An attempt of study of the linguistic problem of Job 12.24–25

• Main Author: Alexei Nadezhkin
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: St. Tikhon's University 2020-12-01
• Series: Vestnik Pravoslavnogo Svâto-Tihonovskogo Gumanitarnogo Universiteta: Seriâ III. Filologiâ
• Subjects: book of job; old testament; vetus latina; biblical studies; patrology; книга иова; ветхий завет; библеистика; патрология
• Online Access: http://periodical.pstgu.ru/ru/pdf/article/7219

This article discusses the problem of the interpretation of Job. 12. 24–25 in biblical criticism. The aim of the article is to solve the problem of correspondence between the Greek Septuaginal reading (“reconciles” / “changes”) and the Jewish original (“takes the heart”). In this article, it is argued that in the comparison of the Septuagint reading with the Masoretic, the ad patres argument is decisive for the Christian reader since many authoritative church writers quoted the studied verses according to the Greek text. The author of the article draws attention to the fact that the intertextual meaning of Job. 12: 24–25 speaks in favour of the Masoretic reading because in other books of the Old Testament one can fi nd direct coincidences with the verses in question. The article discusses the views of biblical scholars of the 19th — 20th centuries who find parallel passages in the Psalter, Isaiah, and write that the quotations from other books of the Old Testament do not contain a theme of change or reconciliation, which makes the Greek translation of Job. 12. 24–25 an exception. The poetic analysis carried out by the author of the article shows that the Septuagintal translation violates certain laws of Biblical parallelism and generates structures not characteristic of the latter, which may be evidence of greater accuracy of the Masoretic text. However, some of the available Targum readings reduce the validity of this argument. In the framework of the analysis of biblical critical literature, the article reveals the correspondence in the Hebrew text between the literal meaning “to lead, take away” and the fi gurative meaning “to deprive of the mind”. In conclusion, the article proposes two hypotheses that could explain how the expression “to deprive of the mind” transformed on the Greek soil into “to change/reconcile the hearts”. The fi rst hypothesis is that the word “changing” should be interpreted metaphorically as “depriving of the mind” following St. Hieronymus and St. Augustine. They made hybrid interpretations on the basis of similar verses in the 12th chapter of the Book of Job. The second hypothesis is that the authors of the Greek text saw the diffi culty of the literal translation and chose the Greek word because in the sense “to reconcile” it combines well with the word “heart”.