Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] heart, soul, mind, strength

b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Biblical Hebrew Forum

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Jason Hare <jason AT jhronline.com>
  • Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] heart, soul, mind, strength
  • Date: Sat, 02 Oct 2004 18:32:34 +0100

On 02/10/2004 17:48, Jason Hare wrote:

Peter,

I think that the rabbis actually taught that M)DK meant "your wealth."
V)HBT )T YHWH )LHYK BKL LBBK WBKL NP$K WBKL M)DK
ve'ahavta et [hashem] elohekha bekhol levavkha uvekhol nafshekha uvekhol
me'odekha.

"You shall love HaShem your God with all your heart (mind), with all your soul
(internal drive), and with all your excess (wealth)."

What do you think?


Well, it seems to me that that interpretation makes a lot of sense. But it is not the one found in NT or LXX. Here are the elements in the various NT sources (YUCH = psuche!):

Deut. 6:5 LXX A KARDIA YUCH DUNAMIS
Deut. 6:5 LXX B DIANOIA YUCH DUNAMIS
Matthew 22:37 KARDIA YUCH DIANOIA
variant KARDIA YUCH ISCUS DIANOIA
Mark 12:30 KARDIA YUCH DIANOIA ISCUS
variant KARDIA YUCH ISCUS
Mark 12:33 KARDIA SUNESIS ISCUS
variant KARDIA DUNAMIS YUCH
variant KARDIA SUNESIS YUCH ISCUS
Luke 10:27 KARDIA YUCH ISCUS DIANOIA
variant KARDIA YUCH ISCUS

As you will see, there is a huge range of variants here. Almost all have "heart" (KARDIA) and "soul" (YUCH), but there is no agreement on whether there are one or two more elements. If there are two, they are usually "mind" (DIANOIA or SUNESIS) and "strength" (DUNAMIS or ISCUS); if one, it is one or other of these. But the order is not at all fixed either. It looks as if Jesus and his conversation partners were quoting from what was at the time a rather fluid tradition. But there doesn't seem to be any evidence for variants in the actual Hebrew text, rather in the interpretation of me'od.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page