Monday 11 June 2018

Exodus 8:22 - the Name and the Title side by side

JUST CHECKING, AS planned for unaccounted for double-occurrences of Yahweh in a single verse and stumbled over another interesting example perhaps worth sharing of how the title characteristics were associated with the Greek article (and the Name characteristics with its absence). In Exodus 8:22 in the NASB, based on Hebrew texts, we read:

“But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there, in order that you may know that I, the LORD, am in the midst of the land."

In the NETS translation of the Greek Septuagint we read:
"And I will distinguish gloriously on that day the land of Gesem, which my people are on, whereon the dog-fly shall not be, so that you may know that I am [the] Lord, the Lord of all the land.

In the NETS version, we have a repetition of the word "Kyrios" - first without the article, then, immediately after, with the article. It's a marvelous example of how the two characteristics complement one another and are expressed in the Greek grammar, much like the example of Isaiah 49:14 (But Zion said, “[The] LORD [Yahweh] has forsaken me, the Lord [Adonai] has forgotten me.”) we discussed in my previous post. In the first instance we have the personhood of God; in the second, that person, Kyrios, is the kyrios of what? Of all the land.

How else could NETS translate this? How about the following:
"And I will distinguish gloriously on that day the land of Gesem, which my people are on, whereon the dog-fly shall not be, so that you may know that I am GOD, the Lord (or Ruler) of all the land.

A less literal translation could dispense of the article of the second Kyrios:
"... so that you may know that I am GOD, Ruler of all the land.

What do you think?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks very much for your feedback, really appreciate the interaction.