Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Raymond de Hoop <rdehoop AT keyaccess.nl>]

At 24-01-2003 14:05 Sesamo m. <sesamox AT hotmail.com> wrote:

In Mathew 18:22 we are urged to forgive seventy-seven times,
according to some versions. But the original text says "seventy times
seven". The NWT footnote explains that it's been rendered like that in
harmony with Genesis 4:24.
Why is it so? Maybe a mistake translating Hebrew into Greek? Did the
writer or copyist mean "seventy times [and] seven"?

Shalom (chaire... )

The Septuagint has in Genesis 4:24 an identical wording as in Mat. 18:22,
namely literally seventy-times seven. Yet this is the Greek way of saying
`seventyseven times'; cf. Blass/Debrunner, Grammatik des neutestamentlichen
Griechisch, p. 199. So the rendering is not to harmonize with Gen. 4:24; but
the word in Mat. 18:22 itself is a contrast to Gen. 4:24 using exactly the
same numbers.

Kol tuv,
Raymond

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Dr Raymond de Hoop 
Lecturer of Biblical Hebrew
University of Groningen
Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies
Oude Boteringestraat 38
NL-9712 GK Groningen
The Netherlands    
e-mail: R.de.Hoop AT theol.rug.nl

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