Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Albert & Julia Haig <albert_and_julia AT yahoo.com.au>]

Hello everyone! This is a "transfer" of a thread from B-Greek to B-Hebrew, 
after the discussion turned from primarily addressing matters Greek to 
matters Hebrew and Aramaic. The starting point was Mark 12:30 and the fact 
that four items are listed which we are to love God with, instead of three as 
in Deu. 6:5. There was then some discussion about whether this represented a 
non-literal exegetical reflection on the original text (i.e. "midrash" or 
something similar), or whether it was an attempt to make clear to native 
Greek-speaking readers that the mind was intended (since "heart" conveys the 
sense of mind in Hebrew but not so much in Greek). Anyway, I made the mistake 
of saying that there was no Hebrew word for mind, but that heart (lev) was 
used. Someone far more knowledgable on this subject than I then responded 
with this list:

> Hebrew words for mind include (without taking time for a search): 
 
> yetser maHshavot ('organ for thoughts' 1or2Chronicles)
> Heshbon ('calculation', 'ability to think' DIALOGISMOS BenSira 9,15, 
   I happen to have a copies at hand at the moment) 
> da`at ('knowing', especially in contexts refering to the 
   ability to know, Qumran serex ha-YaHad column 1. Cf. madda`, 
   modern for 'science'.)
> hon (see Even Shoshan milon/DICTIONARY [not Bible concordance] for 
   rabbinic uses)
> tvuna, bina ('understanding, discernement', 
   again, in contexts where the ability is in focus rather than the 
   results or quality, e.g. BenSira 15:15, 44:3)
> ra`yonot ('thoughts')
> maHshavot ('thoughts')
> and of course, 
   lev//levav 'heart' in contexts of thinking.
> sexel 'understanding', in contexts where the ability to think is in 
   focus, led to a medieval development of a technical term that is 
   'mind, mental' today in modern Hebrew.  

OK. So there are more words that can mean mind in Hebrew than just lev. But 
it seems to me that (a) none of these words reference the mind very 
specifically and (b) the overwhelming predominance of references in the OT to 
the mind per se use lev. However, in Greek, there are a number of words that 
much more directly refer to the mind than does kardia (i.e. nous, dianoia, 
psuche). Hence, a Greek speaker might not see so clearly, if they read 
"heart, soul, and might", that the mind was involved; whereas to a Hebrew 
speaker it would be more obvious. My explanation for the addition to Mark 
12:30, therefore, is that it represents an attempt to clarify the text for 
Greek speakers.

But this is all complicated by the fact that 1st century Palestinian Jews 
were probably speaking Aramaic. An examination of OT Aramaic certainly leaves 
one with the impression that the word lev was used to mean "mind" most, if 
not all, of the time. But, as has been pointed out, OT Aramaic only 
represents a very small subset of Aramaic. Furthermore, the Peshitta of Mark 
12:30 distinguisheds heart from mind, and I am informed that the word for 
mind there is ra`yon, "thought", as in the list above. So the question 
becomes, was this kind of development of the shema` in which "heart" and 
"mind" were distinguished something that was (or might have been) already 
present in Rabbinic discussions about this verse, or is it more likely a 
concession on the part of Mark to his Greek-speaking audience? Any further 
suggestions?

All the best,

Dr Albert Haig


                
---------------------------------
On Yahoo!7
  Dancing With the Stars: Win tickets to the Grand Final! 
>From peter AT qaya.org  Mon Apr  3 05:40:39 2006
Return-Path: <peter AT qaya.org>
X-Original-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Delivered-To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Received: from athena.hu-athena.com (hu-athena.com [67.15.48.59])
        by lists.ibiblio.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3D7234C014
        for <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>; Mon,  3 Apr 2006 05:40:39 -0400 
(EDT)
Received: from 213-162-124-237.peterk253.adsl.metronet.co.uk
        ([213.162.124.237] helo=[10.0.0.3])
        by athena.hu-athena.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.52)
        id 1FQLY2-0004Yl-Bj; Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:40:35 +0100
Received: from 127.0.0.1 (AVG SMTP 7.1.385 [268.3.4/299]);
        Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:40:44 +0100
Message-ID: <4430ED9B.1010002 AT qaya.org>
Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 10:40:43 +0100
From: Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org>
User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5 (Windows/20051201)
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Albert & Julia Haig <albert_and_julia AT yahoo.com.au>
References: <20060403075307.52822.qmail AT web53802.mail.yahoo.com>
In-Reply-To: <20060403075307.52822.qmail AT web53802.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse,
        please include it with any abuse report
X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - athena.hu-athena.com
X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - lists.ibiblio.org
X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12]
X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - qaya.org
X-Source: 
X-Source-Args: 
X-Source-Dir: 
Cc: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] "Mind" in Hebrew and Aramaic
X-BeenThere: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.6
Precedence: list
List-Id: Hebrew Bible List <b-hebrew.lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/b-hebrew>
List-Post: <mailto:b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
List-Help: <mailto:sympa AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=HELP>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew>,
        <mailto:b-hebrew-request AT lists.ibiblio.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 03 Apr 2006 09:40:39 -0000

On 03/04/2006 08:53, Albert & Julia Haig wrote:
> ...
> But this is all complicated by the fact that 1st century Palestinian Jews 
> were probably speaking Aramaic. An examination of OT Aramaic certainly 
> leaves one with the impression that the word lev was used to mean "mind" 
> most, if not all, of the time. But, as has been pointed out, OT Aramaic 
> only represents a very small subset of Aramaic. Furthermore, the Peshitta 
> of Mark 12:30 distinguisheds heart from mind, and I am informed that the 
> word for mind there is ra`yon, "thought", as in the list above. So the 
> question becomes, was this kind of development of the shema` in which 
> "heart" and "mind" were distinguished something that was (or might have 
> been) already present in Rabbinic discussions about this verse, or is it 
> more likely a concession on the part of Mark to his Greek-speaking 
> audience? Any further suggestions?
>
>   
This is an interesting topic. But I would dispute the relevance of the 
Peshitta (4th-5th century CE Syriac version of the New Testament) here. 
I know that some people like to claim that the Peshitta is at least to a 
large extent an original Aramaic NT of which the Greek NT is a 
translation. But the scholarly consensus is that the Peshitta is 
basically a translation of the Greek NT. It may include some passages 
which are taken from continuing Aramaic/Syriac oral tradition, perhaps 
mediated by earlier Syriac versions, representing an original Aramaic 
substratum of the NT, even perhaps some of the original Aramaic words of 
Jesus (if they were Aramaic, not Hebrew). But in a case like this, where 
the Peshitta closely follows the Greek NT, the likeliest explanation is 
that it is a translation of the Greek NT.

More useful would be to look at Aramaic and Syriac versions of the 
original Hebrew of Deuteronomy 6:5, i.e. Targums and the Peshitta Old 
Testament. Is there indication there of a text with an additional word 
in the formula? Without any such indication, I would suggest that there 
is no good evidence that the extra word was first added in Greek.

An additional indication of this is the variation of the wording in the 
four different places where this formula is quoted in the NT: Matthew 
22:37 (3 words: "heart", "soul", "mind" (DIANOIA)); Mark 12:30 (4 words: 
"heart", "soul", "mind" (DIANOIA), "strength"); Mark 12:33 (3 words: 
"heart", "understanding" (SUNESIS), "strength") Luke 10:27 (4 words: 
"heart", "soul", "strength", "mind" (DIANOIA)). It would seem that those 
who rendered Jesus' words into Greek used varying strategies to 
translate Hebrew LEBAB and ME'OD, or its Aramaic equivalents.

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