Isaiah 57:8 YD XZYT
Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:10 pm
Dear All:
When reading through Isaiah, the last two words gave me a pause:
ואחר הדלת והמזוזה שמת זכרונך כי מאתי גלית ותעלי הרחבת משכבך ותכרת לך מהם—אהבת משכבם יד חזית
The Great Isaiah scroll has the same reading.
LXX has something that is completely different:
και οπισω των σταθμων της θυρας σου εθηκας μνημοσυνα σου ωου οτι εαν απ εμου αποστης πλειον τι εξεις ηγαπησας τους κοιμωμενους μετα σου
which makes it look as if the translator was paraphrasing and just as puzzled as I. Below are some thoughts:
יד comes from the root ידה having the meaning “to point out, a motion of the hand outwards as seen also in ⇒ to praise, to thank, to cast lots”. It is used in a wide variety of contexts giving understandings as “hand, often used metaphorically to refer to its use for pointing and grabbing ⇒ a pointed out place Dt 23:13 ⇒ pointer Ez 21:24 ⇒ connector Ex 26:17”.
חזית in this verse appears to be used as a noun, with probably the same or similar meaning as it has in Aramaic, namely that of a “vision”. This form is found several times in Aramaic in Daniel, but only eight times in Hebrew, six times clearly as verbs. However in Ezekiel 13:8 it appears to be used as a noun as well.
So are these two words together a “pointer to visioning”? This is in the context of talking about an apostate people, but I’m not sure exactly how this fits in.
Karl W. Randolph.
When reading through Isaiah, the last two words gave me a pause:
ואחר הדלת והמזוזה שמת זכרונך כי מאתי גלית ותעלי הרחבת משכבך ותכרת לך מהם—אהבת משכבם יד חזית
The Great Isaiah scroll has the same reading.
LXX has something that is completely different:
και οπισω των σταθμων της θυρας σου εθηκας μνημοσυνα σου ωου οτι εαν απ εμου αποστης πλειον τι εξεις ηγαπησας τους κοιμωμενους μετα σου
which makes it look as if the translator was paraphrasing and just as puzzled as I. Below are some thoughts:
יד comes from the root ידה having the meaning “to point out, a motion of the hand outwards as seen also in ⇒ to praise, to thank, to cast lots”. It is used in a wide variety of contexts giving understandings as “hand, often used metaphorically to refer to its use for pointing and grabbing ⇒ a pointed out place Dt 23:13 ⇒ pointer Ez 21:24 ⇒ connector Ex 26:17”.
חזית in this verse appears to be used as a noun, with probably the same or similar meaning as it has in Aramaic, namely that of a “vision”. This form is found several times in Aramaic in Daniel, but only eight times in Hebrew, six times clearly as verbs. However in Ezekiel 13:8 it appears to be used as a noun as well.
So are these two words together a “pointer to visioning”? This is in the context of talking about an apostate people, but I’m not sure exactly how this fits in.
Karl W. Randolph.