Saturday, December 8, 2012

language of generation in 1:1-25 of Ἠσαῒας for ישעיה


Abram K-J, blogger, is reading "Greek Isaiah in a Year" and is with others in a facebook group collaborating in this effort.  Bloggers



ἄκουε οὐρανέ καὶ ἐνωτίζου γῆ ὅτι κύριος ἐλάλησεν υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα αὐτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν

Next, in 1:8 and 1:9, I'm interested in the daughter and the seed:

ἐγκαταλειφθήσεται ἡ θυγάτηρ Σιων ὡς σκηνὴ ἐν ἀμπελῶνι καὶ ὡς ὀπωροφυλάκιον ἐν σικυηράτῳ ὡς πόλις πολιορκουμένη

καὶ εἰ μὴ κύριος σαβαωθ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἡμῖν σπέρμα ὡς Σοδομα ἂν ἐγενήθημεν καὶ ὡς Γομορρα ἂν ὡμοιώθημεν

In the Hebrew, there's no good idea that the word sperma ought to be here.  The Hebrew is שריד.  This means something like a left-behind remnant.  In Isaiah 55:10, there is זרע, which is for σπέρμα sperma.  So the Greek is adding something generative here, in the context of the explicit mention of the daughter.  There's this idea of the soil seeded and the woman's womb seeded.  This is stronger in the Greek, this ambiguity, than it is in the Hebrew.  So what's up with that?

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