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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: "b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org" <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] 1 Kings 8:27 - how much less this house that I have builded (interrogative)
  • Date: Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:15:53 -0600

Hi, Steven,

Merry Christmas to you!

In this verse:

1 Kings 8:27 (KJB)
But will God indeed dwell on the earth?
behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
how much less this house that I have builded?

We have a double interrogative in the AV.

There is a parallel verse in 2 Chronicles where this is exclamatory in the AV.

2 Chronicles 6:18 (KJB)
But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth?
behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee;
how much less this house which I have built!

Webster and Lamsa have the same distinction, however they are more likely to be AV influenced.
Yet most modern versions only have the single interrogative in the 1 Kings verse.



There are differences in the Hebrew of the verses as a whole which might change the flow of the sentence, or there could be a more direct marker. And there are also the issue of the exact Masoretic Text manuscripts used, and their various marks. Any help understanding the Hebrew difference that is unto the interrogative will be much appreciated. Keep in mind that Rotherdam would be using the pre-Kittel text, which would be a Ginsburg (Ben Hayim) text, similar to the AV text rather than the Kittel 3rd-edition and later standard.

HH: There are no significant differences to alter the translation. The difference between AV Kings and Chronicles was probably a translator's choice, since there can be questions in Hebrew without a specific grammatical marker. There is the phrase "with men" in 2 Chronicles 6:18 that 1 Kings 8:27 does not have, but interestingly, the LXX of 1 KIngs 8:27 adds the phrase there. The Chronicles text is missing a definite article before the first "heavens," but the BHS editors think that it has simply dropped out of the text due to haplography, since the same letter "H" ends the previous word. That seems likely, since otherwise there is grammatical inconsistency.

HH: Some modern translations have a double interrogative in 1 Kings 8:27, suggesting, again, that it is merely a translator's choice:

Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) 1 Kings 8:27 "But can God actually live on the earth? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you; so how much less this house I have built?

God's Word for the Nations (GWN) 1 Kings 8:27 "Does God really live on earth? If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you, then how can this temple that I have built?

HH: The issue seems more a question of what the tone might have been when Solomon gave the remark. A number of translations have a double interrogative at 2 Chronicles 6:18:

CJB 2 Chronicles 6:18 "But can God actually live with human beings on the earth? Why, heaven itself, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain you; so how much less this house I have built?

(Douay-Rheims 1899 ed.) DRA 2 Chronicles 6:18 Is it credible then that God should dwell with men on the earth? If heaven and the heavens of heavens do not contain thee, how much less this house, which I have built?

GWN 2 Chronicles 6:18 "Does God really live on earth with people? If heaven itself, the highest heaven, cannot hold you, then how can this temple that I have built?

(Lancelot Brenton's translation of the LXX) LXE 2 Chronicles 6:18 For will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth? if the heaven and the heaven of heavens will not suffice thee, what then is this house which I have built?

(Luther's translation) L45 2 Chronicles 6:18 Denn meinest du auch, daß GOtt bei den Menschen auf Erden wohne? Siehe, der Himmel und aller Himmel Himmel kann dich nicht versorgen; wie sollte es denn das Haus tun, das ich gebauet habe?

Yours,
Harold Holmyard







Yours,
Harold Holmyard










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