From: Jim West (jwest@Highland.Net)
Date: Wed Aug 26 1998 - 07:10:27 EDT
At 10:11 AM 8/26/98 +0000, you wrote:
>Why did the LXX use the translation virgin or parthenos and the Hebrew
>young woman or h'alma?
>
Actually, only some versions of the LXX contain the word "parthenos"- others
use various words which more correctly reflect "almah". The Hebrew term for
virgin is "bethulah" and not "almah"
In my view, the LXX mss which have "parthenos" have been transmitted by
Christians and have undergone assimilation to Matthew- who chose "parthenos"
not because it was in the Greek text he used, but because he found it more
theologically useful than "neanis".
In other words, the oldest greek versions of the OT correctly reflect
"almah" whereas the versions of the LXX transmitted by the Church
assimilated to Matthew and have "parthenos".
An excellent discussion of the whole issue can be found in TDNT, vol 5, pp
826ff, esp. 831-837.
Best,
Jim
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