Question on Genesis 34:3 LXX

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Tue Nov 5 17:01:20 EST 2002


At 7:47 PM +0000 11/5/02, Mark Wilson wrote:
>What should we make of this footnote in the NET Bible then:
>
>This is part of the footnote at Isa. 7:14:
>
>...The LXX translator(s) who later translated the Book of Isaiah into Greek
>sometime between the second and first century b.c., however, rendered the
>Hebrew term by the more specific Greek word PARQENOS which does mean
>"virgin" in a technical sense. This is the Greek term that also appears in
>the citation of Isa 7:14 in Matt 1:23. Therefore, regardless of the meaning
>of the term in the OT context, in the NT Matthew’s usage of the Greek term
>PARQENOS clearly indicates that from his perspective a virgin birth has
>taken place.

What this means is exactly what BDAG indicates: the Greek word is not in
itself as specific as the NT usage of the word unquestionably is. Therefore
the LXX references must be viewed NOT in the light of NT usage, but of more
general Greek usage.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad at ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/



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