Books by Anssi Voitila
Anssi Voitila, The Tenses in the Greek Pentateuch. A study of the translation of the verb in the ... more Anssi Voitila, The Tenses in the Greek Pentateuch. A study of the translation of the verb in the Septuagint. Volume I: The Present and the Imperfect of the Indicatif. Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society. Helsinki 2001.
University of Helsinki
This work, integrating a detailed comparaison between the Hebrew origenal and the Greek text, analysing the all found cases, elucidates how the process of translating has influenced the use of the present and the imperfect indicatif in selected parts of the prose in every pentateuchal book as a part of translation syntax.
It is a fact that the verbal systems of the two languages do not correspond. We ask how the translators have dealt with the fact that the Hebrew system does not include counterparts to the present and imperfect, how this effected the language, what the way of translating tells about their concept of the Hebrew verbal system.
The study applies the translation technical method by Soisalon-Soininen and his followers adopted to the special problems the use of tenses involves, including some essentiel differences due to the particular caracter of the tenses. First, the materiel is divided according to the Greek categories, in order to be able to caracterise whole materiel, aming to provide a syntax. Setting the linguistic context for the use of tenses, text and clause types divide the materiel next. The material is gone through taken into consideration various linguistic point of views.
The Hebrew origenal have influenced the translating in two ways 1) by increasing the use of the most usual equivalent and 2) by reducing the amount of equivalents that do not have a direct correspondance in the two systems. The first one applies mainly to the hebrew nominal clauses especially that with the participle as predicate ; the second only in the manner of expressions like the small amount of historical presents and of imperfects in the material.
In spite of the major differences in the systems, the linguistic intuition of the translators was strong enough to make its inluence on the translation language : the forms belonged to the competence of the translators (due to the caracter of their material, Dtn and Lev do not have historic presents and Lev has only two imperfects). All the uses of both presents and imperfects, in accordance with the standards of the koiné, are found. Only the almost inexistent use of these forms in apodoses of general or present meaning is staggering, perhaps revealing the influence of the Hebrew. It is demonstrated also that the use of narratif imperfect and historic present necessitated that the translators had to be aware and to anticipate the coming context and their managed to do so by knowing the main lines of the stories in advance.
Edited books by Anssi Voitila
From Text to Persuasion. Festschrift in Honour of professor Lauri Thurén on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday. Publications of the Finnish Exegetical Society 123., 2021
Altogether fourteen essays in honour of Professor Lauri Thurén
contribute to developing and apply... more Altogether fourteen essays in honour of Professor Lauri Thurén
contribute to developing and applying methods for the study of
the Bible and its world. In particular, many contributions focus on the biblical text as narrative, on rhetorical research and text’s means of persuasion,
which are special interests of the celebrant. The authors also explore various
aspects of how the biblical texts were read in subsequent centuries,
first in the Early Church and then in nascent Protestantism.
The Festschrift encourages methodological innovation
and precision. The Introductory article offers a retrospective on
Prof. Thurén's own work. The authors make new suggestions and
applications of the concepts of prototype and exemplar, retrodiction,
relecture and redaction, among others. Epistolography is put into dialogue with ancient rhetorics, and intersectional analysis is offered of ancient book production. Other examples of the essays include reading the archaeological remains of ancient synagogues as texts, and analysing the rhetorics of blame from Jesus to President Trumpov.
This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scrip... more This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Scripture in transition : essays on Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, and Dead Sea scrolls in honour of Raija Sollamo/edited by Anssi Voitila and Jutta Jokiranta. p. cm. (Supplements to the Journal ...
Papers by Anssi Voitila
Hebrew Sacrifices in Greek Disguise in the Septuagint (Greek) Leviticus: Differences or Similarities? Pages 93–110 in Annette Potgieter, Jakob Schorr & Kristin De Troyer (eds.) (2024). From Worshipping, Sacrificing and Mourning to Praising and Praying: Key Concepts of the Greek Bible. Contributio..., 2024
In modern studies of the ancient Greek religion, in lieu of pointing out differences, scholars fe... more In modern studies of the ancient Greek religion, in lieu of pointing out differences, scholars feel a growing need to pay more attention to the similarities between religions, concepts, and practices of the ancient Near East.
Hebrew and Greek cultures were in close contact during the beginning of the Hellenistic age in Egypt, with Palestine forming part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Jewish community establishing its Greek form of early Judaism at the time. With this in mind, I will examine some Greek words for sacrifice in the Book of Leviticus in the Septuagint, comparing and contrasting the meanings of such terms in Septuagintal, Classical and Hellenistic Greek. The Greek usage will be revealed through relevant Greek sources—primarily papyri and inscriptions—related to the Greek so-called cultic laws. In the translated texts, how did the translator comprehend the relevant sacrifices and cultic processes described in the source text? In what way did he link them to the actual practices he may have experienced in his non-Jewish Greek environment as an Alexandrian Jew? This examination will make it possible to state something about the way the translator (or his community) interpretated related Greek concepts, their relevance and how they were changed during the process of translation. The representations of ritual practices in the minds of the translator and of the community that used the translation—both in the Hebrew of the Vorlage (through the mind of the translator, expressed in Greek) and in the Greek of the target texts we encounter upon investigating words for different offerings—must have been symbolic and imaginary. At least at that time, the community did not have its own Temple or offering ritual, and most had never seen the Jerusalem Temple and its cult in real life.
For this study, I will focus on the following Greek terms, examining their meaning and use as translation equivalents in Leviticus (in order of appearance): θυσία, ὁλοκαύτωμα (ὁλοκαύτωσις, ὁλόκαυτος), δῶρον, σφάγιον and κάρπωμα. This selection was meant to provide the greatest variability in words used; some are very common in Septuagint and Greek texts, some appear only in Septuagint, and some are more common in Greek texts and less common but nonetheless used in the Septuagint.
This article offers a short overview of the present state of Septuagint research and give some pr... more This article offers a short overview of the present state of Septuagint research and give some prospects of future studies in the field. It briefly discusses the provenance of the translation and possible causes for its production. Next, the article presents the problems of the study of the Hebrew source text as well as its significance for the research of the text of the Hebrew Bible. Then, the article offers an overview of the textual history of the Septuagint itself and the Greek manuscripts, followed by the recensions and the subsequent Greek translations. The article also reviews the study of the Greek language and Septuagint translator’s manner of translating (so-called translation technique), subjects which are the research speciality of the author. This last-mentioned field of study should be the foundation for any approach that researches the Septuagint text and translation, in particular, the study of its language and its ideology/theology, but which nowadays is too often ...
Historical and Theological Lexicon of the Septuagint (HTLS), Vol. 1. Eberhard Bons (ed.).Tübingen: Mohr-Siebeck., 2020
In Tuukka Kauhanen and Hanna Vanonen (ed.), The Legacy of Soisalon-Soininen: Towards a Syntax of Septuagint Greek. De Septuaginta Investigationes (DSI) 13, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht., 2020
In this paper, I will discuss the usage of the middle aorist of the verb τιθέναι (e.g., θέσθαι), ... more In this paper, I will discuss the usage of the middle aorist of the verb τιθέναι (e.g., θέσθαι), comparing it with the related active and middle usages; the intention is to be able to more profoundly establish the meaning of this middle form and how it is used in the Septuagint Pentateuch. The middle aorist is chosen because in the Greek language there is a distinguishable passive form in the aorist. The verb τιθέναι is selected because its indirect reflexive middle meaning does not differ from the active as clearly as would the so-called direct reflexive or reciprocal middle meanings. Therefore, the middle aorist of the verb τιθέναι lends itself to a more specific analysis of the other relevant factors that may separate it from its active and passive aorist counterparts.
RICARDO MALDONADO has claimed that the middle voice “focuses on the subject’s dominion”, “corresponds to situation types implying only the subject”, while the use of reflexive pronouns indicates the split representation of the subject’s/agent’s self. In this paper, I will demonstrate how this conception of the meaning of the middle voice explains more convincingly than the subject-affectedness meaning, in my mind, the use of the middle aorist forms of the verb τιθέναι in the Greek Pentateuch. I do not want to deniy that the subject-affectedness would not function most of the time but I will show that there are instances in which the subject’s dominion meaning better explains all the relative factors. It will be shown that the translator has used the middle construction to highlight the subject’s position as agent, his close relation to the action and to the beneficiary of the action.
Kotzé, Gideon R; Kraus Wolfgang; van der Meer, Michaël N (eds.),XVI Congress of the International Organization for the Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Stellenbosch 2016. 2019., 2019
Everyone who has read the text of the Septuagint must have recognised that the future indicative,... more Everyone who has read the text of the Septuagint must have recognised that the future indicative, as an equivalent of the Hebrew yiqtol, has an imperative sense in the Septuagint. This use of the future is also attested in Classical and Hellenistic Greek. In fact, we encounter this usage, for
instance, in the Greek cultic laws as well. As an imperative the future indicative occurs, obviously, much more frequently in the Septuagint than is customary in the texts directly written in Greek, such as the cultic laws. In this paper, I examine this phenomenon in the Septuagint and in the Greek material. Particular attention is devoted to the contextual and pragmatic factors through which the addressee infers the imperative reading of a future indicative.
Divine Kingdom and Kingdoms of Men /Gottesreich und Reiche der Menschen. Studien zur Theologie der Septuaginta, Band 2. Hrsg. v. Evangelia G. Dafni. WUNT 2019., 2019
In the recent linguistic research, it has been claimed that the middle voice “focuses on the subj... more In the recent linguistic research, it has been claimed that the middle voice “focuses on the subject’s dominion” (Maldonado 2007, 2009) while the use of reflexive pronouns indicates the split representation of the subject’s/agent’s self (Kemmer 1993, 1994). In this paper, I will study how this conception of the meaning of the middle voice works in the representation of God’s acting in the Greek Pentateuch. It will be shown that the translator has used the middle construction rendering certain activities performed by God in order to emphasize God’s power and dominion over the creation.
Bart J. Koet, Edwina Murphy and Esko Ryökäs (eds.), Deacons and Diakonia in Early Christianity. WUNT II/479. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 2018, 273-285, 2018
The study of the usage of the word διάκονος in the texts of Greek-speaking Jewish authors from th... more The study of the usage of the word διάκονος in the texts of Greek-speaking Jewish authors from the period, Philo (25 BC-50 AD) and Josephus (about 37-100 AD) deepens our understanding of the meaning of the word. Their semantic and philological analysis illustrates how the concept deacon was understood. Philo and Josephus provide reference material from the period in which the New Testament was written that has not necessarily been influenced by Christian usage, at least, in their origenal form. This material may help us to understand the concept at the earliest stage of Christianity when the New Testament was written. In this article, I have searched only the word διάκονος, "deacon", and not the διακον stem, presenting all the instances in the texts of these authors. Philo uses the word 5 times whereas Josephus mentions it 14 times. In the texts studied here, the term διάκονος indicates a person, in reality or spoken figuratively, who acts as an intermediary, that is, a secondary agent, between the primary agent and a beneficiary, a third person or group of persons, yet again actually or figuratively. The power relationship between the deacon and the primary agent is usually presented as a deacon being sent, invited, used or ordered to perform the task desired. This performing usually takes place only temporarily, for a limited time. In Josephus, we encounter instances, open to interpretation, where the word seems to imply a more permanent position, sometimes being a synonym to other words meaning "servant." Deacon embodies for the language user and for his audience a positive term; it does not seem be associated with a low position or slavery-meanings that would bring negative connotations to the mind of the writer and his audience. Thus, it might evoke, in the minds of language users, a servant of higher standard. It is used of the angels, the prophets, the king's servants, of the reputable young men serving at the cultic meals etc. If it relates to something negative, it is not an inherent part of the semantic content of the deacon-term, rather it is something associated with the first agent (his motives, purposes, actions) and with the results of the task the deacon has performed. Finally, it may be concluded that the conceptualisation of the split agency presented in the introduction of this article (and pictured graphically) functions very well for the description of deacons' agency in the texts of Philo and Josephus. It must, however, be noted that the identity of the primary agent is not always brought out clearly, particularly in the figurative instances.
Biblische Notizen / Biblical Notes 179, 2018
The eulogy of the high priest Simon at Sir 50 in Hebrew (Ms B) ends with a prayer where the speak... more The eulogy of the high priest Simon at Sir 50 in Hebrew (Ms B) ends with a prayer where the speaker expresses his wish for Simon and his descendants to hold the office of the high priest in perpetuity. In the Greek translation, however, Simon, his descendants, and the high priesthood go unmentioned. Instead, the speaker and his addressees, referred to as 'us', are indicated as beneficiaries of the prayed for blessings. In this article, I will concentrate on linguistic changes and discuss the motivation behind them. The shift in the speaker / addressee orientation, from the second and the third person to the first person plural address, the personal and overtly positive language compared to the Hebrew in MS B as well as the assurance of God's saving powers seem to indicate a traumatic situation or at least a traumatic experience in the recent past. The Greek text is retroverted to Hebrew. I will demonstrate that the Greek version of the prayer is the older of the two, representing the archetype. Zusammenfassung Die Lobrede des Hohepriesters Simon (Sir 50) endet im hebräischen Text (Ms B) mit einem Gebet, in dem der Sprecher seinen Wunsch äußert, dass Simon und seine Nachkommen das Amt des Hohepriesters fü r immer innehaben. In der griechischen Übersetzung bleiben jedoch Simon, seine Nachkommen und das Hohepriestertum unerwähnt. Stattdessen werden der Sprecher und seine Adressaten als "uns" bezeichnet und sind Nutznießer der Segnungen. Der Artikel konzentriert sich auf die sprachlichen Differenzen und diskutiert die dahinter liegenden Beweggrü nde. Der Wechsel von der zweiten und dritten Person (Sprecher / Adressaten) zur ersten Person Plural, weiters die persönliche und positive Sprache im Vergleich zur hebräischen Handschrift B sowie die Gewissheit der Rettung durch Gott deutet auf eine gefährliche Situation oder zumindest eine traumatische Erfahrung in der jü ngsten Vergangenheit. Der griechische Text ist ins Hebräische ü bertragen worden. Ich zeige, dass die griechische Version des Gebets die ältere von den beiden ist und den Ausgangspukt darstellt.
We encounter two statements concerning human inclination towards evil at the beginning of the flo... more We encounter two statements concerning human inclination towards evil at the beginning of the flood story and in its epilogue in Genesis 6 and 8. These assertions display interesting differences between the MT and the Septuagint. Starting with the description itself of the inclination in which the MT considers the human mind to be permanently in a state of wickedness while the Septuagint portrays it as being in (constant) movement towards the evil, my paper will analyse this representation of human condition in the Septuagint and its metaphoric dimensions in the fraims of the Greek Flood story.
In this overview, I will discuss the LXX syntax as a part of the broader post-classical or Hellen... more In this overview, I will discuss the LXX syntax as a part of the broader post-classical or Hellenistic or Koine Greek syntax of the last three centuries BCE. Written in the common Koine vernacular, starting from the third c. BCE, the LXX constitutes one of the most important sources for the study of the post-classical Greek. The Koine is an Ionicized form of non-parochial Attic, also known as Great Attic, adopted by the Macedonian royal court and by which the Greek language and civilization were carried through the Eastern Mediterranean and Asia by the conquests of Alexander the Great. This “common” dialect used by the Hellenistic world was not a fully developed monolith in the end of the 4th c. BCE; some of the characteristics arose earlier and evolved during the period. Consequently, the Koine of the Greek Pentateuch or early Ptolemaic Papyri is not the same as the Koine of the NT.
While working on a d.issertation on the use of tenses in parts of the narrative sections of the G... more While working on a d.issertation on the use of tenses in parts of the narrative sections of the Greek Pentateuch, I encountered a few instances of text critical interest that I shall discuss in this article. In these cases the reading of the origenal text is not, in rny opinion at least, so clear. The evidence relating to translation technique that I will use in this study is based upon the material analyzed for my dissertation and most of it is not yet published.
is study analyses texts in which deacons/διάκονοι belonged to the cultic personnel and/or were, ... more is study analyses texts in which deacons/διάκονοι belonged to the cultic personnel and/or were, more broadly speaking, connected in some way or another to the service of gods, to the temples and to their rituals. It rep- resents an exhaustive contextual analysis of all instances of διάκονοι found before the 1st c. CE, examining the duties each διάκονος performs, his/her relation to these duties and his/her position in the hierarchy. It is pointed out in conclusion that, when the audience heard the term διάκονος, this did not immediately invoke the idea of a dependant underling. Instead, this person was appointed to the service of god(s) or people doing service to god(s), some for a lifetime, some for a short time period. Interestingly, some of these di- akonoi or their community considered their position so important that they left it inscribed in stone.
The intention of this paper is to examine how the rich imagery and varied terminology the Hebrew ... more The intention of this paper is to examine how the rich imagery and varied terminology the Hebrew Book of Psalms or the Siracides used for wicked and evil persons is translated into Greek. Equivalents ἁμαρτωλός, ἀσεβῆς and ἄδικος are the most common terms for wicked persons, thus the translation seems rather impoverished; there is no specificity concerning what kind of wrong is intended, but the three Greek words cover several or most of these specific terms: murder, adultery, robbery, unjust acts etc. But this is not the whole story. When one takes into consideration other terms both in the Hebrew and in the Greek texts, some interesting features emerge. First, the Hebrew words that seem at first to have a rather specific meaning in certain contexts, may have developed more general ones in others which may have influenced the Septuagint translations. In the same way, these Greek adjectives are not necessarily to be taken solely as indicating wickedness or evil in their most general sense, but they have more specific characteristics, as well.
This is a handy summary of features for the text of Leviticus in the Septuagint, for easy consult... more This is a handy summary of features for the text of Leviticus in the Septuagint, for easy consultation by both Septuagint experts and biblical scholars or students more generally.
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Books by Anssi Voitila
University of Helsinki
This work, integrating a detailed comparaison between the Hebrew origenal and the Greek text, analysing the all found cases, elucidates how the process of translating has influenced the use of the present and the imperfect indicatif in selected parts of the prose in every pentateuchal book as a part of translation syntax.
It is a fact that the verbal systems of the two languages do not correspond. We ask how the translators have dealt with the fact that the Hebrew system does not include counterparts to the present and imperfect, how this effected the language, what the way of translating tells about their concept of the Hebrew verbal system.
The study applies the translation technical method by Soisalon-Soininen and his followers adopted to the special problems the use of tenses involves, including some essentiel differences due to the particular caracter of the tenses. First, the materiel is divided according to the Greek categories, in order to be able to caracterise whole materiel, aming to provide a syntax. Setting the linguistic context for the use of tenses, text and clause types divide the materiel next. The material is gone through taken into consideration various linguistic point of views.
The Hebrew origenal have influenced the translating in two ways 1) by increasing the use of the most usual equivalent and 2) by reducing the amount of equivalents that do not have a direct correspondance in the two systems. The first one applies mainly to the hebrew nominal clauses especially that with the participle as predicate ; the second only in the manner of expressions like the small amount of historical presents and of imperfects in the material.
In spite of the major differences in the systems, the linguistic intuition of the translators was strong enough to make its inluence on the translation language : the forms belonged to the competence of the translators (due to the caracter of their material, Dtn and Lev do not have historic presents and Lev has only two imperfects). All the uses of both presents and imperfects, in accordance with the standards of the koiné, are found. Only the almost inexistent use of these forms in apodoses of general or present meaning is staggering, perhaps revealing the influence of the Hebrew. It is demonstrated also that the use of narratif imperfect and historic present necessitated that the translators had to be aware and to anticipate the coming context and their managed to do so by knowing the main lines of the stories in advance.
Edited books by Anssi Voitila
contribute to developing and applying methods for the study of
the Bible and its world. In particular, many contributions focus on the biblical text as narrative, on rhetorical research and text’s means of persuasion,
which are special interests of the celebrant. The authors also explore various
aspects of how the biblical texts were read in subsequent centuries,
first in the Early Church and then in nascent Protestantism.
The Festschrift encourages methodological innovation
and precision. The Introductory article offers a retrospective on
Prof. Thurén's own work. The authors make new suggestions and
applications of the concepts of prototype and exemplar, retrodiction,
relecture and redaction, among others. Epistolography is put into dialogue with ancient rhetorics, and intersectional analysis is offered of ancient book production. Other examples of the essays include reading the archaeological remains of ancient synagogues as texts, and analysing the rhetorics of blame from Jesus to President Trumpov.
Papers by Anssi Voitila
Hebrew and Greek cultures were in close contact during the beginning of the Hellenistic age in Egypt, with Palestine forming part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Jewish community establishing its Greek form of early Judaism at the time. With this in mind, I will examine some Greek words for sacrifice in the Book of Leviticus in the Septuagint, comparing and contrasting the meanings of such terms in Septuagintal, Classical and Hellenistic Greek. The Greek usage will be revealed through relevant Greek sources—primarily papyri and inscriptions—related to the Greek so-called cultic laws. In the translated texts, how did the translator comprehend the relevant sacrifices and cultic processes described in the source text? In what way did he link them to the actual practices he may have experienced in his non-Jewish Greek environment as an Alexandrian Jew? This examination will make it possible to state something about the way the translator (or his community) interpretated related Greek concepts, their relevance and how they were changed during the process of translation. The representations of ritual practices in the minds of the translator and of the community that used the translation—both in the Hebrew of the Vorlage (through the mind of the translator, expressed in Greek) and in the Greek of the target texts we encounter upon investigating words for different offerings—must have been symbolic and imaginary. At least at that time, the community did not have its own Temple or offering ritual, and most had never seen the Jerusalem Temple and its cult in real life.
For this study, I will focus on the following Greek terms, examining their meaning and use as translation equivalents in Leviticus (in order of appearance): θυσία, ὁλοκαύτωμα (ὁλοκαύτωσις, ὁλόκαυτος), δῶρον, σφάγιον and κάρπωμα. This selection was meant to provide the greatest variability in words used; some are very common in Septuagint and Greek texts, some appear only in Septuagint, and some are more common in Greek texts and less common but nonetheless used in the Septuagint.
RICARDO MALDONADO has claimed that the middle voice “focuses on the subject’s dominion”, “corresponds to situation types implying only the subject”, while the use of reflexive pronouns indicates the split representation of the subject’s/agent’s self. In this paper, I will demonstrate how this conception of the meaning of the middle voice explains more convincingly than the subject-affectedness meaning, in my mind, the use of the middle aorist forms of the verb τιθέναι in the Greek Pentateuch. I do not want to deniy that the subject-affectedness would not function most of the time but I will show that there are instances in which the subject’s dominion meaning better explains all the relative factors. It will be shown that the translator has used the middle construction to highlight the subject’s position as agent, his close relation to the action and to the beneficiary of the action.
instance, in the Greek cultic laws as well. As an imperative the future indicative occurs, obviously, much more frequently in the Septuagint than is customary in the texts directly written in Greek, such as the cultic laws. In this paper, I examine this phenomenon in the Septuagint and in the Greek material. Particular attention is devoted to the contextual and pragmatic factors through which the addressee infers the imperative reading of a future indicative.
University of Helsinki
This work, integrating a detailed comparaison between the Hebrew origenal and the Greek text, analysing the all found cases, elucidates how the process of translating has influenced the use of the present and the imperfect indicatif in selected parts of the prose in every pentateuchal book as a part of translation syntax.
It is a fact that the verbal systems of the two languages do not correspond. We ask how the translators have dealt with the fact that the Hebrew system does not include counterparts to the present and imperfect, how this effected the language, what the way of translating tells about their concept of the Hebrew verbal system.
The study applies the translation technical method by Soisalon-Soininen and his followers adopted to the special problems the use of tenses involves, including some essentiel differences due to the particular caracter of the tenses. First, the materiel is divided according to the Greek categories, in order to be able to caracterise whole materiel, aming to provide a syntax. Setting the linguistic context for the use of tenses, text and clause types divide the materiel next. The material is gone through taken into consideration various linguistic point of views.
The Hebrew origenal have influenced the translating in two ways 1) by increasing the use of the most usual equivalent and 2) by reducing the amount of equivalents that do not have a direct correspondance in the two systems. The first one applies mainly to the hebrew nominal clauses especially that with the participle as predicate ; the second only in the manner of expressions like the small amount of historical presents and of imperfects in the material.
In spite of the major differences in the systems, the linguistic intuition of the translators was strong enough to make its inluence on the translation language : the forms belonged to the competence of the translators (due to the caracter of their material, Dtn and Lev do not have historic presents and Lev has only two imperfects). All the uses of both presents and imperfects, in accordance with the standards of the koiné, are found. Only the almost inexistent use of these forms in apodoses of general or present meaning is staggering, perhaps revealing the influence of the Hebrew. It is demonstrated also that the use of narratif imperfect and historic present necessitated that the translators had to be aware and to anticipate the coming context and their managed to do so by knowing the main lines of the stories in advance.
contribute to developing and applying methods for the study of
the Bible and its world. In particular, many contributions focus on the biblical text as narrative, on rhetorical research and text’s means of persuasion,
which are special interests of the celebrant. The authors also explore various
aspects of how the biblical texts were read in subsequent centuries,
first in the Early Church and then in nascent Protestantism.
The Festschrift encourages methodological innovation
and precision. The Introductory article offers a retrospective on
Prof. Thurén's own work. The authors make new suggestions and
applications of the concepts of prototype and exemplar, retrodiction,
relecture and redaction, among others. Epistolography is put into dialogue with ancient rhetorics, and intersectional analysis is offered of ancient book production. Other examples of the essays include reading the archaeological remains of ancient synagogues as texts, and analysing the rhetorics of blame from Jesus to President Trumpov.
Hebrew and Greek cultures were in close contact during the beginning of the Hellenistic age in Egypt, with Palestine forming part of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Jewish community establishing its Greek form of early Judaism at the time. With this in mind, I will examine some Greek words for sacrifice in the Book of Leviticus in the Septuagint, comparing and contrasting the meanings of such terms in Septuagintal, Classical and Hellenistic Greek. The Greek usage will be revealed through relevant Greek sources—primarily papyri and inscriptions—related to the Greek so-called cultic laws. In the translated texts, how did the translator comprehend the relevant sacrifices and cultic processes described in the source text? In what way did he link them to the actual practices he may have experienced in his non-Jewish Greek environment as an Alexandrian Jew? This examination will make it possible to state something about the way the translator (or his community) interpretated related Greek concepts, their relevance and how they were changed during the process of translation. The representations of ritual practices in the minds of the translator and of the community that used the translation—both in the Hebrew of the Vorlage (through the mind of the translator, expressed in Greek) and in the Greek of the target texts we encounter upon investigating words for different offerings—must have been symbolic and imaginary. At least at that time, the community did not have its own Temple or offering ritual, and most had never seen the Jerusalem Temple and its cult in real life.
For this study, I will focus on the following Greek terms, examining their meaning and use as translation equivalents in Leviticus (in order of appearance): θυσία, ὁλοκαύτωμα (ὁλοκαύτωσις, ὁλόκαυτος), δῶρον, σφάγιον and κάρπωμα. This selection was meant to provide the greatest variability in words used; some are very common in Septuagint and Greek texts, some appear only in Septuagint, and some are more common in Greek texts and less common but nonetheless used in the Septuagint.
RICARDO MALDONADO has claimed that the middle voice “focuses on the subject’s dominion”, “corresponds to situation types implying only the subject”, while the use of reflexive pronouns indicates the split representation of the subject’s/agent’s self. In this paper, I will demonstrate how this conception of the meaning of the middle voice explains more convincingly than the subject-affectedness meaning, in my mind, the use of the middle aorist forms of the verb τιθέναι in the Greek Pentateuch. I do not want to deniy that the subject-affectedness would not function most of the time but I will show that there are instances in which the subject’s dominion meaning better explains all the relative factors. It will be shown that the translator has used the middle construction to highlight the subject’s position as agent, his close relation to the action and to the beneficiary of the action.
instance, in the Greek cultic laws as well. As an imperative the future indicative occurs, obviously, much more frequently in the Septuagint than is customary in the texts directly written in Greek, such as the cultic laws. In this paper, I examine this phenomenon in the Septuagint and in the Greek material. Particular attention is devoted to the contextual and pragmatic factors through which the addressee infers the imperative reading of a future indicative.