[B-Greek] Numbers 23:19 (LXX) & I Samuel 15:29 (LXX)
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Oct 20 08:16:14 EDT 2003
At 9:59 PM -0700 10/19/03, Bryant J. Williams III wrote:
>Dear List,
>
>I am presently working over these two passages for an article on "Repentance."
>The question I have is relation to the following:
>
>Numbers 23:19a:
>
>OUC hWS ANQRWPOS hO QEOS DIAPTHQHNAI,
>OUD' HWS hUIOS ANQRWPOU APEILHQHNAI
I've emended the transliteration to conform to our more standard scheme,
which is neatly displayed in a diagram that Jonathan prepared for our home
page at http://ibiblio.org/bgreek
>What is DIARTHQHNAI & APEILHQHNAI?
Both are aorist passive (in form and sense, I think) infinitives, of
DIARTAW and APEILEW respectively. DIARTAW is found nowhere else in the
Greek Bible but in secular literature it means "deceive." APEILEW means
"threaten." The Greek text then must mean something like, "God is not like
a human being so as to be deceived nor like a son of humanity so as to be
threatened." It may well be that the LXX is not translating the text quite
as it exists in the MT. The LXX text, at any rate, seems to underscore not
what God does in terms of deceit but that he is not subject to deceit,
cannot be made to change his mind by threats.
>I Samuel 15:29a & b:
>
>KAI DIAIREQHSETAI ISRAHL EIS DUO,
>KAI APOSTREYEI OUDE METANOHSEI,
>hOTI OUX hWS ANQRWPOS ESTIN TOU METANOHSAI AUTOS,
>
>What is DIAIREQHSETAI?
This is future passive of DIAIREW, "divide" and the sense of the LXX text
must be: "Israel will be divided into two (parts), and he (God) will not
change course nor will he change is mind, because he is not like a human
being so as to undergo a change of mind himself." Here too it is
questionable whether the LXX translation really represents the MT as we
have it.
>The Hebrew text in Numbers uses a different word for "lie" than the quote of I
>Samuel. It appears that the Hebrew and the LXX are trying to make a
>distinction
>between "to actually speak falsehood; to lie" in Numbers; and "to mentally
>think
>of lying or telling a falsehood" in I Samuel. There could also be overlap
>here,
>but the contexts are seeming to make a clear distinction between the two? Any
>thoughts?
I suspect that you are looking for help from the LXX to clarify what the MT
text means; in this instance I rather doubt that the LXX text helps much. I
trust that Al Pietersma, our "resident" LXX authority, will take note of
this and have something helpful to say about it.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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