Biblical Hebrew Forum

[George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>]

Hi Will.

I appreciate your suggestion, but would need some firm textual data to 
acquiesce. Josephus uses the form Ἱεροσόλυμα in his writings, so this seems 
to be the standard late form, also attested in the New Testament. The LXX 
uses Ἰερουσαλήμ, and we have a fair idea about when it was translated (3rd to 
1st centuries BCE). So, I think you would need to propose either a 
geographical bias (Egypt preferred Ἰερουσαλήμ) or a double shift (from 
Ἱεροσόλυμα to Ἰερουσαλήμ and back again). This double shift seems quite odd 
in my opinion, but stranger things have happened. In either case, you’d need 
firm textual data from the early Hellenistic era to prove your hypothesis.


GEORGE ATHAS
Moore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
www.moore.edu.au