[B-Greek] 1 Sam 2:26 AGAQON
Randall Buth
randallbuth at gmail.com
Sun Dec 28 05:33:59 EST 2008
>> "And the boy Samouel kept going and became great and was in
>> favor with the Lord and with people."
> Perhaps I am missing something but "was in favor"
> seems like a lot to get out of KAI AGAQON KAI.
> It is certainly true that it is necessary at times to add a copula
> but this does not look like one of those times
> (there is not a noun immediately precedig or following AGAQON
> that would lead one to a reasonable expectation of the need
> to supply a copula because AGAQON is serving as a predicate adjective).
> So isn't the NETS translation being governed to some extent by the
> underlying Hebrew? I could see "and good also with God..." or
> "and good both with God..." but not "was in favor with God..."
> What identified grammatical construct would lead a native Greek
> speaker to take it this way? Thanks.
> Ken>
Your question has four points that need discussion.
1) the LXX and the NETS are not directly translating the Hebrew because
the Hebrew uses an idioim "holex vegadel ..." which basically means
'to be (growing) more and more'. the Greek does not imitate that
idiom. EPOREUETO means 'was going, travelling'.
2) Greek EMEGALYNETO is more metaphorical than its etymology might
suggest and basically means 'was being honored' and not like the Hebrew
'was growing up'. Simple 'was growing up' would be HYKSANE
ηυξανε. So the NETS 'became great' isn't bad for the Greek, 'great' is a
term of respect. But 'was becoming great' would have captured
PARATATIKOS of the Greek better than 'became',
and 'was becoming' would also have matched the Hebrew idiom better.
(Why PARATATIKOS? Because AORISTOS would have been
EMEGALUNATO and/or EMEGALUNQH.)
3) In the context of two iimperfect (PARATATIKOS) verbs a predicate
adjective would deserve a verb "was" in English, so theNETS 'was'
is justified.
4) The word AGAQON (neuter OUDETERON to match PAIDARION)
is weak in Greek for the concept 'favor, (both with god and with men)'.
the Greek translator should have done what the NETS translator did and
should have figured out and translated what kind of 'goodness' the
Hebrew was tallking about. Because Hebrew uses 'good' more widely
than Greek. Here, the Hebrew is referring to a mutually happy state.
In the context of MEGALYNEIN one might take AGAQON as 'noble,
admired, respected'.
So the Greek left three Hebrew idioms unresolved, the idiom for
'more and more', and the idiom 'was growing up', and the nuance of
'good'.
NETS did pretty well with the mess of the Greek, it preserved the
literal 'kept going' and hinted at the non-Hebrew Greek metaphor
of 'was becoming praised, great'. But yes, it did perhaps
cheat a little by partially correcting from the Hebrew on the word
'favor' instead of 'respected, noble, good'.
ERRWSQE
IWANHS
--
Randall Buth, PhD
www.biblicalulpan.org
randallbuth at gmail.com
Biblical Language Center
Learn Easily - Progress Further - Remember for Life
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list