[B-Greek] Isaiah 43:25

Ken Purscell k.j.purscell at tcu.edu
Mon Jan 2 14:35:27 EST 2006


Blessings on all.

Certainly John VanRietschoten is correct in reading the double as emphasis, 
but before we go jumping off into echoes of Exodus 3, it might be helpful to 
remember that these are not literal echoes, neither in the Hebrew nor the 
LXX.

Hebrew: Exodus 3:14 has God duplicating the verb, but Isa 43:25 has at best 
only an implied verb (well, other than the participle); the duplicate is the 
first person preposition.

LXX: The translator of Isa 43:25 apparently was trying to catch the unusual 
duplication in the Hebrew -- and even doubled the implied verb!  When we try 
to draw out the echoes from Exodus, though, what we find is that the 
duplication is not there.  Instead, that LXX translator introduced an 
interesting interpretation: EGW EIMI hO WN.  And, lest we miss the 
(translator's) point, immediately God tells Moses that Moses should say to 
the Hebrew people that hO WN APESTALKEN ME PROS hUMAS, in short that the 
Divine Name to be used here is hO WN rather than EGW EIMI.

Well, that seems to be that LXX translator's take on things, anyway.  Let's 
see... we're now up to two writers and two translators, plus my own 
opinions, plus John's, plus...  Already this is quite a crowded 
conversation.  What I'm trying to convey, though, is that to say "*no doubt* 
there is an echo of Exo 3:14" may be to state the case a little too 
strongly.  There might be an echo, but the case is not a slam dunk.  I think 
the way Bert's question is phrased reveals an assumption of the "Name-ness" 
of EGW EIMI that is more of a stretch than most people realize.  Without 
having spent a lot of time studying the passage in Isaiah, it looks on first 
reading that the duplication really is emphasizing God's uniqueness in 
blotting out transgression, as opposed to Jacob's desire to try all the 
other (dubious) options first.  If the way this is phrased raises a dim 
reminder of the burning bush, so much the better, but I suspect that most of 
the meaning rests within this passage itself.

My greetings again for a blessed new year.

Ken Purscell
Newman Grove, Nebraska, USA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John VanRietschoten" <jvanriet1 at mts.net>
To: <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Isaiah 43:25


> Bert de Haan wrote,
> Message: 11
> Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:19:19 +0000
> From: "Bert de Haan" <b_dehaan at sympatico.ca>
> Subject: [B-Greek] eyw eimi egw eimi Isaiah 43:25
> To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
> Message-ID: <BAY15-F217E9C5395F5FF009A6A9A8B2D0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> Isaiah 43:25;  EGW EIMI EGW EIMI hO EXALEIFWN TAS ANOMIAS SOU...
> Can the double EYW EIMI  mean; I am (the) I am, the one washing your
> transgressions...or would it need an article before the second EYW?
> Thank you.
> Bert de Haan.
>
> Greetings and blessings for the new year.
> The LXX almost literally translates the Hebrew. Gesenius Hebrew Grammar 
> lists Isa 43:25 on p. 453 under Noun Clauses. There the word strengthened 
> is used. Literally the Heb  has, I I he, with the verb form am implied. In 
> most translations into English the strengthening, or emphasis, is 
> expressed by adding the word Even, or Alone. No doubt there is an echo 
> here of Exo 3:14 where God also uses duplication for emphasis, or 
> strengthening, or uniqueness. The insertion of an article would have 
> spoiled the emphasus in what the LORD wanted to convey: He alone would 
> (could) wipe away, or blot out, transgressions and sin.
>
> John VanRietschoten BD
> Minister Em in the Canadian and American Reforemed Churches Carman 
> Manitoba Ca. jvanriet1 at mts,net
> ---
> B-Greek home page: http://metalab.unc.edu/bgreek
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