On Conditionals in the Greek Pentateuch: A Study of Translation Syntax

284 Pages·2012·2.711 MB·English

by  Anwar Tjen

LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/
OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

515

Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

Editors
Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University
Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge

Founding Editors
David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn

Editorial Board
Richard J. Coggins, Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon,
Norman K. Gottwald, Gina Hens-Piazza, John Jarick, Andrew D. H. Mayes,
Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Yvonne Sherwood

The Hebrew Bible and its Versions
5
General Editor
Robert P. Gordon
This page intentionally left blank
ON CONDITIONALS
IN THE GREEK PENTATEUCH

A Study of Translation Syntax

Anwar Tjen
Copyright © 2010 by Anwar Tjen

Published by T & T Clark International
A Continuum imprint
80 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX

www.continuumbooks.com

Visit the T & T Clark blog at www.tandtclarkblog.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher, T & T Clark
International.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: 978-0-567-57546-3 (hardback)

Typeset and copy-edited by Forthcoming Publications Ltd. (www.forthpub.com)
Printed in the United States of America by Thomson-Shore, Inc
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii

INTRODUCTION 1
1. Studying LXX Conditionals: Methodology and Scope 2
2. Overview of Previous Studies on LXX Conditionals 3
3. A Note on the Critical Texts 7
4. Organization of this Study 8

Chapter 1
HEBREW CONDITIONALS 10
1. Relative Order of Protasis–Apodosis 10
2. Marking of Conditionality 12
2.1. Conditional Markers and the Degree of Hypotheticality 12
2.2. Conditional Markers of Doubtful Status 15
2.3. Markers of Apodosis 18
3. Unmarked Conditionals 19
4. Ellipsis in Conditional Constructions 22
4.1. Elliptical Protasis 22
4.2. Elliptical Apodosis 22
4.3. Clauses of Wish and Oath 23
5. Verb Forms and Taxonomy of Hebrew Conditionals:
Temporal Reference, Degree of Certainty, Modality 25
5.1. S. R. Driver’s Taxonomy 25
5.2. C. van Leeuwen’s Taxonomy 26
5.3. Verb Forms in Conditionals: Modality 27
5.4. Concluding Observations 30

Chapter 2
GREEK CONDITIONALS 33
1. Relative Order of Protasis–Apodosis 33
2. Marking of Conditionality 35
2.1. Marker of Protasis 35
2.2. Marker of Apodosis 36
3. Formal Features of Greek Conditional Constructions 38
3.1. Outline of Major Collocations of Conditional Markers
and Verb Forms 38
vi On Conditionals in the Greek Pentateuch
3.2. Rare Collocations and Mixed Types 41
3.3. Elliptical Protasis and Apodosis 44
3.4. Particles of Negation 47
4. Major Change in Koine: The Decline of the Optative 48
4.1. Conditionals with the Optative in Non-literary Papyri 50
4.2. Conditionals with the Optative in the LXX 51
4.3. Peculiar Character of LXX Conditionals
with the Optative? 54
5. Classi(cid:2)cation and Interpretation of Greek Conditionals 56
5.1. Time-Oriented System of Classi(cid:2)cation 56
5.2. Mood-Oriented System of Classi(cid:2)cation 57
5.3. Some Recent Proposals 58
5.3.1. J. L. Boyer’s Inductive Classi(cid:2)cation
of Koine (NT) Conditionals 58
5.3.2. S. E. Porter’s Attitudinal Semantics of Conditionals 59
5.3.3. Moods: Degrees of Probability 60
5.3.4. Classi(cid:2)cation of Conditionals Based
on Speech Act Theory 61
5.4. Concluding Observations 62

Chapter 3
IDENTIFICATION AND INTERPRETATION OF HEBREW CONSTRUCTIONS
AS CONDITIONALS IN THE LXX 68
1. Introductory Markers in Overtly Marked Conditionals 69
1.1. Distribution of Their Equivalents 69
1.2. Discrepancy with J. Sterenberg’s Statistics 70
2. Constructions Introduced by (cid:2)(cid:3) and (cid:4)(cid:5) 72
2.1. Clauses Introduced by (cid:2)(cid:3) 73
2.2. Clauses Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:5) 74
2.3. Temporal and Conditional Renderings of (cid:4)(cid:5) Clauses 76
2.4. Clauses Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:5) with Casus Pendens 80
2.5. Implicit Representation of Conditional Markers (cid:2)(cid:3) and (cid:4)(cid:5) 83
2.6. (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:2)(cid:3) as Disjunctive Marker? 84
3. Constructions Introduced by Other Markers 86
3.1. Clauses Introduced by (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:5) 86
3.2. Clauses Introduced by ((cid:3)(cid:8))(cid:9)(cid:8) 88
3.3. Clauses Introduced by (cid:9)(cid:3) 89
3.4. Clauses Introduced by (cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:3) 90
3.5. Clauses Introduced by (cid:12)(cid:13) and (cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:13) 92
3.6. Clauses Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:3) 94
3.7. Clauses Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:15) 96
3.8. Clause Introduced by (cid:16)(cid:13) 97
3.9. Clauses Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:8)(cid:18) 98
3.10. Clauses Introduced by (cid:12)(cid:19) 98
3.11. Preposition (cid:18) or (cid:5) with the In(cid:2)nitive Construct 99
Contents vii
4. Unmarked Constructions Rendered as Conditionals 100
4.1. Paratactic Constructions 100
4.2. Attributive Participles 102
5. Some Cases Involving Orthographic or Textual Differences 103
5.1. Conditional Introduced by (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:2)(cid:3) 103
5.2. Negative (cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:6)Read as Conditional (cid:9)(cid:8) and Vice Versa? 103
5.3. (cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:8)(cid:6)instead of (cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:3)? 104
5.4. The Longer Texts in LXX Deuteronomy 30:16
and Exodus 22:5 Containing Conditionals 105
5.5. The Shorter Text in LXX Leviticus 5:5
Omitting a Condition 106
6. Summary 106

Chapter 4
COLLOCATIONAL FEATURES IN THE LXX RENDERING
OF HEBREW CONDITIONAL SYNTAGMS: YIQTOL–WEQATAL 108
1. Distribution of the Renderings 109
2. The Prevalent Equivalent: (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Subjunctive 111
2.1. Legal-Instructional Material 111
2.2. Interactive Material 115
2.3. Peculiar Cases in LXX Genesis: (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Subjunctive
with Past-Reference? 117
2.4. The Choice Between the Present and Aorist Subjunctive 120
3. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Indicative 123
3.1. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Future Indicative 123
3.2. (cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:3) + YIQTOL: (cid:7)(cid:6) + Future Indicative/(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) +
Aorist-Subjunctive? 125
3.3. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Present Indicative 127
3.4. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Aorist Indicative 128
3.5. The Oath Formula: (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:6)+ YIQTOL 129
4. Non-Finite Equivalents 129
4.1. Participium coniunctum 130
4.2. In(cid:2)nitive 131
5. Cases Containing Pluses or Minuses in the LXX 132
6. WeQATALs Interpreted as Paratactic Conditionals 133
7. WeQATAL and Peculiar Cases of Sense-Division 133
8. Summary 137

Chapter 5
COLLOCATIONAL FEATURES IN THE LXX RENDERING
OF HEBREW CONDITIONAL SYNTAGMS:
QATAL, WAYYIQTOL, QOTEL AND OTHER FORMS 138
1. Conditional Syntagms with QATAL 138
1.1. Distribution of the Renderings 138
1.2. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Indicative 139
viii On Conditionals in the Greek Pentateuch
1.2.1. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Aorist Indicative 140
1.2.2. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Aorist Indicative (Counterfactual) 141
1.2.3. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Perfect Indicative 143
1.2.4. The Idiomatic ((cid:20))(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:4)(cid:21)(cid:18)(cid:6)(cid:12)(cid:22)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:23)(cid:15)(cid:6)(cid:2)(cid:3) 146
1.2.5. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Present Indicative 148
1.2.6. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Imperfect of (cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:8)(cid:9) (Counterfactual) 150
1.3. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Subjunctive 150
1.4. Peculiar Cases in the Rendering of QATAL
Involving Oscillation of Moods 152
1.4.1. Two explanations: K. Huber and J. Sterenberg 154
1.4.2. Observations from the viewpoint of studying
translation syntax 155
2. WayYIQTOL in Conditional Protases 159
2.1. ’(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Aorist Subjunctive 159
2.2. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Indicative 160
3. Nominal Conditionals 162
3.1. Cases Containing QOTEL Used Predicatively 163
3.1.1. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Present Indicative 163
3.1.2. ’(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Subjunctive 166
3.1.3. Participial Equivalents After (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Subjunctive 167
3.1.4. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Future Indicative 167
3.1.5. The Present Indicative After (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) 168
3.2. Cases Containing Nominal Elements Other than QOTEL 168
3.2.1. ’(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Nominal Clauses (With or Without
the Subjunctive of (cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15) 170
3.2.2. (cid:5)(cid:6) + Nominal Clauses (With or Without
the Indicative of (cid:7)(cid:6)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:13)(cid:14)(cid:15)) 172
3.2.3. (cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:10)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Verbal Clauses 172
3.2.4. (cid:9)(cid:8)(cid:6)+ Nominal Clause: (cid:7)(cid:6) + Imperfect Indicative
(Counterfactual) 174
3.2.5. The Indicative Equivalents After (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4) + Subjunctive 174
3.2.6. Conditional Clause With QATALs or Substantives? 176
4. Elliptical Conditionals 176
5. Two Peculiar Cases in Deuteronomy 177
6. Summary 179

Chapter 6
APODOSIS 181
1. YIQTOL and weQATAL 182
1.1. Distribution of the Renderings 182
1.2. Future Indicative 183
1.3. Imperatival Future and the Question of Hebrew Interference 189
1.4. Imperative 193
1.5. Subjunctive 195
1.6. Optative 198
Contents ix
1.7. Secondary Indicative Forms 199
1.8. Participium coniunctum 200
1.9. Non-Verbal Equivalents 201
2. Imperative 202
3. QATAL 203
4. WayYIQTOL 206
5. Nominal Clauses 207
5.1. QOTEL Used Predicatively 207
5.2. Nominal Clauses Without Predicative QOTEL 209
6. Elliptical Apodoses 211
7. Cases Involving Textual Differences? 212
8. Apodotic Markers 214
8.1. Apodotic (cid:9) 215
8.2. Apodotic (cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)and (cid:13)(cid:17)(cid:21)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:5) 218
9. Summary 219

Chapter 7
CONCLUSIONS 222
1. Identi(cid:2)cation of Conditional Constructions 222
2. Collocational Features in Protases and Apodoses 223
3. The Rendering of Apodotic Markers 226
4. Conditionals in Different Pentateuchal Books 227
5. Concluding Remarks on Text-Critical Issues 228
6. General Conclusions on the Character of LXX Conditionals 228

Bibliography 230
Index of References 248
Index of Authors 264