However, when I go to Ephesians 4:8, where the author quotes from Psalm
68:18 (68:19 in the Hebrew), the author's translation of "He gave gifts
to men" (a crucial meaning, to me, for his explanation of the giving of
"apostles, prophets," etc., in 4:11) agrees NEITHER with the LXX
(LAMBANO, if I remember right) NOR the Hebrew (LQH) - which, to me, can
only be translated as "He took/received gifts by/from men." My BHS
Hebrew text or Bretton LXX don't give the author's rendering as being
based on a variant of the text.
My question is (for those of you who also know Hebrew): Is there ANY WAY
the Hebrew of Psalm 68 could have been "corrupted" or "misread" (e.g., a
Daleth being read as a Resh, a Yod as a Waw, etc.) - or remembered
wrongly, if he was writing from memory - by the author of Ephesians to
give the translation he does? Are there any obscure variants of Eph. 4:8
(UBS says to see Ps. 67:19 (68?) in the LXX, but I don't recall my
Bretton LXX having a variant here - does Rahlf's?) that DO conform to
the Hebrew text (though this would probably undermine the author's
argument in 4:11)? I DON'T EVEN want to start a discussion on the
implications of this for the doctrine of "inerrancy," but I would like
any Greek- (and Greek/Hebrew-) related help on reconciling the
significant disparity between the NT and the LXX and Hebrew texts and
meanings here.
"Eric Weiss"
eweiss@gte.net