Genesis 17

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 9, 18, 52, 145

   Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός σου, "I am your God," where the Masoretic version reads "I am El Shaddai" (אֵל שַׁדַּי): a different name, marked as one (145f). The Greek of Genesis never transliterates Shaddai; it gives "your God" again at 35:11, and at Exod 6:3 the Lord says he appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob θεὸς ὢν αὐτῶν, "being their God," where the Masoretic version reads "as El Shaddai." εὐαρέστει ἐναντίον ἐμοῦ, "be well-pleasing before me," where the Masoretic version reads "walk about before my face," as at 5:22–24 (Heb 11:5–6); and γίνου ἄμεμπτος, "come to be blameless," where it reads "be whole" (תָּמִים): ἄμεμπτος is the word of Luke 1:6, of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and of Phil 3:6, "as to justice in the law, blameless." The age is ἐτῶν ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα, "of ninety nine years," without the Masoretic version's "son of" and its second "years."

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 4, 18, 52

   πατέρα πολλῶν ἐθνῶν τέθεικά σε, "father of many nations I have set you," where the Masoretic version reads "father of a throng of nations I have given you" (אַב הֲמוֹן, the sound of the new name אַבְרָהָם). Paul quotes the Greek word for word at Rom 4:17, and builds on it at 4:18. The Greek name adds a letter, Ἀβραάμ for Ἀβράμ, as the Hebrew adds one (ה), but the play on "throng" is lost: in the Greek, "many" carries the promise. "Abraham" is printed from here on in both versions (145f), and is not marked.

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 54, 143

   αὐξανῶ σε σφόδρα, "I will grow you very much," with one σφόδρα, where the Masoretic version reads "with very, very much" (בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד). At 17:2 and 17:20 the alignment seeds the lack; here it does not, and it is marked as a minus in the same way. αὐξάνω "grow" stands for the Masoretic version's "make bear fruit" (פָּרָה), as at 1:22.

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 54

   Two pluses are seeded and marked. τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ ὀγδόῃ, "on the eighth day," names the day of 17:12 in the law of cutting off itself; the Samaritan Pentateuch has the same words, and Rahlfs reads them. The day returns in Lev 12:3, Luke 1:59; 2:21 and Phil 3:5, "circumcised the eighth day." ὅτι, "for," gives the cutting off its reason ("for he has broken up my covenant"), where the Masoretic version sets the clause beside it. The Greek has "who shall not be circumcised," a future, where the Masoretic version reads "who is not circumcised"; ἐκ τοῦ γένους αὐτῆς, "from her kind," singular, where it reads "from her peoples"; and ἐξολεθρευθήσεται, "shall be utterly destroyed," the verb of Acts 3:23, where it reads "shall be cut off."

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 145

   Σάρρα, "Sarah," for Σάρα, "Sarai": the Greek doubles a letter where the Hebrew changes one (שָׂרַי, שָׂרָה). Both versions print the new name from here on, unmarked (145f). The Greek has a passive, "her name shall not be called Sarai," where the Masoretic version has Abraham as subject ("you shall not call her name Sarai"), and ἀλλά, "but," where it reads "for." The copula "shall be" is seeded as a plus and marked.

6. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 54

   δώσω σοι ἐξ αὐτῆς τέκνον, "I will give you from her a child," where the Masoretic version reads "a son"; and then καὶ εὐλογήσω αὐτόν, καὶ ἔσται εἰς ἔθνη, καὶ βασιλεῖς ἐθνῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔσονται, "and I will bless him, and he shall be for nations, and kings of nations shall be from him," where the Masoretic version blesses Sarah a second time: "I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall be from her." The Greek's second blessing falls on the son. The Greek has no word for "also" (וְגַם), seeded as a minus and marked.

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 53

   Swete prints Εἰ τῷ ἑκατονταετεῖ γενήσεται υἱός, καὶ εἰ Σάρρᾳ ἐνενήκοντα ἐτῶν γενήσεται; "Shall a son come to be to one a hundred years old? And if to Sarah, of ninety years—shall it come to be?", from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs reads no υἱός in the first question and, in the second, Σαρρα … οὖσα τέξεται, "Sarah, being ninety years old, shall bear." In Swete's text "son" is the child to come, where the Masoretic version's "son of a hundred years" is the Hebrew idiom of age. ἑκατονταετής, "a hundred years old," is Paul's word at Rom 4:19. Abraham speaks ἐν τῇ διανοίᾳ αὐτοῦ, "in his understanding," where the Masoretic version reads "in his heart"; and λέγων, "saying," is seeded as a plus and marked.

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 54, 143

   Ἰσμαὴλ οὗτος ζήτω ἐναντίον σου, "this Ishmael—let him live before you!", a command, where the Masoretic version reads a wish: "If only Ishmael might live before your face!" The Greek has no word for "if only" (לוּ), and the alignment does not set the lack; it is marked as a minus (54).

9. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 52

   Ἰσαάκ, "Isaac," the Masoretic version's יִצְחָק, "he laughs," set beside Abraham's laughter (וַיִּצְחַק, 17:17) and Sarah's (18:12–15; 21:6). The Greek's "laughed" is γελάω, with no sound of the name, so the play is carried only by the story. ναί, "Yes," stands where the Masoretic version reads "Indeed" (אֲבָל), and the Greek has the promise in the future, "shall bear," where it has a participle, "is bearing." Swete prints πρὸς Ἀβραάμ, "to Abraham," and ἰδού, "look," both seeded and marked as pluses.

10. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 52, 54, 143

    περὶ δὲ Ἰσμαὴλ ἰδοὺ ἐπήκουσά σου, "but concerning Ishmael, look, I have listened to you": the Greek has the Masoretic version's "look" (הִנֵּה) before "I have listened to you," where the Masoretic version has it before "I have blessed him." The alignment seeds the Greek's "look" as a plus; the place where the Masoretic version has it is marked as a minus, so the transposition shows as both (54). ἐπήκουσα answers the name Ishmael as at 16:11. δώδεκα ἔθνη, "twelve nations," where the Masoretic version reads "twelve chieftains" (נְשִׂיאִם); the lack of the second "very" is seeded and marked.

11. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    ἡνίκα περιέτεμεν τὴν σάρκα τῆς ἀκροβυστίας αὐτοῦ, "at the time when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin," active, where the Masoretic version reads "when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin." Paul asks of this circumcision whether Abraham was reckoned just "in circumcision or in foreskin" (ἐν περιτομῇ ἢ ἐν ἀκροβυστίᾳ), and answers that "he received a sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of the faith which he had in the foreskin" (Rom 4:10–11; compare 17:11, "a sign of covenant").

12. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    ἐξ ἀλλογενῶν ἐθνῶν, "from nations of another kind," where the Masoretic version reads "from a son of foreignness"; and περιέτεμεν αὐτούς, "he circumcised them," with Abraham as the one who circumcises, where the Masoretic version reads "were circumcised with him." The Greek has no word for "with him" (אִתּוֹ); the alignment sets no minus there, since the Greek's object αὐτούς stands where the Hebrew's phrase stood.