[B-Greek] Hebrews 1:8

tmcos at rogers.com tmcos at rogers.com
Wed Jun 30 12:04:14 EDT 2004


Robert, you keep mentioning Paul here as if he were the author of Hebrews. Are you assuming that Paul is the author, and if so what is your evidence?

Tony Costa


> 
> From: "robert newman" <rob at designceramics.co.uk>
> Date: 2004/06/30 Wed AM 10:40:50 EDT
> To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
> Subject: [B-Greek] Hebrews 1:8
> 
> There has been much written about the translation of this verse. We need
> to take care here not to get into a Theological discussion here. The
> basic answer to the question posed is that QEOS can also be taken as
> Vocative. Rolf Furuli after a short mention of this verse states "If we
> could establish without doubt whether "God" was nominative or vocative,
> we could also decide which of the translations is the correct one.
> However, neither in Hebrews 1:8 nor in our quotation of Psalm 45:7 is
> there a verb that can help us.Thus, in this passage the theology of the
> translator is the decisive factor in the translation." - The Role of
> Theology and Bias in Bible Translation.
>  
> Is he right, can it be decided grammatically whether QEOS is nominative
> or vocative?
>  
> In discussing PROS and the correlative coordination of Heb 1:7,8 George
> F Somsel writes:
>  
> >This is clearly stating that he is speaking to the ones mentioned, not
> concerning them.
>  
> In view of what's already been said this doesn't seem like a good
> argument. If it's that clear George why do most translator's render this
> like these "but of the Son he say's" NET or "But about the Son he says"
> NIV?
>  
> I have two questions.
>  
> 1) Buduhn in his book Truth in Translation has a chapter on this verse.
> He gives some powerful arguments, is this one sound?
>  
> He writes "Furthermore, there is no other example in the Bible where the
> expression "Forever" stands alone as a predicate phrase with the verb
> "to be" as it would if the sentence were read "Your throne is forever."
> "Forever" always functions as a phrase complementing either an action
> verb, or a predicate noun or pronoun."
>  
> Is there really no other example in the Bible? And what about other
> literature?
>  
> 2) There is also an interesting textual variant here in this verse that
> may give weight to the NWT rendering and others simular. Is the
> Translator's New Testament right in claiming "If the reading 'his' is
> adopted, then the previous line must be translated 'God is your throne
> for ever and ever'"?
>  
> I don't think this is really a place to discuss TC as such, but here is
> the reason for my question:
> A note to translator's in the Translator's New Testament points out a
> variant reading of the Greek text.  It says "UBS GNT has adopted 'your'.
> If the reading 'his' is adopted, then the previous line must be
> translated 'God is your throne for ever and ever'" 
> What is the strength of the variant reading AUTOU "his"? Even though
> NA27 has SOU"your", AUTOU "his" is the stronger reading.
> The NWT is based on WH which has AUTOU "his" and yet they translate as
> "your". This harmonizes with the LXX from which Paul was quoting. It's
> reasonable to assume that Paul quoted accurately and that "your" is the
> correct reading. Or is it? How/Why would AUTOU "his" be introduced? If
> SOU "your" was originally penned by Paul, why did an early scribe/s
> change it to AUTOU "his"?  An attempt to clarify the text as it was then
> understood?  Or is it more likely that AUTOU "his" was changed to SOU
> "your", so as to harmonize Paul's words with the LXX?  This is of course
> conjecture, but "improving" a quotation in this way is a known scribal
> practice. (It's appealed to for example in the NET Bibles textual
> critical note to Heb 1:12 to establish the reading "like a garment") So
> it seems there is a Textual Critical possibility in favor of the
> rendering "God is your throne" as highlighted in the Translator's New
> Testament.
>  
> So is the Translator's New Testament right in claiming "If the reading
> 'his' is adopted, then the previous line must be translated 'God is your
> throne for ever and ever'"?
>  
> Whilst these questions are of interest to me, I have found a careful
> consideration of the context here to be most helpful in making the
> meaning of the verse clear.
>  
> Robert Newman
> Essex England
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