Books of royalty

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The four books of kingships (ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΩΝ A – Δ, Basileion I – IV ) are biblical writings contained in the canon of the Septuagint . In terms of text, they correspond to Books 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible and in modern translations from Hebrew. To avoid confusion, the two books of Kings are with Kings abbreviated, the four books of the kingdoms contrast with KGT .

Emergence

Around the year 200 BC The books of the kingdoms were translated from Hebrew into Greek. The Hebrew model, however, differed significantly from the Masoretic text, which later became normative . It is also attested by the Samuel fragments from the Dead Sea , 4Q51 (= 4QSam a ) and 4Q52 (= 4QSam b ) are particularly important here . It is likely that the books of Samuel and Kings were translated into Greek by the same person. As a Greek native speaker, he writes “confidently and without errors”; He did not speak Hebrew at this level. This observation seems to contradict the fact that he wrote a Hebrew Greek - not because he couldn't do it better, but because a translation that was as idiomatic as possible was not his intention. In doing so, he worked efficiently, but sometimes showed a fleeting approach. “Again and again he comes across vocabulary that he doesn't know. Sometimes in such cases he guesses an approximate meaning from the context, sometimes he switches to similar vocabulary; often he makes do with transliterations. "

At a later point in time, the Septuagint text was revised in order to align it more closely with the Masoretic text (so-called kaige review). The reviewers seem to have been scribes from Jerusalem who sought above all philological correctness. The date of the 1st century BC This suggests that the scroll of the Twelve prophets by Naḥal Ḥever has a kaige- like text and can be palaeographically assigned to this time.

But an older text remained in circulation, known as the Lucian or Antiochene text . It is said to have been revised by the Christian presbyter Lukian of Antioch around 300 AD; therefore the name. But this text is already attested by quotations from Flavius ​​Josephus and in the New Testament.

differences

Apart from a closer proximity to the Masoretic Text in the kaige review, there are other differences between the various text versions of the Books of Kings.

First of all, the book delimitation differs: In the Antiochene text, the stories of the elevation of Solomon to king (3 Kgt 1,1-2,11, corresponding to 1 Kgs 1,1-2,11) still belong (as chapters 25-26) to the 2nd Book of Kingships ( 2 Samuel ) so that it closes with David's death. In contrast, the same section in the manuscripts of the kaige text forms the beginning of the 3rd book of kings ( 1st book of kings ), in accordance with the Hebrew text of the book of kings , which - as the book of the decline of the Davidic kingship - with the intrigues of the court the decrepit David begins ( 1 Kings 1  EU ).

In the story of David and Goliath and the subsequent episodes (1 Kgt 17-18 or 1 Sam 17-18  EU ) the text in the Codex Vaticanus is much shorter than in the manuscripts of the Antiochene text.

Other deviations from the Masoretic text are common to the various Greek text traditions. In many cases these are minor features, but there are also major differences:

  • 3 Kgt 6–7: Details of the construction of the temple and the arrangement of the text are different;
  • 3 Kgt 12–14: The events that led to the creation of the Northern Empire are shown differently.

In general, these differences are not the work of the translators, but rather go back to their different Hebrew source.

Text output

  • for the text of the kaige review: Alfred Rahlfs , Robert Hanhart : Septuagint: Id Est Vetus Testamentum Graece Iuxta LXX Interpretes. German Bible Society, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-438-05119-6 .
  • for the Antiochene text: Natalio Fernández Marcos, José Ramón Busto Saiz (eds.): El texto antioqueno de la Biblia griega Volume 1 ( Libros 1–2 Samuel ), Madrid 1989 ISBN 978-84-00-06971-1 ; Volume 2 ( Libros 1-2 Reyes ), Madrid 1992, ISBN 978-84-00-07255-1 .
  • Wolfgang Kraus , Martin Karrer (Eds.): Septuagint German. The Greek Old Testament in German translation. German Bible Society, Stuttgart 2009 (2nd edition, Stuttgart 2010), ISBN 978-3-438-05122-6 . Offers kaige text and Antiochene text in two parallel columns; the differences to the Masoretic text are indicated in italics.

literature

  • Philippe Hugo: 1-2 Kingdoms (1-2 Samuel), in: James T. Aitken (Ed.): T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint. London u. a. 2015, 127–146. ISBN 978-0-567-03134-1
  • Tuukka Kauhanen: The Proto-Lucianic Problem in 1 Samuel. (= "De Septuaginta Investigationes" 3). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2012. ISBN 978-3-525-53459-5
  • Timothy Michael Law: 3-4 Kingdoms (1-2 Kings), in: James T. Aitken (Ed.): T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint. London u. a. 2015, 147–166. ISBN 978-0-567-03134-1
  • Raimund Wirth: The Septuagint of the Samuel Books: Examined taking into account their reviews . (= "De Septuaginta Investigationes" 7). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2016. ISBN 978-3-525-53694-0 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Septuaginta Deutsch , Stuttgart 2009, p. 300 (introduction to the books of the kingdoms). Here as a misprint 4Q53 instead of 4Q52.
  2. ↑ Raimund Wirth: The Septuagint of the Samuel books , Göttingen 2016, p. 227.
  3. ^ Raimund Wirth: The Septuagint of the Samuel Books , Göttingen 2016, p. 222.
  4. ↑ Raimund Wirth: The Septuagint of the Samuel Books , Göttingen 2016, p. 220.
  5. ↑ The name comes from the fact that the reviewers used Hebrew גַּם gam , German 'also' andוְגַם ṿegam , German 'and also' in each case through ancient Greek καί γε kaí ge , German 'also just' , because simple ancient Greek καί kaí , German 'and' also ' only to render Hebrew ו ve , German 'and' was used.
  6. ↑ Raimund Wirth: The Septuagint of the Samuel books , Göttingen 2016, p. 230 f.
  7. ^ Septuaginta German , Stuttgart 2009, p. 300 f. (Introduction to the Books of Kingship)
  8. ↑ Septuaginta Deutsch , Stuttgart 2009, p. 301. (Introduction to the Books of Kings)