[B-Greek] Sirach 38:1-8

Albert Pietersma albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Wed Oct 22 13:56:13 EDT 2003


Herewith the NETS translation (Ben Wright), with the antecedents made 
explicit.
Some of these are, of course, ambiguous. Remember that NETS translates 
the Greek, not a Hebrew Ur-Text.

> 38.1 Honor a physician for his services,
> 	for indeed the Lord created him (physician).
> 38.2	For healing is from the Most High,
> 	and he (physician) will receive a gift from a king.
> 38.3	A physician's skill will exalt his head,
> 	and in the presence of nobles he will be admired.
> 38.4	The Lord created remedies out of the earth,
> 	and a sensible man will not ignore them.
> 38.5	Was not water made sweet by wood (cf. Exod 15:25)
> 	in order that his (God's) strength might be known?
> 38.6	And he (God) it was that gave skill to human beings
> 	to be glorified by his (God?) marvelous deeds.
> 38.7	By them (marv. deeds?)  he(God) healed and took away his(man's) 
> pain.
> 38.8	A pharmacist will make a mixture with them (remedies),
> 	and his (pharmacist's/physician's) works will never be finished,
>          and peace from him (pharmacist/physician) is upon the earth's 
> surface.

Cited with Ben's permission.
Al

On Wednesday, October 22, 2003, at 10:06 AM, Maurice A. O'Sullivan 
wrote:

>
> At 13:11 22/10/2003, Chet Creider wrote:
>
>> Has the Hebrew for this section
>> been found?  If so, does it help? (In his prologue, Sirach's grandson
>> (?) implies that making the translation was difficult for him.)
>
> Chet:
>
> In vol. 39 of the Anchor Bible [ Skehan, Patrick W., trans. The Wisdom 
> of Ben Sira. 39. Anchor Bible, Albright, W.F; Freedman, David Noel. 
> New York: Doubleday, 1987. ( Introduction and commentary: Alexander Di 
> Lella ) ] the first footnote to 38:1-23 reads:
> >> After v. 1a ( Mss. D, B ) the Heb is witnessed only by Ms. B and by 
> sparse reflections of vv. 1, 4 in Talmud and Midrash.<<
>
> pp. 51-61 deal with the Hebrew and other ancient versions, and on 
> p.93/94 there is an extensive bibliography on the "Geniza, Qumran, and 
> Massada MSS of Ben Sira".
>
> As to Carl's comments on XULON, I find quite a variety of meanings 
> cited in:
> J. Lust., E. Eynekel, and K. Hauspie. A Greek-English Lexicon of the 
> Septuagint.  [ now very usefully available as an e-book in the Logos 
> Libronix system, from which I quote:
>
> >>  XULON
>  wood, firewood Gn 22,3; timber Gn 6,14; wooden image, idol Dt 4,28; 
> handle Dt 19,5(tertio); shaft (of a spear) 2 Sm 21,19; wooden collar, 
> yoke Lam 5,13; stocks (as instrument of punishment) Jb 33,11; tree Gn 
> 2,9; wooden objects, esp. vessels Ex 7,19
> Lust, J., Eynikel, E., & Hauspie, K. (2003). A Greek-English Lexicon 
> of the Septuagint : Revised Edition. Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft: 
> Stuttgart.<<
>
> Skehan's translation of vv. 1-8 reads:
>
> 1 Make friends with the physician, for he is essential to you
> 2 From God the doctor has his wisdom,
>      and from the king he receives his sustenance.
> 3 Knowledge makes the doctor distinguished,
>      and gives him access to those in authority.
> 4 God makes the earth yield healing herbs,
>      which the prudent should not neglect.
> 5 Was not the water sweetened by a twig
>      that people might learn his power?
> 6 He endows humans with the knowledge
>      to glory in his mighty works,
> 7 Through which the doctor eases pain
> 8   and the druggist prepares his medicines;
>    Thus God's creative work continues without cease
>      in its efficacy on the surface of the earth.
>
> I trust this is of help
>
> Maurice
>
>
>
> Maurice A. O'Sullivan
> mauros at iol.ie
> [ Bray, Ireland ]
>
> "God does a lot of things in the Psalms
> that He can't get away with in systematic theology."
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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>
>
—
Albert Pietersma
Professor of Septuagint and Hellenistic Greek
Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations
University of Toronto
Home: 21 Cross Street,
Weston ON Canada M9N 2B8
Email: albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Homepage: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~pietersm




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