[B-Greek] TA hAGIA in Hebrews

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu May 31 05:11:29 EDT 2007


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Webb" <webb at selftest.net>


> Can someone with some good technical commentaries tell me if Hellenistic
> Jews used the expression TA hAGIA to refer to TO hAGIA hAGIWN, the Holiest
> Place? I seem to recall this being so, and it would make sense of the
> author's usage in Heb. 9:8, 12, 24, 25; 10:19; 13:11.  But a quick survey of
> the expression TA hAGIA in the LXX doesn't seem to turn up a single
> reference to the Holiest Place. I'm starting to think I need to render it as
> "the Holy Place" or "the sanctuary".

We need to distinguish between the meaning of the word itself and its reference in various context. 
As usual, exegesis is best treated as a first step, and translation as a second and different step.

The meaning is "the holy things" and often refers to sacrifices in the OT. But it can also have the 
more specific reference to "the holy places", that is the sanctuary consisting of the inner room and 
the outer room.
In a context where it is important to distinguish between the inner and outer room of the sanctuary, 
the outer room can be referred to by the general name hAGIA and the inner room, which is part of 
hAGIA (sanctuary) can be referred to as hAGIA hAGIWN. This is how the words are introduced in Heb 
9:2-3.
In a context where it is not important to distinguish between the two rooms, TA hAGIA refers to "the 
sanctuary" meaning the two rooms together seen as a whole. But the context can narrow the intended 
reference to either the inner or outer part of those holy places.
In Heb 9:11 Christ is referred to as the new high priest, and that context indicates that TA hAGIA 
in v. 12 refers to the most holy place, but of course to enter into the most holy place, one first 
had to enter the outer room. So, when priests (daily) enter TA hAGIA, it refers to the outer room. 
When the high priest (once a year) entered TA hAGIA, it refers not only to the outer room, but to 
the sanctuary including the inner room.

As far as translation into English goes, "sanctuary" may work if it is clear that this word can be 
understood to include the Most Holy Place. It would be misleading to translate it by "the Holy 
Place" in singular, because that would exclude the intended reference to the Most Holy Place.

KJV, RSV and NASB are among the prime examples of potentially misleading translations in English, 
because they do not adequately take context and intended reference into consideration. More modern 
translations have benefited from recent advances in linguistics and communication theory and realize 
that one has to consider how the reader will most likely interpret a given translation.

Iver Larsen 




More information about the B-Greek mailing list