turn of the era. Textual differences caused by both the translator and the editors of the Hebrew text must have occasioned the repeated revisions of the Greek text by Jewish and Christian scribes.

The Double Text of Jeremiah Revisited

2021 ◽  
pp. 113-128
Author(s):  
Alexander Rofé
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Church Fathers ◽  
Greek Translation ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Book Of Jeremiah ◽  
The Church

From the time of the Church Fathers, it has been recognized that the Greek translation (LXX) of the book of Jeremiah is shorter than the received Hebrew text (MT). Modern assessments of this textual situation have viewed the LXX as between one-eighth and one-sixth shorter than the corresponding Masoretic text of the book of Jeremiah. Since manuscripts have been found at Qumran that seem to confirm the antiquity of the shorter LXX recension, many explanations for this editorial discrepancy have focused on the phenomenon of editorial expansion within the Masoretic tradition. This chapter presents a range of counter-evidence demonstrating that the LXX has been subjected to a sustained process of editorial concision.

Elijah and the ‘Voice’ at Horeb (1 Kings 19): Narrative Sequence in the Masoretic Text and Josephus

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-94
Author(s):  
Max Rogland
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
The Common ◽  
1 Kings ◽  
The Voice

Abstract This study examines the peculiar narrative sequence in the Masoretic Text of 1 Kgs 19.11-13, in which Elijah appears to delay obeying the “still small voice”. It examines Josephus’ version of the account, which presents a different narrative sequence, arguing that it represents a reading of the Hebrew text that is grammatically and exegetically superior to the common interpretation.

From Leviticus to Joshua: The Old Greek Text in Light of Two Septuagint Manuscripts from the Schøyen Collection

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-78
Author(s):  
Kristin De Troyer
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Old Greek

The texts of papyrus Schøyen MS 2648 (a Joshua codex) and MS 2649 (a Leviticus codex) belong to the Old Greek text tradition of the books of Joshua and Leviticus. But both codices attest not purely to the Old Greek text, but to an already slightly altered text. The Old Greek text of the two codices was already revised towards a Hebrew text, most often the Masoretic text. The two papyri are thus not witnesses for the Old Greek text as it left the hands of the first translators, but for an Old Greek text that was beginning to be revised towards the Hebrew text.

The Text of Jeremiah: Re-Examining the Evidence from Kings

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
James Frohlich ◽  
Henk de Waard
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Greek Translation ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Hebrew Version ◽  
Old Greek ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Parallel Texts

Abstract Jeremiah 52 largely parallels 2 Kgs 25, and Jer 40–43 contains various sentences that are also found in 2 Kgs 25:22–26. The present article compares these parallel texts, in order to determine the relationship between the Masoretic text of Jeremiah and the book’s Old Greek translation. It concludes that this relationship is complex, but that the agreements between the Greek text of Jeremiah and the Hebrew text of Kings support the view that the Old Greek of Jeremiah reflects an early Hebrew version of the book.

Judges 1–12

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Sasson
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Ancient World ◽  
Ancient Near East ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
The Past ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Faith Traditions ◽  
Over Time

Profound changes have occurred in the study of early Israel over the past four decades. In recent years, the pendulum of scholarship has swung toward literary and theological readings that are not significantly informed by the literature of the ancient Near East. Jack M. Sasson’s commentary to the first twelve chapters of the book of Judges is a refreshing corrective to that trend. It aims to expand comprehension of the Hebrew text by explaining its meaning, exploring its contexts, and charting its effect over time. Addressed are issues about the techniques that advance the text’s objectives, the impulses behind its composition, the motivations behind its preservation, the diversity of interpretations during its transmission in several ancient languages, and the learned attention it has gathered over time in faith traditions, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. In its pages also is a fair sampling from ancient Near Eastern documents to illumine specific biblical passages or to bolster the interpretation of contexts. The result is a Judges that more carefully reflects the culture that produced it. In presenting this fresh translation of the Masoretic text of Judges as received in our days, Sasson does not shy away from citing variant or divergent readings in the few Judges fragments and readily calls on testimonies from diverse Greek, Aramaic, and Latin renderings. The opinions of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim sages are reviewed, as are those of eminent scholars of recent times. With his Introductory Remarks, Notes, and Comments, Sasson addresses specific issues of religious, social, cultural, and historical significance and turns to ancient Near Eastern lore to illustrate how specific actions and events unfolded elsewhere under comparable circumstances. This impressive new appreciation of Judges will be of immense interest to bible specialists, theologians, cultural historians, and students of the ancient world.

The Slavonic Book of Esther: Translation from Hebrew or Evidence for a Lost Greek Text?

1994 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Horace G. Lunt ◽  
Moshe Taube
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Bible ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Greek Translation ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
Old Greek

Fifty years ago, Charles C. Torrey, writing about Esther, asked on the pages of this journal, “Why is there no Greek translation of the Hebrew text? Every other book of the Hebrew Bible, whatever its nature, has its faithful rendering (at least one, often several) in Greek. For the canonical Esther, on the contrary, no such version is extant, nor is there evidence that one ever existed.” It is common knowledge that the extant Greek versions of Esther, both the longer Septuagint text and the shorter A-text, are textually distant from the Hebrew Masoretic version. Indeed, the distance is so great that when a passage in the Complutensian edition (5:1–2) does correspond to the Masoretic text, Robert Hanhart confidently labels it as “newly translated.” His characterization seems justified in this case; the two verses required a new translation because the original Septuagint text had been removed, along with the apocryphal addition D, and put at the end of the book in accordance with the Latin tradition. Hanhart correctly states, “It is improbable that such an intervention, which sacrifices the inner coherence of the Greek text to the benefit of the Masoretic text, belongs to old Greek tradition,” indicating “a scholarly re-working according to the Masoretic text in the period of the Renaissance”; his confidence, however, rests on the fact that scholarly literature contains nothing about a Greek Esther that resembles the Masoretic text.

scholarly journals Shorter or longer text in Ezekiel 6: The role of genre

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Godwin Mushayabasa
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Literary Form ◽  
Literary Analysis ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Critical Problems

The text of Ezekiel continues to present some challenges to students studying it. This is in view of what one school of thought identify in the Ezekiel text as extensive redactions and revisions, whilst another school of thought is hesitant to subject the Masoretic Text (MT) to such critical analysis. Amidst these differing viewpoints, I have discussed by means of literary analysis, the possibility that chapter 6 of Ezekiel may have been intended as a prophetic poetic message, or was later edited to conform to the genre of prophetic poetry. This is in the light of the so-called repetitions or ‘additions’ reflected in the MT if compared against the LXX, as well as the general problems associated with the Hebrew text of Ezekiel. The findings indicate that the text of Ezekiel 6 probably already had a complete theological corpus when it left the hand of the prophet Ezekiel or those who penned his words down. However, scribes saw it necessary to restructure, organise and colour the prophetic oracle in a literary form and structure they thought was necessary. This finding could be vital for solving literary and text critical problems in Ezekiel.

A Study on Translation Technique in the Peshitta to Jeremiah

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-298
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Hebrew Text ◽  
Masoretic Text ◽  
Translation Technique ◽  
Recent Monograph

Abstract Our understanding of the translation technique of the Peshitta of Jeremiah has been considerably advanced through a recent monograph by Gillian Greenberg. This proposed that the Peshitta of Jeremiah bears witness to a Hebrew text shorter than the Masoretic Text and that the Masoretic Text contains redactional expansions subsequent to the translation of the Peshitta. Some of the evidence used to support these conclusions is questioned here, and explanations differing from those of Greenberg are proposed for a number of other passages in Jeremiah.

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