AQUILA ’ S GREE K VER SION

O F T H E HEBREW

B Y T H E

R E V B A M A M . . . A B H . R A S , 0 0 R abbi of th e L eed s O ld H ebrew C ongregation

printeb bQ

S P O T T I SW O O D E B A L L A N T Y N E CO , . L T D .

1 E -S T R E E T S U A R E L O D N W Q , N O N , E . C . 4

A Q U I L A ’ S V E R S I O N

A N D T H E

LA TER GREEK TRA NSLA TIONS OF THE

— r MY di stinguished predecessor in this course M . H . St . John — Thackeray has explained the origin and value o f the Greek ! translation of the Hebrew Bible known as the . The question at once suggests itself : How did it h appen that a need was felt for anoth er Greek translation such as that of Aquila ! Who wanted it ! Wh y was it made ! y The answer is that the need was partly practical , partl o f theological . In various sections the Byzantine Empire , during the centuries which preceded the great Arab conquests , s Greek was the language u ed by Jews in daily life . First among

- the requirements of that life was public worship . Greek speaking

one - Jews were not of mind , any more than English speaking o f Jews are nowadays , as to the use the vernacular in Synagogue . Bu t in the earlier age there were many who felt themselves insufficiently acquainted with Hebrew to understand the original

Bible without the aid of a translation . It must be clearly borne in mind that there was never a question of reading the weekly nl u lesson in Greek o y . The disp te was between those who wished l to read from the Scro l in Hebrew alone , and those who equally wi shed to read the Hebrew Scroll , but together with a Greek translation . Perhaps the situation w ill be made clearest by reference to an actual historical incident which occurred in the reign of the n m r m 527 t o 565 Byzanti e E peror Justinian, who ruled f o .

During his tenancy of the throne , there came to an active stage the I struggle between the sections that have described , between those Jewish communities which desired to read the Bible in nl in Hebrew o y, and those who were anxious to read it Greek

. His as well The parties applied to the Emperor . Christia n majesty very promptly and properly took advantage of the oppor

This lecture was d elivered as part of a L ondon U niversity E xten sion Course on ran s at on s of th e H ebre T h e C our T l i w Bible . se was h eld at o nbee H a London durin th e ter ess on of 19 8 T y ll , , g Win S i 1 . 2

t u nit . y thrust upon him A plague on both your houses , he

ff . ou e said in e ect Read the Bible , all Of y , in a Christian sens , ” ’

v . a oid your Rabbinic traditions Indeed, the Emperor s decre e declares in set phrases that the Jews were on no account to follow up the reading of the Bible with their cherished Midrashic homilies . Before we attend to a sentenc e in the decree which concerns ou r S r is present ubject more nea ly, it hard to refrain from c om ment ing on the stupidity o f Jews bringing their internal quarrels U before an external tribunal . nhappily, in their subsequent t h . history , Jews were not infrequently guilty of e same folly s i A painful instance occurred some even centuries after Justin an . s 1204 fl t Maimonide died in , and a bitter con ic broke out between and the friends foes of his metaphysical opinions . His foes of accused him of seeking to overthrow the authority the . d t of m Accordingly, that zealous a voca e the Talmud , Solo on of d Montpellier , in order , as he imagine , to rescue the Rabbinical ' of n tradition from the heresies Maimo ides , induced the Domini ’ cans to burn the latter s works . The Dominicans gleefully consented . Very few years elapsed before they burned the Talmud also ’ u t ini s s an 553 . Let us , however , return to J decree of the year n As we have see , he exhorted all the Jews to read the Bible in

“ t o a Christian sense , and he went on to remark that , those who wished to use a Greek translation , he recommended the ’ of Septuagint , but permitted the employment Aquila s Version . ’ N o w i , apart from reveal ng the popularity of Aquila s Version nearly four centuries after it was made , the decree answers the e questions with which we started . W see the practical grounds o f we the Jewish desire for a Greek Version , and see the theological ' ’ In a s th e obj ections to the Septuagint . Justini n age Septuagint

‘ was clearly regarded as a Christian work . Quite apart from the fact that the Septuagint , excellent as it was on the whole , was in many places inaccurate , from the scholarly point of view, there is no ‘ doubt that a feeling of theological antagonism to was the Septu agint had long prevailed among the Jews . This certainly the case already in the second century when Aquila fl ou rished . The Septuagint , it is true , was originally made by of Jews for Jews , but it was adopted as the inspired Bible the ih - Church . It is freely quoted the New Testament, and it con t ained certain renderings which became Objectionable to Jewish sentiment because of the use made O f them in sectarian contro u versies . Here and there a ct al Christian interpolations had 3 apparently been made into some copies Of the text of the u O ne of m Sept agint . the ost famous of these additions was

96t h . inserted into the Psalm , who was almost l of a contemporary of Aqui a , quotes the tenth verse that Psalm in a very remarkable form . In the Hebrew text it runs ” J Say among the nations the Lord reigneth . ustin quotes “ the sentence in the form : Say among the nations the Lord hath reigned from the Cross . Another example is even more u curio s . Both Justin Martyr and quote , as coming

c ma b e from the Hebrew Scriptures , a sentence in Greek whi h y translate d as follows : He came down to preach h is salvation — a b unto Israel , that he might save them verse obviously capa le of a Christological interpretation . Both the Church Fathers named actually make such a use of it . Irenaeus quotes it from

Isaiah , Justin from Jeremiah . Now , not only is there no such u s verse in the Hebrew Bible as known to , but there is no such vers e in any of the known copies of the Septuagint itself ! It must have been an addition made in certain copies of the Sept u a Y et gint by Christian apologists . so confident were both Justin and Irenaeus of the authenticity of their versions , that instead of recognising that their copies of the Septuagint contained a nl i spurious interpolation , they ster y accused the Jews of hav ng

their c O i s deliberately removed the whole sentence from p e . ’ of In Philo s age , the Jews Egypt regarded the Septuagint with a reverence , as Dr . Swete puts it , scarcely less than that which belonged to the original Hebrew . W e can hardly wonder ’ that within a century of Philo s death the Jewish attitude towards the Septuagint had entirely changed . For that century was the one which saw the birth and early growth o f the Christian Chu rch

its one which adopted the Septuagint as very own , as its and O o f only Bible . Henceforward , all opies the Septuagint were in made by Christians , mostly the same manuscripts as contain

. not of the New Testament It was till the age De Rossi, in the

u ~ sixteenth cent ry, that Jewish scholars again interested them in selves the Septuagint , and even then their motive was literary rather than religious . At all events , enough has been said to show that the Jews of the second century had sufficient ground for desiring a fresh version . Some were in favour of a mere

of . revision the Septuagint Others refused to tinker, preferring a new vessel . It was a gigantic task , but Aquila was found equal to it . ot of inte But this is n all . Without any question rpolati on t inter retati on here was a question of p . There were phrases in 4

i the Septuag nt which Jews came to dislike . Two instances of

. th e this must suffice The first instance is general , second par t i l n h i t s cu ar . C r s o The general i stance concerns the word , which G merely comes from a reek verb meaning to anoint , and thus " corresponds to the Hebrew verb 1! s which has th e same sense .

' The Greek word Christos , like the , Hebrew equivalent fi WD l ” ( Messiah) , litera ly denotes anointed . In the Septuagint the

' Hebrew {1 n is quite correctly rendered Christos . Thus , in ix 26 ’ ‘ d Daniel . , the word fl iZ/ D is ren ered Christos , where the “ ” Authorised English Version has the anointed one , the reference being probably to the High Priest Onias . But , in the New Testa or s ment , Christos , Christ , was u ed as a personal name for the

. Messiah We can realise that Jews would , dislike a translation ’ at - s e in which the word Christos occurred all . In Aquila V rsion the word is altogether avoided . It is also significant that whereas the Septuagint mostly renders the Hebrew name Joshua by

ul m a on Jesus , Aquila caref ly abstains fro so doing ! although , m g

Greek Jews , Jesus must have been a fairly common personal name . v E en more interesting , however , is the special instance which

. m o ft . I have promised to give It is a fa ous , q uoted , instance of vn 14 The English Authorised Version . runs Behold N . ow im a virgin shall conceive and bear a son , but for one t portant excep ion , this notorious translation is ancient , going back to the Septuagint . The exception is that the English ” a version incorrectly renders virgin , where , at all events , it ought to be the Virgin (ka The difference is very great , because when the definite article is preserved it is clear that Isaiah was referring to some individual among his ‘ almah contemporaries . But , so far as the noun is concerned ,

‘ — the Sept uagint cert ainly renders parthenos a Greek word “ i which commonly denotes virgin . How d d the Septuagint come to use it in Isaiah ! Is ‘ it a Christian alteration ! Not necessarily, because there is good reason for holding that the Greek word parthenos by no means invariably signifies ” O f virgin . Be that as it may, the Christian dogma the Virgin Bir th was most improperly supported by early authorities from if n Isaiah . I need hardly remind you that the prophet had mea t so virgin he would have said , and would have chosen the n betkuktk n of u equivocal Hebrew word , i stead the very equivocal e almah l word , which mere y denotes a woman of marriageable

w as . age , without defining whether she already married or not A ll modern Christian commentators agree with the Jewi sh in 5 holding that Isaiah was referring t o some conspicuous married of l lady of the court , the birth whose chi d was to synchronise with a startling change in the fortunes of the royal house of

N w . n r of Judah . o we know from Justi Marty that the Jews the first half of the second century strongly objected to the Septua gint renderin g of the passage . The Jews maintained that th e ‘ ” alma h not r neanis correct translation of was pa thenos but ,

n we not virgin but young woman . It is unfortu ate that have no English word wh ich exactly corresponds to us anis damsel B ut ne is comes nearest . my point is that the very word an

one x on is the chosen by Aquila , and this fact e plains why, the one —C — hand , the Emperor Justinian hristian as he was preferred

w w day of . the Septuagint , hile the Je s of his were fonder Aquila ’ 14 It is interesting t o note that Aquila s rendering of Isaiah vii . h as which always been a favourite with Jews, has been adopted

r A in the new Jewish Version ecently published in merica , a translation on which the Chief will speak in the last lecture of this course . s Let it not be thought that , in these remark , I am attaching too much importanc e to variations of this nature between Aquila E i h nius . a and the Septuagint p p , in fact , asserts that the sole purpose o f Aquila was precisely to introd uce these variations . ” So , too , with Irenaeus . In his Treatise against Heresies, 200 of written about the year , he devotes the whole the twenty e first chapt r of Book III . to a vigorous attack on what he calls i of . 14 Th eod ot on the misinterpretation Isaiah vii , by of Ephesus and Aquila of Pontus, both , as Irenaeus says , proselyte s to

. A u Against q ila , Irenaeus quotes the Septuagint , and makes great play with the argument that the Septuagint , made

- in pre Christian times by Jews , confirmed the Christian inter i ” ret at on . p of the text in question If, adds Irenaeus , these y Jewish translators had foreseen Christianit , and that we should use w e these proofs from the Scriptures , they ould never hav ” l hesitated themselves to burn them . The Jews had no ca l to for burn their Bible , but they clearly had good reason rejecting e of . the arlier Greek translation it Besides , and this is an impor d tant consideration, it must have been most istasteful to use in worship a work which played so promi nent a mile in disputes between Synagogue and Church . ’ The real need for Aquila s Version of the Bible went far beyond of c . t o any these onsiderations New ideas as interpretation ,

i . soon to grow into a trad tion , had arisen in Jewry It was clearly fitting that these new ideas should find expression in a new ' ' ' ' ' - d . unders tand th is oi u e c ren ering In order to aspect our s bj t , n it is necessary to tur to the biography of Aquila , and to discuss briefly his relation to the Biblical interpretation of his age . on For the biography of Aquila we are dependent two sources ,

sh . u the one Christian , the other Jewi Both so rces mix fact with e c fiction, but they agre in the main outlines, whi h may be regarded ’ E i h nius as historical . From p p a we learn that Aquila s birth

e place was Sinope in Pontus . This ancient Greek Colony , situat ’ A o f on the Black Sea , was in quila s time under the dominion

Rome . Friedmann has , indeed , suggested that the Pontus

was Sv ria where Aquila was born not in Asia Minor , but in , in n the Lebanon district . This theory has o t found accepta nce . Epiph aniu s further records that Aquila was a relative of the s u Emperor Hadrian , and that having witne sed vario s miraculous

n . healings by Christians, he joi ed that faith Owing , however ,

‘ his d et ermined he exc ommuni to resolve to practise magic , was c at ed h by the Churc , and , in revenge , attached himself to the a Synagogue , devoting himself to the task of removing Christi n evidences from the Bible . This statement , that Aquila reached th e o Judaism via Christianity , seems unfounded , and story pr bably arises from a confusion between our translator and the tent - maker of the same name who c ame from the same place and is associated with Priscilla in the New Testament . The

ed not on e name Aquila , it should be Observ , was an uncommon , \ L t in e h . a a being bot Roman and Jewish It is name , and s ems e to mean Eagle , thus being equivalent to the surnam Of the — lect u rer wh o will address you later in this cou rse I refer to

Mr . Adler . of E i h aniu s The Jewish account agrees in the main with that p p , ’ except that it knows nothing Of Aquila s previous conversion t o l Christianity . In the Talmud he is uniform y referred to as ” n Aquilas , the Proselyte . Dr . Louis Gi zberg , however , fancie s that he can detect in the Jewish account some trace of the story ’

E i h i o f . i J . E . told by p p an us . The whole Dr G nzberg s article ( l vo . l ii ) is very valuab e , d ’ The Mi rash is more precise, as to Aquila s royal connexions , ' for it describes him as the son of Emperor Ha drian s sister . The same source reports that at an early age Aquila was attracted of to Judaism , but fear his imperial and imperious uncle restrained

i c . him from giv ng effe t to his predilections The time came , For however , when Aquila was released from this control . on his w of Hadrian sent his nephew travels , ith the design m ff o f th e d h th e fa iliarising him with di erent parts worl , and wit o f customs their inhabitants . Though the journey was no t one commercial , Hadrian gave his kinsman piece of business to advice . He counselled him invest in what stood at a low ik ” . W . price , but was l ely to rise in value Aquila ent to Palestine E i h anius According to p p , this part Of the journey was made ’ of because Hadrian s commission to Aquila to superintend , in 117 of e e the year , the transformation Jerusalem into a h ath n city , e with the name Aelia Capitolina . It was in J rusalem , according E i h anius a m e d to p p , that Aquil beca a Christian , afterwar s Th e changing that religion for Judaism . Midrash tells h o w Aquila attended the di scourses of the famous Eliezer

and Joshua . His masters were amazed at his zealous devotion e w how to his studies, being astound d to itness their pupil wore

himself out in body while nourishin g his mind . Just as in the of earlier annals Hillel and Shammai , the former is reputed as

h v e w - b e a ing be n gentle , and the latter severe , to ards would prose so miles o f lytes , (as Bacher remarks) Joshua and Eliezer play the

ll . Hi el and Shammai with reference to Aquila For , once Aquila 18 read before R . Eliezer the verse (Deut . x . ) The Lord loveth in n - l the stranger givi g him food and raiment, The pupi ex : of claimed Is this the whole reward Judaism , bread to eat

. e and a garment to wear R Eliez r angrily retorted , What ” was good enough for Jacob , is good enough for Aquila . Repulsed

by this rough treatment , Aquila betook himself to Joshua with the same question . Joshua explained that the bread was the ’

Law , and the garment the tallith , the sign of God s providence

' w as t e of over Israel . It h soft answer Joshua that saved for Judaism one whom the harshness of Eliezer would have driven away .

The story next carries us back to Rome . On his return

m . thither, Aquila infor ed the Emperor of his conversion to Judaism

di t e t e Various alogues are recorded between h two on h subject . Hadrian asked Aquila why he had become a Jew in order to study the Law ! surely he could have read the Bible without h adopting the religion which it teaches . Aquila replied t at no soldier could draw his pay unless he wore the uniform and bore arms . On another occasion Hadrian ask e d Aquila how he could justify the opinion of the Jews that the basis of life was spiritual m ‘ not aterial . Aquila had a string of camels brought before the

e k n . Emperor, and mad the animals eel and rise several times i th e He then d rected camels to be suffocated . In that condition ' ‘ . naturally they were unable to rise . f Of course they cannot ” ” Y es rise , cried Hadrian, they have been choked . , 8

' '

e . B replied Aquila , they only n ed a little breath y this para b olical n ot action Aquila implied , very conclusively one must

i i s . admit , that l fe spiritual , not material ff l ’ d ’ Most e ective , however , was Aqui a s answer to Ha rian s inquiry : Wh o put it into your head to become a Jew 4 ” “ m an . a Thou art the , replied Aquila H st thou forgotten thy parting advice that I must invest in what was lo w in price though likely to rise Well, I found nothing held in such low

r l e esteem as the Law and Is ae , but both will assur dly rise , as 5 ‘ Ki the prophet has foretold ngs shall see and stand Princes , and they shall worship (Isaiah xlix . ’ Another besides Eliezer and Joshua is named among Aquila s e . , m teachers This oth r was Akiba the hero alike of ro ance , i . e scholarsh p , and patriotism Akiba died a martyr about th ’ 132 Coc b h a s l . year , as a result of his participation in Bar revo t N w vi o e . , apart from his other acti ties, Akiba , to quot Dr

Ginzberg , was the one who definitely fixed the canon of the Old Te stament Books” He it was who brought about a final decision as to the list of books which should be regarde d as belonging to the Hebrew Bible . It was due to him also that certain books of the Apocrypha were excluded . attempted (with imperfect success) to render a similar service to the Roman

Church . not But Akiba was merely concerned with fixing the list ,

he . was interested in defining the meaning Every word , every syllable was to Akiba significant . Not that Akiba stood alone

. t o in this view , not that he originated it But it was due his personality that the principle was generally adopted . The deep contemplation of Scripture required a strict attention to m every particle , even though to the modern ind these particles were m ore grammatical forms . It is not germane to the present of l ecture to discuss the details Rabbinic exegesis, but I must t remind you of one familiar point . This concerns h e particle

w . fi x hich is the usual Hebrew sign of the Objective case Now, h in the age of Akiba , Rabbinic ermeneutics held that the particle mg: (no less than r m and D3) indicated that some f added . u o e thing was to the meaning Th s, the first verse Gen sis runs t r a mnewO ’ nen ns O ‘ H5R m: n’ wm : which we render : In the beginning God created the heavens ” e m a - and the earth . Her , gra m tically regarded, the words fl N before 3 &n and fl N'l before YWNTJ merely show that 9

e of a. h avens and earth are the Object the verb create . Akib and his s chool Were not satisfied with this . The particle fi x “ in front of heavens included sun , moon , and stars ! while

' O f the same particle fi t “in front earth includes trees ,

' O f plants, and the Garden Eden When we turn to Aquila we find the clearest possible reminis f For h ow cence o this type of exegesis . does Aquila render the

— — “ first verse of Genesis ! In the beginnin g m reat ed God 1 - ( i v xcda A a iqi Zia 10 6 V o ’ ~ ' i i e ® eOs O im r ev O IJPQ VOV Ka i (r m r jv yfiv) . This is Of cour s

miv be b v e impossible Greek, for ought to followed the dativ

a . l c se In other words , Aqui a translated FIN not as a mere sign

c c ase e of the obje tive , but as having a significant meaning outsid the simple syntax of the sentence . ’ Let us examin e a few other specimens of Aquila s m ethod .

e It is not possible to off er many examples . At all ev nts our illustrations must be chosen where they can be understood without t h e . o e text before us This provis is necessary , becaus to do justice it would be Obligatory t o enter into details which would l ou r b efOre be unintelligible un ess we held in hands, and our ’ e eyes , both the original Hebrew and Aquila s Greek . Tho s who wish to make a close study of th e subject c an now do so with an ease previously impossible . Dr . Joseph Reider has J ewish . f f contributed t o volumes iv and vii . o the new series o the Qu arterly Review a number of illuminating articles which are distingu ishe d for mass of information and thoroughness o f u critic ism . But for o r part we must be content with a few c lear illustrations which can be followed w ith out book s i We

e will begin with his reliance on Rabbinic exegesis . Let us tak

' one instance from the Pe ntate uch and one from the . ii 18 of . T e e . h In Genesis , the creation Eve is described H brew “ Th e d : runs $1333 my filZ/ WN English Version translate ”

l a. I wi l make him help meet for him . Aquila presents what ,

h c e at first sig t , seems an in onsistent sentiment , We will mak ” ‘ l for him a help as against him . Much ridicu e has been poured

. n on this rendering, which calls the woman in the same se tence

d c . . a help and a hin ran e to her husband But, as Dr Taylor . is observed , this exactly how the Midrash interprets the

not . verse . It is a contradiction but two alternatives WT}! 713 7 ' —If his WTJJD T DT NxS the husband be worthy, wife is my

'

i s . his help ! but if he be unworthy, she 11 33: against him

'

in t di this Midrash . Aquila , shor , translates accor ng to

Now le t to - a m us turn the twenty second Ps l , which was a 10

bone of contention between the Jews and the earlp h ristian' t h e a s . 16 17 pologi ts In Authorised Version, verse ( ) runs thus

Fo r d o s a e c o as s ed me g h v mp , T h e as s emb of t h e ck ed a e nc os ed me ly wi h v i l , e c e t Th y pier ed my hands and my f e .

Th e of e verse is admittedly difficult , and the reading the H brew

e text open to dispute . But the English v rsion just quoted is h derived from the Septuagint, which was applied by C ristians ,

. In e to the founder of their faith particular, the last phras , e ” they pierced my hands and my f et , was misapplied to the c rucifixion . Aquila , as Dr . Taylor again points out , translate s very remarkably

e e ‘ Th y m ad e my hand s an d f et u gly .

l T e How did he arrive at this rend ering The answer is simp e . h whole of the twenty-s econd Psalm is applied by the Midrash to

Queen Esther . The opening words Of the Psalm

M G od m G od ast t o u o rs ak en m e y , y , why h h f

w ’ l on of . ere Esther s ament the three nights her fast And so ,

in the verse before us , according to the Midrash

F or d ogs have c ompassed me

the dogs are the sons of Haman !

T h e ass emb ly of th e wick ed hav e inc losed me the wicked are Haman ’ s retainers

They mad e my hand s an d feet ugly i these rascals, so R . Judah represents Esther as compla ning t o applied enchantments against me , render my hands and

t e feet ugly in h eyes of Ahasuerus . But a miracle was wrought ” h h . in my behalf, and my ands and feet were as sapphires T is ’ Midrashic commentary at once explains Aquila s rendering of

the V erse . l xxn . Incidenta ly, I may remark that Psalm is read in the Sephardic Synagog ues on the eve of Purim because of the same

traditional association of the passage with the story of Esther . But i t would be a grave error to conceive of Aquila as a h e s . 0 11 Midra hic translator the contrary, was an extreme

‘ l u litera ist . The most characteristic q ality of his work is his u w reg lar habit of follo ing the Hebrew text slavishly, word for l — s word . Such phrases as the following abound in Aq ui a Genesi

. 5 y m d 900 and 30 v , And the da s that Ada live were year year 4 nd e . ee Genesis i , A God divided b tween the light and betw n 1

i x . 2 the darkness Isa ah x iv , And it shall be as the servant w u . 4 o as his master Numbers i , And ith y they shall be a ” man a man to the tribe . Similarly with place names . Aquila often translates their meanings . He does the same with common th e nouns . Thus, he does not give us usual corn , wine , and

‘ ' ' o il x a for the Hebrew D , W W l, ny , but prefers the phrases “ —~ flow . , vintage , brilliance as nearer the original Jerome ridicules this precision , though the Church Father had a high

“ of in opinion of Aquila and made use him the . Such examples of extreme literalne ss could be indefinitely increased .

The renderings make bad English ! they also made bad Greek . ’ r m Dr . Reider defends Aquila s Greek f o attack by pointing to h is u n his wealth of words , his facility in creating new terms , doubted faculty for finding Greek equivalents very close in sound h e to the Hebre w . But t is def nce is not relevant to the charge One may have a very copious vocabulary and yet write very far A u i of from idiomatically . q la was , course , an accomplished

s Grae ci t and was well acquainted with Greek terminolog y . But when he translated th e Scriptures his inte ntion was not to write

o e g od Greek pros , but to reproduce the original as closely as he ’ u e u y co ld . For many centuri s , Aq ila s version was mainl known ” in from quotations made by his famous ,

e e e of which only fragments survived . Th r w re also quota tions t ’ in e h e . Patristic lit rature , including Rabbinic Certain of Aquila s e all r nderings (nine in ) are quoted in the Rabbinic books . One of them , by the way , is very striking . It occurs in Proverbs

. 21 d : xviii , where the Authorised Version correctly ren ers ”

are of . Death and life in the power the tongue Aquila renders, t h Spoon and knife are in e power Of the tongue . This make s c n good sense in the ontext, if we suppose that spoon and k ife are somehow symbols of life and death . But it is very unlike ’ i e u . t Aquila s usual literaln ss , nless (as Dr Reider sugge sts) be that he had some ne w unkn own philological or Midrashic basis f for his quaint choice o terms . ’ It was from such fragments that th e wo rld knew Aquila s work until the treasures of the past were recovered from t h e

o f . e Genizah , or rubbish heap Old Cairo Amid much els , some sections of Aquila were found . The importance of the discovery

c was that we now possess some fairly long , ontinuous passages , instead of m e re words and phrases . These new Aquila texts are written in bold uncial Greek . O ne peculiarity was long

d . s suspected , and is now prove true In some ancient reference to A quila it was recorded that he did not translate the name O f 12

Go d r . h h wefind , but wrote it in Heb ew Now, t is is exactly w at n i in th e ew Aqu la texts . The is invariably th e e written in Hebrew, not in squar letters we are familiar with , n but in the ancient characters found o inscriptions and coins .

Another curiosity of the new texts is that they are palimpsests ,

one Th e o e that is , writing has been superposed on another . l w r writing is Aquila , the upper a Hebrew liturgical composition .

h i for T is fact confirms what we already knew, that Aqu la was

e long eras us d in the Synagogue service . But besides these

newl e re cov ered curiosities , the y continuous passages from Aquila clearly prove that the attacks on his Gre ek style we re just . As Professor Burkitt says of the Aquila texts published r by him, It is ce tain that Greek more uncouth than his has ” n ever before issued from the Cambridge University Press . If ’ a u u Aquil had read Professor B rkitt s judgment , he wo ld pro bably have rejoined Just so I was not o ut to give yo u th e z m a re rod u c elegant Greek of an Academic Pri e Poe , but an ex ct p ” f of . c u o tion the Hebrew In fa t , it is precisely this feat re ’ Aquila s work that has given it lasting importance . Had he

e e written better Gr ek , used fr er methods , he would now be of far less value than he is . For , as Professor Burkitt justly says , Aquila ’ s version certainly marks the beginning Of a thorough ” exegesis of the . We must remember that Philo l h ad evolved so elaborate a sy stem of allegorical interpretation

e e that the true sense of the t xt was in jeopardy . Aquila onc

o for all put a st p to that dangerous procedure , and his method

of th e n translating verbatim , with absolute adherence to origi al text , paved the way for the modern historical and philological

method of interpretation .

On the other hand , as we have seen , Aquila reproduces much o f that ‘ special Midrashic interpretation which is homiletic rather c u than scientifi . Aq ila thus deserves both the epithets applied “ r wh o e on to him by ea ly critics , t rmed him, the one hand , the ” th e of Jewish translator , and on the other , slave the Hebrew ”

He . letter . was, indeed , both traditionalist and literalist of It was , perhaps, because both of these qualities that his

teachers , Eliezer and Joshua , uttered concerning him their

u . on noble e logy There is , in their panegyric , a play the word ” ar t i su es which means, thou fair , but also conta ns a gg

u a h et i . e. . An d tion of the lang age of J p , , Greece so these Rabbis of 3 applied to Aquila the glorious phrases Psalm xlv . Thou r art fairer than the child en of men , grace is poured into thy lips, ” e e therefore God has blessed th e for ev r . Aquila did not stand alone in the second c entury as a tran s e lator o f the Hebrew Bible into G reek . Th re are two others t o whose names have come down us , and there were others also quoted by Origen , but not named . The two whose personalities Th eo dotion are preserved were named and . Of

n th e neither of these does Jewish literature make me tion , but

Christian Fathers supply some inf ormation . Symmachus is e variously termed a Samaritan convert to Judaism and an Ebionit .

- - h . T h e T e were a sect semi Jewish , semi Christian y Th e u . accepted Jes s as the Messiah , but denied his divinity Ebionites agreed with the Jewish translators in disputing the

Cli rist ological exegesis o f the Church . It may be noted th at u e a pupil of R . Meir was named Symmach s , but there is no r al ground for ide ntifying him with Symmachus the translator . The e l e o f method of Symmachus is ntirely un ik that Aquila , although ’ Aquila s work was used by him . Symmachus is distinguished

for e . just what Aquila lacks , Gre k style His language is free m ’ from Hebrais s , and in Jerome s verdict renders not the words ” n h e but the se se . There must evidently av been , especially — among Greek speaking converts to Judaism , a desire for better ’ Greek than Aquila s combined with true r sense than the Sept u a th e gint . On whole , this is what Symmachus provided . His work is thoroughly Greek and also thoroughly Jewish . In ’ c ertain respects it is even more Jewish than Aquila s . For one of his S pecialities is his avoidance of phrases which appear to speak of God in human terms . The following specimens (cited 1 . 7 . . 2 by Dr Swete) will make this peculiarity clear Genesis , God ’ e created man in his (the man s) sp cial image , upright (in stature) ”

Go d . did make him , unlike the other animals Symmachus avoids ’ o i of the anthrop morphism of speak ng man as made in God s image . 10 Again , in Exodus xxiv . , where we are told that Moses and his “ ” u th e of comrades went p mount and saw the God Israel , “ Symmachus paraphrases : they saw in a vision the God of ” J 13 Israel . When, in the parable of the trees, in udges ix . , of God wine is spoken poetically as cheering and man, Symmachus omits the reference to God altogether . So , too , in Psalm xliv .

24 a A e , when the Ps lmist exclaims, in his agony, wak , why ! ” sleepest thou , O Lord Symmachus softens it into , Why art ” 0 ! of thou as one asleep , Master Renderings this class are common in the Targums . One further instance o f the fam i liarit u y of Symmach us with Jewish Midrash m st suffice . He ’ w 24 u : translates Lamech s address to his ives (Genesis iv . ) th s ” n e In the seventh ge eration shall Cain be punish d . This com 4

let el the c h a t y p y accords with Midrash , whi sser s that Cain enjo ed a re spite till the seventh generation when Lamech ac eident allv killed him . O n e the whole , howev r, Symmachus was a Greek rather than i a Hebrew in his translat on , being truer to Greek style than to

th e . original text He stood at the one extreme , just as Aquila stands at the other . in l of Between the two , method , as we l as in point time , stands T o i i Th e oti is h e od t on . od on L ke Aquila and Symmachus , tradi i ll t o t ona y described as a proselyte Judaism . It is extraordinary O nk elos of th e that , the reputed author the Aramaic Version of rosel t e e . P ntateuch , was also a p v The relation of Aquila to

O nk elos e u l must be l ft to my successor in this co rse , who will dea l r O nk e os . with the A amaic versions in general , and in particular is o It , I repeat , extra rdinary that so many translators are reputed not to have been proselytes, yet an explanation is impossible .

' of Heb rew as Such men came to the study adults , they “fresh ow n d e n must , for their nee s, have turned the Hebr w i to the vernacular , and , having done so , would thus be the most likely for people to become translators also the use of other Jews . y m Moreover , the may have had in ind others like themselves , who needed instruction in the Bible through the means of a translation in order to bring them , again like themselves , under the wings of the Divine Presence . To retu rn from this side l h issue , it may be said that whi e Aquila and Symmac us were i i n Th eodot on . origi al translators , was a reviser He rev sed the

- h . Septuagint wit the Hebrew text , however , before him Two points about Th eod ot ion must be mentioned . In the first instance h e very often reproduces Hebrew words in Greek cha h N O ract ers without translating t em . explanation has been y so far off ered of this peculiarity . It is universall agreed that Th eodotion it cannot be due to ignorance . Why, then , should leave some of the commonest words : untranslated and merely ! spell out the Hebrew in Greek letters I venture to offer an ’ e explanation . W know from Origen s Hexapla that it was not a strange pract ice ' t o S pell ou t the whole of the Hebrew text ’ e : in this way . Origen s H xapla is arranged in six columns

Fir st , the Hebrew text ! second , a transliteration of the Hebrew i u into Greek letters ! th rd , Aquila ! fo rth , Symmachus ! fifth , ot i n We l Th eod o . the Septuagint ! and sixth , have on y to suppose that copies o f Th eodotion similarly contained all th e

Hebrew in Greek letters, and that some words lost their way

- from the transliteration into the translation . The second! point

16

s n translation or the English Authorised Ver io . But when we turn from the history of literature to the history of religion the relative importance of the Greek over other versions manifests

. d itself For these Greek versions were pioneers , they fixe the of th e meanings many words, for sense of which they are , with the Targum , practically the only ancient authorities . And they not only gave the lead in defining Hebrew thought ! they also

' o ularised th e propagated it . The Septuagint p p Bible in non Jewish circles ! Aquila helped t o preserve it among the Jews themselves . The is, in the Bible , compared to a Light. e The translator is the Priest , who t nds the Light , kindles lamp m m one a fro la p , spre ading far and wide the origin l illumina

. i to m h tion Aqu la , continue this. etaphor, was a Lig t to

th e . m I srael , Septuagint a Light to the Nations Between the they helped the Bible to the po sition it has ever since retained as a Light to the World .

Pr nted b S po r r xsw o omr B A L L A N T Y N i y , E a C o . L T D .

London . C olch es te r é} E ton