[B-Greek] Gen 22:12 LXX

Albert Pietersma albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Sun Oct 23 01:47:00 EDT 2005


Please excuse a brief commercial. The provisional edition of NETS (New 
English Translation of the Septuagint) is nearing completion and can be 
found at http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/ You can find there an 
English translation for most books of the LXX.  The verse Bert asks 
about is translated as follows:
12 And he said, "Do not lay your hand on the youngster nor do anything 
to him; for now I know that you do fear God, and for my sake you have 
not spared your beloved son." (Robert Hiebert).

I am not sure I can add to what has already been said. There is no 
question that typical LXX Greek is translation Greek, and thus often 
too heavily indebted to the source language. Since Hebrew uses 
parataxis to a much greater extent than does compositional Greek, one 
will therefore find much more parataxis in the LXX then in standard 
literary Greek.

A second point to remember is that most of the LXX is written not in 
literary Greek but in a more popular variety. Since popular Greek (like 
popular English) uses parataxis more heavily than does literary Greek 
(and literary English), one finds more parataxis in the LXX than one 
would in, say, Polybius.   It is therefore difficult say whether the 
parataxis in Gen 22:12 to which Bert calls attention is attributable to 
Hebraic influence or to popular speech. While it is true that the KAI 
clause SEMANTICALLY has a causal relationship with what  precedes, that 
need not mean that the writer/speaker must make that relationship 
explicit SYNTACTICALLY, by using either a coordinating causal 
conjunction such as GAR or a subordinating one like OTI.  Popular 
language often leaves such niceties implicit. Consequently, KAI(2) in 
Gen22:12 is noting more than the ubiquitous KAI-conjunctive, as I see 
it.
What I find personally more noteworthy than KAI in this verse is the 
use of the pronoun SY. Discrete personal pronouns are typically 
emphatic in Greek usage.  So, does the translator intend to emphasize 
that Abraham does not withhold his son whereas others do withhold 
theirs?  I seriously doubt it. Why then is SY in his text? Here the 
source text shows as why.  While FOBH in the OTI clause is a finite 
verb, which therefore needs no discrete personal pronoun, its Hebrew 
counterpart is a participle (YR)) which DOES need a pronoun and is 
therefore followed by )TH ("you"). Since the translator does his best 
to keep his text quantitatively in sync with his source, he dutifully 
supplies SY, even though his text neither needs it nor in fact really 
wants it.
Sorry, Bert, for the length of the note.
Al

On Oct 22, 2005, at 10:35 PM, Carl W. Conrad wrote:

> Forwarded for Bert de Haan
>
> The last half of Gen 22:12 reads a follows:
>
>
>>     NUN GAR EGNWN hOTI FOBHi TON QEON SU KAI OUK EFEISW TOU hUIOU
>> SOU TOU
>>     AGAPHTOU DI EME.
>>     The meaning of this passage is clear more so because I know the
>> passage in
>>     English then due to my understanding of Greek.  I don't
>> understand the use
>>     of KAI.
>>     If KAI here has the sense of 'even', (->you did not even keep
>> your son from
>>     me) should there not be some sort of punctuation before SU?
>> KAI is in the
>>     wrong place to simply joins the two phrases.
>>     It seems natural to read something like, "seeing that you did
>> not spare..."
>>     or "because you did not spare..."  I have not seen a use of kai
>> like that in
>>     a lexicon.  I don't have BDAG, maybe it is in there.(And
>> George, I can't
>>     sell my firstborn to buy BDAG.  She is on to me.)
>>     Can someone explain this please?
>
>>     Thank you.
>>     Bert de Haan.
>>
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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


—
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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