Biblical Hebrew Forum

[peter_kirk AT sil.org]

I see this as a case where the Greek on its own is ambiguous, but the 
Hebrew is probably not ambiguous, and so we have to assume that the 
Greek translator meant to translate the Hebrew correctly and 
understand the text in that light. Or would the Orthodox church not 
accept that as a valid method of interpretation?

Here LXX matches Hebrew very closely:

MT:     BARUK       HABBA'           B:SHEM        YHWH
LXX:    EulogEmenos ho erkhomenos    en onomati    Kyriou
        Blessed     the coming (one) in (the) name (of) YHWH

In Hebrew B:SHEM YHWH almost certainly goes with the participle HABBA' 
rather than with BARUK. This is the most natural Hebrew syntax, and if 
one wanted to say "the coming one is blessed by YHWH", the normal 
expression (as in Psalm 115:15, the only other one of many occurrences 
of BARUK in the Psalms in which the blessed one is not God, and six 
places in MT outside the Psalms - see BDB) would be BARUK L:YHWH. This 
collocation of BARUK and SHEM is unique in the MT (from a look at the 
only four verses where BARUK and SHEM both occur).

The Greek translator had the alternative (not available in Hebrew) of 
clarifying the situation by writing "EulogEmenos ho en onomati Kyriou 
erkhomenos" which would have been unambiguous, but chose to be much 
more literal. I can only speculate on three possible reasons: 1) He 
saw no ambiguity in the Greek 2) He did not feel free to change the 
word order from the Hebrew 3) He didn't know Hebrew well enough to be 
sure which was the correct meaning, and so deliberately left the 
ambiguity. (Can I safely assume the LXX translators were male?)

To clarify the possible meanings, I would want to look for similar 
structures in literature composed in Greek at about the same period 
(not translations). I would start by looking at the LXX books composed 
in Greek, though they may be from a rather later period.

I would judge that the Greek could perhaps mean "The coming one is 
blessed in the name of the Lord", but that it should be taken as 
"Blessed is the one coming in the name of the Lord" as this is the 
meaning of the Hebrew original.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator 
_________________________________
Subject: Translation:  Ps. 118:26a (MT)
Author:  upb_moniodis AT ONLINE.EMICH.EDU at internet
Date:    16/07/1999 15:04


I have proposed a translation of a very commonly used OT verse in 
the Orthodox Christian Church that differs from the accepted 
translation.  It has not been well received.  The verse, translating 
from the LXX is:

    ~EulogEmenos ho erkhomenos en onomati Kyriou~
     (Ps.  117:26a (LXX); 118:26a (MT).

The accepted translation is:

    Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.

Every layman I've asked to explain what this phrase means to him 
says words to the effect that:  the one coming in the Lord's name 
[that fellow] is blessed.

But I don't believe the Greek can bear this meaning.

~erkhomenos~ is a present middle participle, being used as a 
substantive, per the article, and ~eulogEmenos~ is a prefect middle 
participle.

Whereas ~eulogEmenos~ lies outside the 'definite 
article+substantive' combination, it must stand in the predicated 
position, i.e., "The Coming One is blessed."

Recasting the whole verse, we have:  "He that comes is blessed in 
the name of the Lord."  The meaning being very different, not that 
the person is coming in the name of the Lord, but that he is blessed 
in the name of the Lord.

So anyway, some have, giving up on the Greek argument,  having 
claimed that the Hebrew does not support my translation.  Well, I 
know almost no Hebrew, so I'm turning to this list for help.

Thanks in advance,

Polychroni Moniodis

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