[B-Greek] Judith 13:19 textual variant
Pastor Mark Eddy
markeddy at adams.net
Tue Sep 9 11:29:45 EDT 2003
I can help a little. Judith 13:19 in NRSV & LXX corresponds to the first half of Judith 13:25 in the
Vulgate (though the Vulgate in this verse is not an exact translation of the LXX text.
B.H. Swete in his _Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek_ (1914) writes that Jerome mentions a Hebrew
book of Judith, "but he produced a version or paraphrase from an Aramaic source." And Swete adds, "The
relation of this Aramaic text to the original of the Greek book remains uncertain."
Concerning the Greek manuscripts of Judith, Swete cites Fritzsche, who says that the Greek Judith exists
in three recensions: "(1) that of the Uncials and the majority of the cursives, (2) that of codd. 19, 108,
and (3) that which is represented by cod. 58, and is in general agreement with the Old Latin and Syriac
versions, which are based upon a Greek text."
The Vulgate has "your name" instead of the RSV "your hope" (translating Rahlf's LXX), but the Latin verbs
and sentence structure is quite different from LXX.
For BibleWorks users I have corrected the verse map files for most of the apocrypha, including Judith,
Sirach, and Tobit, so that the appropriate verses display together. I can send you the updated files (and
explain how to install them) if you request them off list. Let me know which texts and translations you
use, because each one has a slightly different verse map file.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Jeffers" <susan at read-the-bible.org>
> The NRSV for Judith 13:19 reads "Your praise will never depart from the
> hearts of those who remember the power of God" with a text note on "praise"
> that says "Other ancient authorities read hope."
>
> My copy of Rahlfs LXX shows ELPIS for the word in question, and has no note
> in the apparatus.
>
> A student has asked "I wonder if these other authorities were also Greek
> and what the Greek words used were."
>
> Any ideas? I'm thinking maybe the "ancient authorities" were unavailable
> when Rahlfs edition was produced???
>
> I tried looking up the Vulgate on Perseus, but what they have at Judith
> 13:19 doesn't match the context of the verse in the NRSV or Rahlfs at all
> -- it's something about Holofernes and the Assyrian military. In
> BibleWorks the Vulgate for Judith 13:19 looks about twice as long as it
> needs to be and also doesn't seem to bear much resemblance to the NRSV
> verse; I read just about no Latin, anyway!
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