Biblical Hebrew Forum

[c stirling bartholomew <cc.constantine AT worldnet.att.net>]

on 7/2/03 2:09 AM, David Gray wrote:

> Dear Yigdal,
> 
> Thank you for your helpful answer. Do you think qetseph can ever mean
> 'fear' - as some have suggested that a fear fell upon Israel as a result of
> seeing this terrible human sacrifice.
> 
> Yours, David Gray

David,

I haven't seen any mention of the LXX in this thread, did I miss it?

2KINGS 3:27 KAI ELABEN TON hUION AUTOU TON PRWTOTOKON hOS EBASILEUSEN ANT'
AUTOU KAI ANHNEGKEN AUTON hOLOKAUTWMA EPI TOU TEICOUS KAI EGENETO METAMELOS
MEGAS EPI ISRAHL KAI APHRAN AP' AUTOU KAI EPESTREYAN EIS THN GHN

The critical clause KAI EGENETO METAMELOS MEGAS EPI ISRAHL looks like an
attempt to gloss over the problem since METAMELOS (repentance, regret 2 Kgs
3:27; Prv 11:3; 3 Mc 2:24) does not look like a translation equivalent for
qetseph. It might reflect a textual problem but it looks at first glance
like an attempt to solve your problem by emending the text.

Liz brought up the issue of agency for qetseph. David, do you need to make
agency explicit in your target language or can you leave it ambiguous? If
you are required to make it explicit then it becomes a probability issue. If
we were translating Euripides, then Agamemnon offering up his daughter
Iphigenia to Artemis in exchange for fair winds to sail off to Troy would
not cause any problems but as Yigal has pointed out this isn't a probable
solution in 2Kings.

Liz no doubt will disagree with this assessment. Liz can you give us other
examples where pagan deities are shown in the OT as responding favorably to
human sacrifice or any other kind of sacrifice?

This isn't a rhetorical question, I really want to know.

greetings, Clay
 
--  
Clayton Stirling Bartholomew
Three Tree Point
P.O. Box 255 Seahurst WA 98062