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Re: Isaiah 52:7(LXX)

My reply to David Moore on this topic didn't make it to the list,
except for a brief snippet that David quoted in a further reply. I
thought I had CC'd this message to the list properly, but apparently
I did not. For Perry, who originally raised the question, and any
others who may be following this thread, here's the full text of what
I intended to post earlier. Sorry for the inconvenience.

>>> David L. Moore <uunet!ix.netcom.com!dvdmoore>  5/9/97, 11:54am >

<previous message context snipped out>

        I'll just make a couple of quick comments on the Greek of
this passage.  I haven't looked at the Hebrew, so can't comment now
from that angle.

        The sentence as Perry has quoted it lacks its initial word. 
The versification has left PAREIMI dangling at the end of v. 6; it
should be included as part of the sentence.  

        We may translate "I come as Spring upon the mountains, as
feet that bring goodnew of a message of peace, as someone who brings
news of good things; for I will make the message of your salvation to
be heard, saying to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'"

        So hWS has its usual meaning here of "as" or "like" and is
used as a comparative particle.

        I hope this is helpful.

Regards,
David Moore
<<<

Unfortunately, I labor under the conditions where most of my library
is not near the computer where I do email. So I can't drag out my
LXX, though I do have a Hebrew OT and a Greek NT handy.

My Hebrew is weak, but I don't think David's reading is supported at
all by the Hebrew. The exclamatory word is MAH, which, according to
my Holladay lexicon, never has a comparative sense.

I just now started to write (let the aspect geeks play with that one:
does my "just now" cancel the past tense of "started?") that I
doubted that the LXX would support this reading either, assuming that
it reads as Paul has quoted it in Rom. 10:15. Then I realized that
the original post quoted from the LXX, so I went back and read it
more closely, and, Lo! there are more hWSes there than I noticed
before. In my previous message, it turns out that I was commenting on
Paul's rendering of the passage as I recalled it rather than the
wording of the passage itself. Thanks, David, for catching me on that
one.

David's reading does indeed seem to be the best rendering of the LXX,
but Paul's wording in Romans is a far better representation of the
Hebrew MT. In the Romans passage, the exclamatory "How!" is the only
possibility, since hWRAIOI (does the LXX use hWRA="hour"? or was that
a typo in the original post?) can only be a predicate adjective,
implying a copula as the main verb.

An interesting little difference between LXX and MT/Paul, textually,
at least, if not theologically. Since I haven't gotten to the bottom
of the textual side, I can't even think about any theological
ramifications yet.

I'm still interested in extra-biblical use of hWS="How!", but I won't
be able to check my Liddell & Scott until later.

Randy Leedy
RLeedy@wpo.bju.edu