Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Peter Kirk" <peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com>]

I hope I won't upset too many people by appealing to the New Testament here.
I do so only to illustrate how this Hebrew Bible verse, quoted there, was
understood in the first century CE. Of course the NT renderings of this
verse may be based on variant Hebrew, Greek or other MSS.

In the Hebrew and the LXX three items are mentioned here. There are partial
parallels with just two items, no ME'OD, in Deut 10:12 and Joshua 22:5. But
in some of the NT renderings there are four items, as follows:

Deut 6:5   LEBAB    NEPE$          ME'OD
  LXX A    KARDIA   YUCH (psuche)  DUNAMIS
  LXX Br   DIANOIA  YUCH           DUNAMIS
Deut 10:12 LEBAB    NEPE$
  LXX      KARDIA   YUCH
Jos 22:5   LEBAB    NEPE$
  LXX A    KARDIA   YUCH
  LXX B    DIANOIA  YUCH
Mat 22:37  KARDIA   YUCH  DIANOIA
Mk 12:30   KARDIA   YUCH  DIANOIA  ISCUS
Mk 12:33   KARDIA         SUNESIS  ISCUS
Lk 10:25   KARDIA   YUCH           ISCUS  DIANOIA

It is possible that DIANOIA "understanding, intention, attitude" has been
added or substituted because the gospel writers knew a Greek text like B
(Vaticanus) which used this word rather than the literal translation KARDIA,
although very likely they kept KARDIA because this was in the original
tradition of Jesus' words based on the Hebrew. This suggests that they used
ISCUS "strength, might" as a rendering of ME'OD, preferring it to DUNAMIS
"power". An alternative suggestion is that ME'OD was sometimes rendered
twice with DIANOIA as well as ISCUS, suggesting that both were included
within the contemporary understanding of ME'OD, but that seems less likely
than the explanation based on the LXX B variant.

Does this tell us anything? I think the main lesson is that there seems to
have been an understanding, within the land of Israel at a time when Hebrew
was still a living language, of ME'OD in terms of strength, which cannot
have been entirely dependent on LXX as a different Greek word is used. Of
course that doesn't rule out Michael's attractive suggestion for the
original sense of the Hebrew, but it makes it slightly less likely.

Peter Kirk
peter.r.kirk AT ntlworld.com
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~peterkirk/
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:b-hebrew-
> bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Deborah Millier
> Sent: 21 May 2003 13:55
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] m'odekha: strength or fanaticism?
> 
> Greetings to all.  This is my first post on this list.
>  My family and I recently returned stateside from 4 ½
> years studying in Israel.  In fact, Randy Buth was one
> of my profs there (SHALOM LEKHA, ADON), … but if I say
> anything terribly ignorant, the fault lies with me
> alone.  That said, I was recently thinking about
> M’ODEKHA in Deu. 6:5, and how unsatisfactory a
> translation “your strength” seems to be there.  Now I
> realize that the English and other versions take their
> cues from the LXX’s DUNAMEOS, but it still doesn’t
> appear to have enough “oomph” for the way M’OD is used
> elsewhere in the Tanakh, usually with a sense of
> “extremely” or “exceedingly.”  So the thought hit me--
> and I’ll put it out there for you all to chew on and
> then, if need be you can chew me too—how would a
> translation like “all your *zeal*” or even “all your
> *extremism* [or *fanaticism*]” fit with the immediate
> context and the Bible’s use of M’OD elsewhere?
> -- Michael Millier
>