Biblical Hebrew Forum

[CS Bartholomew <jacksonpollock AT earthlink.net>]

On 8/25/03 10:57 AM, "Dgahler782 AT aol.com" <Dgahler782 AT aol.com> wrote:

> Re: Ez.24:17-18, it appears he draws an analogy of the "city" ...

Doris,

I presume you mean Ezek. 24:6-8?

Ezek. 24:6 lkN kh )mr )dny yhwh )wy (yr hdmyM ...

 (yr hdmyM  sounds like a British idiom :-)

Ezek. 24:7 ky dmh btwkh hyh (l cxyx sl( #mthw l)
#pkthw (l h)rC lkswt (lyw (pr
Ezek. 24:8 lh(lwt xmh lnqM nqM ntty )t dmh (l cxyx sl( lblty hkswt p


In Ezek. 24:7-8 a question of agency seems to arise. Who is the agent who
put the blood on the bare rock? Is there really a shift of agency between
verse 7 and 8? 

In the LXX there is no shift. #mthw is rendered tetacha auto, a first person
singular and #pkthw is rendered ekkechuka, a first person singular. But in
the MT there seems to be a shift of agency between verse 7 and 8.

The translator of the TEV seems to have suffered from similar misgivings as
the LXX but solved somewhat differently. Agency is muted in verse 7 and made
explicit in verse 8.

TEV

Ezek. 24:7 There was murder in the city, but the blood was not spilled on
the ground where the dust could hide it; it was spilled on a bare rock.
Ezek. 24:8 I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it
demands angry revenge.²

The last clause here "where it demands angry revenge" brings out the point
made by J.W. Wevers (Notes on the Greek Text of Leviticus, 269-70) comments
on:

Lev. 17:13 w#pK )t dmw wkshw b(pr

"Blood not covered by soil could be misunderstood as spilt blood, which
lying out in the open would demand some kind of retribution; comp Ezek.
24:7-8."


greetings,
Clay Bartholomew