[b-hebrew] sheeth in Ps 73:6
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Sat Oct 11 11:58:00 EDT 2008
Steve,
A few additional thoughts follow.
>
> [Steve Miller] Thanks Harold. The meaning of the Biblical Hebrew words is determined by how they are used in the Bible. When a word is used only 2 times without a specific meaning required from the context that is not reason enough to question the translation of that word? So what would be sufficient reason? If it was used only once? Neither LXX nor Lamsa translated it as "clothing" here. Lamsa translated it
> as "clothing" in Prov 7:10 though.
HH: Is Lamsa like the LXX in Ps 73:6? The reason I ask is that the LXX
influenced the Syriac Peshitta considerably. Here is a quote from Ernst
Würthwein's book, The Text of the Old Testament._
_On the whole, different forms of the text were in competition in Syria
for centuries. Besides the revised text [Würthwein means one revised
according to the Targum] there were not only the archaic traditions, but
also the Septuagint and the Syro-Hexaplar with readings of the late
Greek versions in their margins, and even the Masoretic text (although
to a lesser extent because Hebrew was little known), all of which were
familiar and exercised their influence. The Septuagint was the most
influential. This should be noted particularly when evaluating the
Peshitta for textual criticism. Agreement with the Septuagint can be
explained by the later intrusion of the Septuagint readings. In such
instances the two witnesses are reduced in effect to one._
_
>
>
>
>>> Could the meaning of the 2nd ½ of Ps 73:6 be, "Thorns of violence cover them" or "a thorny covering of violence is to them"? As thorns are a fallen self-defense, the meaning then would be -- if anyone tries to reprove them,they violently attack him.
>>>
HH: This does not seem likely. There is no word about a reproof, and if
they had a thorny covering of violence, they would be like a porcupine,
whose quills are defensive, not offensive. Or if they were compared to a
plant, like a rose, again nothing particularly offensive would be implied.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> If so, then Prov 7:10 could be translated, "and behold a woman to meet him, a thorny harlot and subtle of heart." "Thorny" means she speaks verbal barbs.
>>>
HH: Harlots try to allure men by their words, not put them off. And the
phrase "thorny harlot" really means little in itself, as it is an
incongruous pairing of words.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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