[B-Greek] Sirach 38:1-8

Ken Penner pennerkm at mcmaster.ca
Wed Oct 22 09:25:48 EDT 2003


> I would appreciate references to any
> literature discussing these lines of Sirach or any other help 
> anyone can offer.  Each verse in Rahlfs is not particularly difficult on
its own,
> but the sequence of verses and the referents of various pronouns and
> understood subjects seem very awkward.  Has the Hebrew for 
> this section been found?  If so, does it help? 

The Hebrew for this section has been found, and can be read in parallel with
the Greek at
<http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/gopher/text/religion/biblical/parallel/27.Sirach.
par>

> (1) what is the antecedent of AUTOU in 7 (TOV PONON AUTOU)?

The Hebrew does not have a pronoun here, so the NRSV does not translate
AUTOU. I'm not sure what the grandson had in mind. The only grammatical
antecedents I can think of are God (his because he created ), or the
physician (his because he heals it).

> (2) who is the subject of EQERAPEUSEV in 7?

The Hebrew here has a participle, RWP), "healing", without a conjunction
following. So the grandson should have rendered this verb as the subject,
"healer".

> (3) QAUMASIOIS in 6 is available as an antecedent for AUTOIS 
> and TOUTOIS
> in 7, but if 7 were placed after 4, FARMAKA/AUTOIS in 4 would not only
> also be suitable but the matter of the subject of 7 would not be so
> difficult.  Does this sort of thing happen occasionally (transposition
> of a verse by a copyist?)?

The plural antecedent in 7 must go back to 4 in Hebrew, because there is no
plural word in 6. QAUMASIOIS AUTOU is pluralized from GBWRTW.

> (4) (this is a cultural question and perhaps not appropriate for this
> group) What sorts of cultural objects are the wood/stick and water of
> verse 5?

Verse 5 alludes to Exodus 15:23-25.

Ken Penner, Ph.D. (cand.), McMaster University
Vocabulary Memorization software:
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