LXX OG or Symmachus - why it matters

[C. S. Bartholomew]

Gen. 1:28a
ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים פרו ורבו ומלאו את־הארץ וכבשׁה

ΣΥΜΜΑΧΟΣ (Symmachus)
καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός·
εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁ θεός· αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ
πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ ὑποτάξατε αὐτὴν ...

Where αὐτὴν renders the pronominal suffix on וכבשׁה.

LXX OG (Rahlfs)
Gen. 1:28 καὶ ηὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς
λέγων Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ
πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς

As Peter J. Williams stressed in his lecture "Why I don't believe in the Septuagint"[1] the revisions of LXX OG and fresh translations of the Hebrew Bible into Greek are moving in the direction of formal equivalence[2]. You can see this in this sample where the sentence structure:

LXX OG: καὶ ηὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς λέγων -- doesn't mirror the Hebrew syntax
ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים

Symmachus: καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός· εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁ θεός· -- mirrors the Hebrew syntax
ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים

[1] Peter J. Williams "Why I don't believe in the Septuagint"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmA2oQm ... u.be&t=107

[2] formal equivalence -- Word for word translation maintaining the syntax structure including word order whenever possible.

[Markos]

Hi, Clayton:

Gen. 1:28a
ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים פרו ורבו ומלאו את־הארץ וכבשׁה

ΣΥΜΜΑΧΟΣ (Symmachus)
καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεός·
εἶπεν δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁ θεός· αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ
πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ ὑποτάξατε αὐτὴν ...

Where αὐτὴν renders the pronominal suffix on וכבשׁה.

LXX OG (Rahlfs)
Gen. 1:28 καὶ ηὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς
λέγων Αὐξάνεσθε καὶ πληθύνεσθε καὶ
πληρώσατε τὴν γῆν καὶ κατακυριεύσατε αὐτῆς

LXX OG or Symmachus...

... or the Graecus Venetus:

καὐλόγησέ σφε ὁ θεός, εἶπέ τε σφοῖν ὁ θεός, αὔξετον καὶ πληθύνετον, πληροῦτόν τε τὴν γῆν καὶ ὑποτάσσετον ταύτην...

(Yes, those are dual imperatives.) The GV is above all the anti-LXX; it consistently goes out of its way to NEVER follow the LXX for as much as a verse or a sentence. This is obviously not the case for the other Greek translations, which often agree verbally with the LXX.

LXX OG: καὶ ηὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὁ θεὸς λέγων -- doesn't mirror the Hebrew syntax
ויברך אתם אלהים ויאמר להם אלהים

This does catch me by surprise. I would think either (a) the LXX has a different vorlage here or (b) the LXX authors are so used to semitisms that they sometimes produce them even when they are not in the original.

Do you have a link for Symmachus (and the other Greek translations) on line? Are Field's old volumes of the Hexapla still the standard hard copy resource? I hear that someone is working on a new edition of the Hexapla but I have not been able to find anything on line or in print.

[C. S. Bartholomew]

Markos,

As is often the case, I stumbled across this while looking into some unrelated matter. I would also be interested in finding handy access to "the Three" something readable[1].


[1] not Göttingen LXX apparatus.