[B-Greek] Re: LXX Psalms 118:112

D Jongkind dj214 at cam.ac.uk
Thu Feb 20 05:52:44 EST 2003


EKLINA THN KARDIAN MOU TOU POIHSAI TA DIKAIWMATA SOU
EIS TON AIWNA DI ANTAMEIYIN

Thanks very much professor Pietersma,
your answer was much more than I had ever hoped for, even though you saddled
me up with a new dilemma.
The whole reason why I came to this verse is because of the reading Codex
Sinaiticus has at this point. Where all the MSS read DI ANTAMEIYIN,
Sinaiticus has DIA PANTOS AMIYEIN.

AMIYEIN I take as a future infinitive  from AMEIBW, so still within the
ANTAMEIYIN family (though an equally strong case could be made for a noun
AMEIYIN).

So far I had been thinking that Sinaiticus could be explained as resulting
from some visual confusion: the first three letters of both readings are the
same and the -NT- bit of the original text provides enough basis for the
PANTOS of Sin. What remained of the original - AMEIYIN- was simply left
unchanged. Additionally, EIS TON AIWNA is enough of a trigger to raise the
expectation that it would be followed by DIA PANTOS.
    It seems now that at least I have to allow for the possibility that
Sinaiticus reflects a revision towards the Hebrew (QB (DIA PANTOS) which may
have been conflated with another reading (AMEIYIN).

Many apologies for making a text-critical point on the B-Greek list, but it
looked slightly awkward to forward the three postings to the TC-list.

Regards,
Dirk Jongkind


----- Original Message -----
From: "Albert Pietersma" <albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca>
To: "D Jongkind" <dj214 at cam.ac.uk>
Cc: "B-Greek" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 5:35 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] LXX Psalms 118:112


> Excellent question, no easy answer. As I see it, the problem is
essentially
> that of the source text.  True, in translations that replace the original,
such
> problems are typically "solved," but that is not the kind of translation
we
> have in the Greek Psalter, where problems often get passed on.
> What does the Hebrew mean?
> NRSV translates the verse as:
> (I incline my heart to perform your statutes)
> forever, to the end.
> The NEB translates more dynamically:
> (I am resolved to fulfil thy statutes;)
> they are are a reward that never fails.
> There are other translations of MT that can be cited, but NRSV and NEB are
> sufficient to point out the problem: what does one does with (QB, the last
> three consonants of the verse, syntactically and semantically? Does it
function
> adverbially (NRSV) or does function as a nominal (NEB)? Does it mean "end"
> (NRSV) or does it mean "reward" (NEB)? Since the three consonants can
function
> as and can mean either, a contextual argument can be made for both.
> The Greek translator himself (=G)  waffles, and that within the same
psalm. So
> for example in 118.33 he translates (QB as DIA PANTOS ("I will seek it
[the
> way] continually") but in 118.112 as DI' ANTAMEIYIN. One might further
note
> that (QB is rendered by ANTAPODOSIS in 18[19].12 and by ANTALLAGMA in
88[89].52
> both of which are in the same semantic ballpark as ANTAMEIYIS.
>
> Two things in particular are of interest in 118.112: (a) G takes  (QB to
> function as a noun and interpretively preposes DIA, thus making the entire
> phrase into an adverbial; (b) though G clearly recognizes
"reward/exchange" as
> a component of (QB, only in our verse does he use ANTAMEIYIS as a gloss,
all
> the more interestingly since this Greek word is a hapax in the entire LXX!
> Both (a) and (b) show that, within G's fairly restrictive parameters, he
is
> really trying to make sense of his source text. What sense did he manage
to
> make?
>
> LEH is correct as far as it goes, but it understandably does not try to
exegete
> Ps 118.112.  I would suggest that in this verse the kind of
> exchange/reward/requital at issue is 'what one gets out of it for its own
> sake.'  That is to say, "I inclined my heart to perform your statutes/
> forever," because doing so has its own pay-back.  Differently put, it
isn't
> because doing so will win the psalmist  a reward in the hereafter, but
because
> doing so gives him happiness in life here and now. What reception history
did
> with Ps 118.112 is no doubt of interest but is another story.
> Sorry for the length of this post.  Blame G :-)
> Al
>
>
> D Jongkind wrote:
>
> > EKLINA THN KARDIAN MOU TOU POIHSAI TA DIKAIWMATA SOU
> > EIS TON AIWNA DI ANTAMEIYIN
> >
> > The first line is clear to me, the first clause of the second line also,
but
> > what can the last clause mean? Lust mentions 'exchanging, requital' for
> > ANTAMEIYIS but that does not help me much.
> >
> > Regards,
> > Dirk Jongkind
>



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