Genesis 8

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 5, 57

   καταράκται, "cataracts," as at 7:11, where the cognate is noted; the Masoretic version reads "the lattices of the skies." The word has no lemma id in the packet and is left untagged.

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 137

   Swete prints ἀπεκαλύφθησαν, "were uncovered," from Alexandrinus (confirmed on the scan, vol. 1, leaf 43); his apparatus gives ἐπεκαλύφθησαν, "were covered over," for D and E. The D and E reading agrees with the Masoretic version's "were stopped up" and with the next clause, where the rain is constrained; Rahlfs and Göttingen print it. The text is printed as Swete has it (137), so in this version the springs and the cataracts are laid bare as the water goes down. The form has no lemma id in the packet and is left untagged.

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   ἑβδόμῃ καὶ εἰκάδι, "on the seventh and twentieth," as at 7:11, where the Masoretic version again reads "the seventeenth day of the month." In both versions the chest sits down five months to the day after the flood began.

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   ἐν δὲ τῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ μηνί, τῇ πρώτῃ τοῦ μηνός, "in the eleventh month, on the first of the month," where the Masoretic version reads "in the tenth, on one of the month." The Greek has the water diminish "until the tenth month" and the mountaintops appear in the month after it.

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 54, 141, 143

   τοῦ ἰδεῖν εἰ κεκόπακεν τὸ ὕδωρ, "to see whether the water had abated," has nothing behind it in the Masoretic version's v. 7, which reads "And he sent away the raven, and it went out." The Greek gives the raven the errand that both texts give the dove (v. 8), and the alignment does not mark it; it is marked as a plus (54, 141).

6. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 54

   οὐχ ὑπέστρεψεν, "it did not return," where the Masoretic version reads "going out and returning" (יָצוֹא וָשׁוֹב), a raven that came and went. The Greek's "not" is a plus (seeded and adopted): its raven goes out and never comes back. The Vulgate agrees with the Greek (qui egrediebatur et non revertebatur). The rabbis told of the raven's quarrel with Noah (Genesis Rabbah 33:5; b. Sanhedrin 108b), and Augustine read the raven that did not come back as a figure of those who go out and do not return (Against Faustus 12.20).

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   φύλλον ἐλαίας κάρφος, "a leaf of olive, a twig," where the Masoretic version reads "and look, a leaf of olive, torn (טָרָף), in her mouth": the Greek takes the Hebrew word as a noun, a thing plucked. κάρφος is a dry stalk or chip, the "speck" in the brother's eye of Matt 7:3–5, whose home gloss "twig" sets it against the beam. The Greek also has "she had" (εἶχεν) for the Masoretic version's "look."

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 53

   ἐξέλειπεν, "failed," gave out, twice in the verse, where the Masoretic version reads "were parched" and "was parched." The form has no lemma id in the packet (ἐκλείπω, as at Luke 16:9; 22:32) and is left untagged; the second time the anchor here serves.

9. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 53

   ὁλοκάρπωσιν, "a whole-fruit offering," singular, in Swete's text from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs and Göttingen read the plural ὁλοκαρπώσεις and the Masoretic version reads "ascents." The Greek word names an offering of which the whole (ὅλος) is given up as fruit (καρπός), and it is the Greek's word for the Masoretic version's עֹלָה here; it is kept apart from ὁλοκαύτωμα, the "whole burnt offering" of Mark 12:33 and Heb 10:6.

10. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    The Masoretic version reads "and ADONAI said to his heart … for the shaping of the heart of the human is bad from his youth." The Greek has διανοηθείς, "having pondered," for "to his heart," and ἔγκειται ἡ διάνοια … ἐπιμελῶς ἐπὶ τὰ πονηρά, "the understanding … is intent diligently on the evil things," for "the shaping of the heart … is bad," the words of 6:5 again (ἐπιμελῶς, πονηρά), so that God's promise answers the verdict that began the flood. Where the Masoretic version reads "for the sake of the human" (בַּעֲבוּר), the Greek has "because of the works of the humans." The Hebrew's "shaping" (יֵצֶר) became the rabbis' "evil inclination" (yetzer ha-ra, Genesis Rabbah 34:10); the Greek has no such word here, and Sir 15:14 renders it with διαβούλιον, "deliberation."

11. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Ruling 52

    θέρος καὶ ἔαρ, "summer and springtime," where the Masoretic version reads "summer and winter." The Greek pairs the warm seasons, with "cold and heat" before them. ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα, "day and night," stands in the accusative, unlike the nominative pairs before it, so the Greek can also be read "shall not rest day and night"; the English keeps both readings open. The Masoretic version reads "shall not sabbath"; καταπαύω is "rest" (2:2–3).