PHROW and PWROW
Richard Allan Stauch
rstauch at charter.net
Fri Aug 9 21:57:06 EDT 2002
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wieland Willker [mailto:willker at chemie.uni-bremen.de]
> Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 1:33 PM
> To: Biblical Greek
> Subject: [b-greek] RE: PHROW and PWROW
>
> Richard Allan Stauch wrote:
> > There are many other uses of a form of PWROW in this context
> > in NT Greek, many more (IMHO) than there are similar uses of PHROW.
>
> Do you have some edifying examples?
>
> The initial reason for my question was:
> Was the change in Jo 12:40 intended to change the meaning, or was it
more
> or less
> accidentally, retaining basically the same meaning, possibly because
PHROW
> was more
> common?
Remember that PWROW (and PHROW) are not the only two choices for NT
authors or copyists/redactors to use in such a context. I searched the
LXX with Apocrypha and NA27 (BibleWorks 5 Revision 2, version BGM) to
find as many occurrences of this context (to harden the heart) as I
could.
Another choice, sometimes used by them, was some form of SKLHROS, to be
parched or dry, hard or rough to the touch. Between LXX translators,
Apocrypha writers and NT authors, SKLHROS was used about 64 times in 61
verses, but only around four times in this context (Proverbs, Song of
Solomon and twice in Sirach).
One more choice is KATISCUW, to have strength; overcome or overpower.
This is the word the LXX translators sometimes used to translate the
Hebrew CHAZAQ, to be or grow firm or strong; strengthen. It is used in
this context at Exodus 7:13, Deuteronomy 2:30 (where also SKLHRUNW is
used as in "hardened his spirit"), Joshua 11:20 and 2 Chronicles 36:13
(more vaguely alluded to in 2 Chronicles 26:16).
Perhaps most pointedly, the LXX translators used BARUNW, which usually
translated the Hebrew KABAD, to be heavy, weighty or burdensome. It
appears four times in this context in Exodus (8:11, 8:28, 9:7, and
9:34), and twice at 1 Samuel 6:6.
By contrast, any form of PWROW only occurs 9 times in total (Job 17:7 [a
different context], Mark 3:5, 6:52, 8:17, John 12:40, Romans 11:7, 11:25
and Ephesians 4:18 [the last three speak of Israel being hardened] and 2
Corinthians 3:14). Of those eight used (at least partly) in this
context, five are uncontested with PHROW (Mark 3:5, 6:52, 2 Corinthians
3:14, Ephesians 4:18 and Romans 11:25; per BDAG & UBS4). Of the
remaining three in the combined LXX, Apocrypha and NT where there is any
contest at all, the manuscript evidence for PWROW is far superior in but
one. So, sticking with major pre-10th Century mss, here is the evidence
for:
PWROW in John 12:40; B* 4thC., A 5thC., L 8thC., Psi 8th-9thC., Theta
9thC., Delta 9thC., X 10thC., etc.
PHROW in John 12:40; P66 2ndC., P75 2nd-3rdC., Aleph 4thC., W 5thC., Pi
9thC., K 9thC., etc.
PWROW in Mark 8:17; P45 3rdC., Aleph 4thC., B 4thC., C 5thC., W 5thC., L
8thC., Delta 9thC., etc.
PHROW in Mark 8:17; Only in D* 5th-6thC.
PWROW in Romans 11:7; All UBS3 mss.
PHROW in Romans 11:7; Only occurs in one late ms, CvTichendorf (per
BDAG).
[Some dates gleaned from Comfort & Barrett, The Text of the Oldest New
Testament Manuscripts (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 2001).]
Note that John 12:40 is Jesus' allusion to Isaiah 6:10. There, the
author used the Hebrew word SHAMEN, to grow fat or heavy. The LXX
translators used a form of PACUNW, to grow dull or insensitive. Contrast
it with the parallel passage at Matthew 13:15, where the Greek has
EPACUNQH GAR hH KARDIA TOU LAOU TOUTOU. It must have been that early
copyists mistook PHROW for PWROW in John 12:40, but we may never know
the true source.
It is a little confusing, of course, but nobody expects a copy to be
perfectly true to the original. I think we have to shake the dust of
PHROW in P66 and P75 off of our sandals. The fact is that PHROW is (in
all probability) never used by a NT writer in this context. Nor does it
occur as an original word in LXX translation or Apocrypha, with the sole
exception of 4 Maccabees 18:21 (where it is not used in this context).
Richard Allan Stauch
Long Beach, CA
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