[B-Greek] LXX, Dt. 4:10 punctuation & syntax

Albert Pietersma albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Thu Feb 6 00:50:15 EST 2003


Dear Rodney,
I am not convinced that either the syntax or the punctuation of v. 10 is awkward. The key to the
seeming puzzle lies in the verb SUMBIBAZW, which inter alia can mean 'to instruct' and as such,
like DIDASKW, takes a double accusative, neither one of which is adverbial (contra Wevers). In
terms of sentence typology  it forms a S(ubject)V(erb)O([direct] object)O([direct] object)
sentence, like DIDASKW (e.g. DIDASKEI TOUS IOUDAIOUS POLLA---he teaches the Jews many things). In
Deut 4.10 hHMERAN plays the role of POLLA in the preceding example and TOUS UIOUS that of TOUS
IOUDAIOUS.  Thus both TOUS UIOUS and hHMERAN are direct objects of the verb----however one may
construe that in English translation. Personally I would gloss vv. 9c-10a as:
"and you shall instruct your sons and your sons' sons about the day on which you stood before the
Lord your God at Choreb." Or if one wants to reflect the grammatical construction of the Greek
more closely: ". . . you shall teach your sons the day . . . ."
Al


bgreek at ntresources.com wrote:

> Dt 4:10 appears to be rather awkward in terms of punctuation and syntax.
> There is a "jarring" break of some sort between vv 9 and 10. I've been
> puzzling over it for some time and have finally written the f. explanatory
> note. I'd be interested in any comments on my solution, pro or con. Thanks.
> (And now we'll see if the new server can handle Unicode! I've added a bgreek
> transcription after each.)
>
> V. 10. The syntax and punctuation of v 10 is awkward. Rahlfs and Göttingen
> editions have no punctuation at the end of v 9, and a comma after the first
> word of v 10. The Cambridge LXX punctuates with a colon at the end of v 9
> and no punctuation after the first word of v 10. The text above has been
> modified to follow the Cambridge LXX at this point since it appears to make
> the best sense of the text as it stands. MT is likewise very abrupt at the
> beginning of v 10. Although other possibilities exist (Wever 72 suggests
> that á*¡Î*á*3Ï*αÎ* hHMERAN is an adverbial modifier of á*‘ωÏ*á*±ÎºÎ±ÏƒÎ1Î* hEWRAKASIN back in
> v 9, but that requires assuming a major disjunction in the syntax of the
> intervening clauses), it seems most likely that á*¡Î*á*3Ï*αÎ* hHMERAN functions
> resumptively to continue the admonition of v 9. The sense is thus, “â€| [lest
> you forget] the day in which you stood before the Lordâ€|â€* (Thus also MT; see
> Craigie, Deut., NICOT, 133. The NIV supplies “Rememberâ€* at the beginning of
> v 10, which amounts to the same explanation.)
>
> ====================================================
> Rodney J. Decker, Th.D., Associate Prof/NT
> Baptist Bible Seminary, Clarks Summit, PA,USA
> NTResources.com  PURL: purl.oclc.org/NT_Resources/
> Email: <rdecker> at <NTResources.com>
> ====================================================
>
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--
Albert Pietersma
Dept of Near&Middle Eastern Civilizations
4 Bancroft Avenue
University of Toronto
Toronto M5S 1C1
albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
homepage http://www.chass.utoronto.ca:8080/~pietersm/




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