[B-Greek] hWS AN construction in the LXX
Albert Pietersma
albert.pietersma at sympatico.ca
Mon Oct 8 22:25:06 EDT 2007
Actually, what you cite is the Rahlfs edition, not Wevers more
critical text. In Wevers text we have KAI ESTAI EAN AKOH EISAKOUSHS
THS FWNHS ktl. Thus it lacks the reference to the crossing of the
Jordan and the giving of the land.
As for the hWS AN construction——to me it makes good sense. That is
to say the crossing of the Jordan ktl. is cast as a projection.
Therefore the event is yet to take place. Presumably it will but
hasn't as yet.
One might thus translate Rahlfs' text: "And it shall be, should you
(pl) cross the Jordan into the land that the Lord your God is giving
you (pl)—if by hearing you (pl) listen to the voice of the Lord your
(pl) God, to keep and to do all the commandments, which I command you
(sg) today, the Lord will also render you (sg) high above all the
nations of the earth and all these blessings will come upon you (sg)
and will find you (sg)—if by hearing you (sg) hear the voice of the
Lord your (sg) God."
A rather verbose sentence, to be sure, but such is the Greek.
Al
On Oct 8, 2007, at 1:14 PM, Ian Scott wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm working on some LXX translation with some students and came
> across an odd use of the expression hWS AN in Deut 28:1. It appears
> in a subordinate clause: KAI ESTAI hWS AN DIABHTE TON IORDANHN EIS
> THN GHN . . . The context is that Moses is outlining what will
> happen when the people enter Canaan if they keep the commandments.
> I would normally want to take hWS AN here in a conditional sense
> ("if you cross . . ."), but that doesn't seem to fit the sense
> here. The sense seems to demand that hWS AN mean "when" without
> much "unreality" attaching either to the AN or the subjunctive. But
> I haven't found any options in the lexica which would validate such
> a use of hWS AN. Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ian
>
> Ian W. Scott, Ph.D. (McMaster)
> Assistant Professor of New Testament
> Tyndale Seminary
> Toronto, Canada
> email: iscott at tyndale.ca
> url: http://www.ian-w-scott.com
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