[B-Greek] Acts 3:25; LXX - Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14

George F Somsel gfsomsel at yahoo.com
Thu Jul 10 18:21:42 EDT 2008


In Hebrew the hithpael is a reflexive so that someone does something to or for themselves (sound familiar in Greek?).  The niphal is frequently a passive of the qal (light) form but can also be a reflexive.  If I recall correctly, Carl has opined previously regarding this situation
Now, does the Hebrew Niphal play a role in the development of these
intransitive aorists in Biblical Koine? Have some of them come into use
among Greek-speaking Jews whose scripure is the LXX? I don't really know
enough Hebrew to offer any helpful advice on that question beyond that it
might be a worthwhile thesis investigation for some grad student in
Biblical languages to draw up a list of the intransitive -QH- aorists (the
so-called "passive deponents") that appear with some frequency in the NT;
then to check for the appearance of these same verbs in in LXX (and perhaps
also in writers like Philo and Aristobulus--Jews whose scripture was LXX
and who wrote Greek); see how many of these verbs are also frequent in
classical Attic and in Koine generally (it shouldn't be difficult to check
out these verbs with the TLG "D" CD-ROM); check out what the Hebrew verbs
are that these verbs convey in LXX and analyze the "binyanim" of those
Hebrew verbs. Perhaps several of them are Niphal; I wouldn't be surprized
to find that several are Hiphil, which seems closer to the middle voice in
meaning.

http://www.ibiblio.org/bgreek/archives/96-11/0458.html

 george
gfsomsel


… search for truth, hear truth, 
learn truth, love truth, speak the truth, hold the truth, 
defend the truth till death.


- Jan Hus
_________



----- Original Message ----
From: Bryant J. Williams III <bjwvmw at com-pair.net>
To: B Greek <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 1:53:21 PM
Subject: [B-Greek] Acts 3:25; LXX - Gen 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14

Dear List,

My question is whether the voice of ENEULOGHQHSONTAI translates the Hebrew
Niphal in Gen 12:3, 18:18 and 28:14; but uses the Hithpael in 22:18; 26:4.
Should it be viewed as Middle or Passive in the following passages? (NRSV
followed by the Greek).

Acts 3:25 You are the descendants of the prophets and of the covenant that God
gave to your ancestors, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your descendants all the
families of the earth shall be blessed.’

25 ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ τῆς διαθήκης ἧς διέθετο ὁ θεὸς πρὸς τοὺς
πατέρας ὑμῶν λέγων πρὸς Ἀβραάμ· καὶ ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου [ἐν-]ευλογηθήσονται πᾶσαι
αἱ πατριαὶ τῆς γῆς.

LXX
Gen 12:3  I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will
curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed
(ENEULOGHQHSONTAI).”
3 καὶ εὐλογήσω τοὺς εὐλογοῦντάς σε, καὶ τοὺς καταρωμένους σε καταράσομαι, καὶ
ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς.

Gen 18:18 seeing that Abraham shall become a great and mighty nation, and all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed (ENEULOGHQHSONTAI) in him?
18 Αβρααμ δὲ γινόμενος ἔσται εἰς ἔθνος μέγα καὶ πολύ, καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν
αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς.

Gen 22:18  and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain
blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”
18 καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς, ἀνθ̓ ὧν
ὑπήκουσας τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς.

Gen 26:4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will
give to your offspring all these lands; and all the nations of the earth shall
gain blessing (ENEULOGHQHSONTAI) for themselves through your offspring,
4 καὶ πληθυνῶ τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς τοὺς ἀστέρας τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ δώσω τῷ σπέρματί
σου πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν ταύτην, καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη
τῆς γῆς,

Gen 28:14  and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall
spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and
all the families of the earth shall be blessed (ENEULOGHQHSONTAI) in you and
in your offspring.
καὶ ἔσται τὸ σπέρμα σου ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς γῆς καὶ πλατυνθήσεται ἐπὶ θάλασσαν καὶ
ἐπὶ λίβα καὶ ἐπὶ βορρᾶν καὶ ἐπ̓ ἀνατολάς, καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ
φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου.

I. Howard Marshall, the author of the Book of Acts in ***Commentary on the New
Testament Use of the Old Testament*** edited by Beale and Carson, page 549,
    "The verb ENEULOGHQHSNGTAI represents a Hebrew Niphal in Gen. 12:3; 18:18;
28:14, and a Hithpael in 22:18; 26:4, a difference reflected in the varying NRSV
renderings, "shall be blessed in him" and "shall gain blessings for themselves."
There is a dispute as to whether the MT forms mean that the nations will be
blessed through Abraham (i.e., a passive meaning), or that they will find
blessing (i.e., a middle [cf. NRSV]), or that they will bless themselves by
Abraham (i.e., a reflexive meaning: the nations say something like "May God make
us like Abraham and his descendants"; for this rendering, cf. Gen. 48:20. On
this, see NIDOTTE 1:759-60; Wenham 1987: 277-78; 1994: 112. Wenham argues
strongly that in the context in Gen. 12:3 a middle or passive sense is more
fitting that a reflexive. In any case, the LXX rendering is clearly passive."

So, "What say you?" (quoting Bill O'Reilly)

En Xristwi,

Rev. Bryant J. Williams III





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