[B-Greek] EGW EIMI hO WN (LXX of Exodus 3:14)

vunzndi at vfemail.net vunzndi at vfemail.net
Thu Mar 27 19:52:46 EDT 2008


Quoting "Eric S. Weiss" <papaweiss1 at yahoo.com>:

> Are there any thoughts about whether the Septuagint rendering of   
> God's name as EGW EIMI
>   hO WN in Exodus 3:14 accurately translates the Hebrew ehyeh asher   
> ehyeh? This may
>   cross over into B-Hebrew, but a discussion about this there would   
> cross over into B-Greek,
>   so I'm asking it here since I am more familiar with Greek.
>
>   I.e., is something lost or changed, and/or is something added?   
> (And perhaps gained - i.e.,
>   just because a Greek rendering may add a nuance or clarification   
> that the Hebrew doesn't or
>   can't express doesn't automatically mean that the translation into  
>  Greek has wrongly added
>   something to the text.)
>

The translation does not reflect the structure, or grammar, of the  
original  - but then translation nearly always requires changing  
something. and in general not relecting the original structure is a  
good way to go. I would say the LXX has the right approach here,  
though, of course, not the only possible translation .

BTW the first part EGW EIMI is a common pahrase that has  a range of  
usages. Whilst Jesus uses EGW EIMI to say "Before Abraham was 'I AM' "  
in John 8:58. The man born blind also uses EGW EIMI, when debate< "Is  
this the man who was born bliand?" answers clearly, "I am." in John 9:9

Regards
John Knightley

-------------------------------------------------
This message sent through Virus Free Email
http://www.vfemail.net






More information about the B-Greek mailing list