[B-Greek] SATAN in LXX
Ken Penner
kpenner at stfx.ca
Sat Jan 8 08:33:18 EST 2011
Other verses that may be of interest for this topic, from the apparatus of the Göttingen Septuagint:
Lev. 19.19 M has SATAN.
Lev. 22.22.
Zach. 3.1 in manuscript 86 has KAI hO SATAN, and SyH has SATAN.
Iob 1.6a Aquila has SATAN instead of DIABOLOS.
Iob 2.3 the SyH, Alexandrinus, group 1 of the Lucianic manuscripts, and Chrysostom add PROS TON SATANAN.
Iob 40.16a SATAN in some patristic witnesses.
As Al said, it is of interest that the translator transcribes his text exactly. But I do think that SATAN in 3 Reigns is significant precisely BECAUSE the translator "withholds his understanding of the Hebrew word." The word would have stood out to a Greek reader because it was foreign. How often does this translator transcribe rather than translate?
Ken
Ken M. Penner, Ph.D.
Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic vocabulary memorization software:
http://purl.org/net/kmpenner/flash/
kpenner at stfx.ca
-----Original Message-----
From: b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-greek-bounces at lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jeff Smelser
Sent: Friday, January 07, 2011 8:24 PM
To: b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [B-Greek] SATAN in LXX
In the LXX, why is it that "SATAN," merely a transliteration of the
Hebrew, is used in 3 Kings (=1 Kings) 11:14 (and also in vs. 23 in C.
Alexandrinus) where the context simply refers to enemies or adversaries?
I think the same question can perhaps be asked of Sir. 21:27, where I
don't see a compelling reason to suppose the text has the devil in view.
Why wasn't the Hebrew translated into Greek in these passages?
3 Ki. 11:14 Καὶ ἤγειρεν κύριος σαταν τῷ Σαλωμων
KAI HGEIREN KURIOS SATAN TWi SALWMWN
And the Lord raised adversaries against Solomon
καὶ ἦσαν σαταν τῷ Ισραηλ πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας Σαλωμων
KAI HSAN SATAN TWi ISRAEL PASAS TAS hHMERAS SALWMWN
and they were adversaries against Israel all the days of Solomon
Sir. 21:27
ἐν τῷ καταρᾶσθαι ἀσεβῆ τὸν σατανᾶν αὐτὸς καταρᾶται τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν.
EN TWi KATARASQAI ASEBH TON SATANAN AUTOS KATARATAI THN hEAUTOU YUCHN.
An ungodly man, in cursing the adversary, curses his own soul
The fact that the word wasn't translated into Greek would seemingly
suggest the translators had the devil in view. But this seems strange
especially given that when the Devil is clearly in view, the Hebrew for
adversary is translated by the Greek DIABOLOS.
The only thing I can imagine is that the translators saw Solomon's
adversaries as acting at the behest of the devil, and that by that time,
for them the Greek transliteration SATAN had come to be a name for the
devil. But if that's the explanation, why is it only used in 1 Ki. 11
and Sir. 21? Why not in passages much more obviously referring to the
devil, e.g. Job 1, Zech 3? And furthermore, the context in 3 Ki. 11:14
(LXX) requires that we understand indeclinable SATANto be plural in both
instances. In the first part of the verse in the LXX, two adversaries
are mentioned, and in the last part of the verse, it says HSAN SATAN. So
given that the LXX points to plural SATAN, it seems difficult to argue
that the translators had the Devil (singular) in view.
So then again, why was the word merely transliterated?
Jeff Smelser
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