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direct object, may have been miscopied from an original
'oto(w) , which failed to come through with the intended final w (waw). All this variation could have resulted from misreading only two letters: r for d , and a final w inadvertently dropped from 'oto(w) . The mere fact that James's Jewish fellow elders, steeped as they were in the Hebrew Scriptures, offered no objection on the ground of misquotation is very powerful evidence that the LXX was true to the original Hebrew text at this point.
8. Homoeoteleuton
This Greek term means "having the same ending" and identifies the loss of text than can result when the eye of the copyist inadvertently passes over all the words preceding a final phrase that is identical with that which closes the sentence immediately preceding, or immediately following. Having taken his eyes off the Vorlage in order to copy down what he has just read, he turns back to it and sees the words he has just finished writing down. Supposing that he is ready to move on to the next sentence, he fails to observe that he has left out all the words preceding the second appearance of the repeated phrase. For example, in Isaiah 4:4-6 the copyist who wrote out 1QIsa encountered verses that had two occurrences of yomam ("by day"). The complete text should read as follows: "Then Yahweh will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for overall the glory there will be a canopy. And there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and rain." Now when the eye of the scribe jumped from the first "by day" to the second "by day", he left out fourteen Hebrew words in between. Unfortunately this could happen even in the more carefully preserved text-tradition of the MT itself. One notable instance occurs in Psalm 145, which is an alphabetic acrostic. Each successive verse begins with the next letter of the twenty-two-letter Hebrew alphabet. Now it so happens that the MT of v.13 begins with m (mem), that is, the first word is malkuteka ("your kingdom"). But then v.14 begins, not with n (nun, the following letter in the alphabet), but with s (samekh, the letter following after nun): somek YHWH lekol-hannopelim ("Yahweh upholds all those who fall down"). Where is the verse in between? Fortunately it has been preserved in the Greek of the LXX; and by translating this back to Hebrew, we come out with the probable original line: ne'eman YHWH bekol-de barayw wehasid bekol-maàsayw ("Yahweh is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his works"). The recurrence of YHWH be kol ("Yahweh in all") soon after YHWH le kol ("Yaweh to all") was enough to throw the scribe off; and some time after the LXX translation of Psalter had been completed, the verse beginning with n became entirely lost in the Masoretic text.
9. Homoeoarkton
This means "that which has a similar beginning" and involves a similar loss of intervening words, as the eye of the scribe jumps from one beginning to another. A striking example may be found in 1 Samuel 14:41, where the MT reads, "And Saul said to Yahweh, Ò God of Israel, grant a perfect one [i.e., a perfect lot].'" The situation 28
demanded a discovery of God's leading in a time of national crisis. But according to the LXX version, Saul prefaced this request for a correct lot by a lengthy petition, saying,
"Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim; but if the men of Israel are a fault, respond with Thummim." The spelling of "a perfect one" ( tamim ) and "Thummim" ( tummim ) would have been the same in the consonantal text of the Hebrew Volage . (It should be explained that the Urim and Thummim were the two precious gems contained in a special compartment of the breastplate of the high priest and were to be used in ascertaining God's will when a choice was to be made between two
'oto(w) , which failed to come through with the intended final w (waw). All this variation could have resulted from misreading only two letters: r for d , and a final w inadvertently dropped from 'oto(w) . The mere fact that James's Jewish fellow elders, steeped as they were in the Hebrew Scriptures, offered no objection on the ground of misquotation is very powerful evidence that the LXX was true to the original Hebrew text at this point.
8. Homoeoteleuton
This Greek term means "having the same ending" and identifies the loss of text than can result when the eye of the copyist inadvertently passes over all the words preceding a final phrase that is identical with that which closes the sentence immediately preceding, or immediately following. Having taken his eyes off the Vorlage in order to copy down what he has just read, he turns back to it and sees the words he has just finished writing down. Supposing that he is ready to move on to the next sentence, he fails to observe that he has left out all the words preceding the second appearance of the repeated phrase. For example, in Isaiah 4:4-6 the copyist who wrote out 1QIsa encountered verses that had two occurrences of yomam ("by day"). The complete text should read as follows: "Then Yahweh will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire by night; for overall the glory there will be a canopy. And there will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and refuge and protection from the storm and rain." Now when the eye of the scribe jumped from the first "by day" to the second "by day", he left out fourteen Hebrew words in between. Unfortunately this could happen even in the more carefully preserved text-tradition of the MT itself. One notable instance occurs in Psalm 145, which is an alphabetic acrostic. Each successive verse begins with the next letter of the twenty-two-letter Hebrew alphabet. Now it so happens that the MT of v.13 begins with m (mem), that is, the first word is malkuteka ("your kingdom"). But then v.14 begins, not with n (nun, the following letter in the alphabet), but with s (samekh, the letter following after nun): somek YHWH lekol-hannopelim ("Yahweh upholds all those who fall down"). Where is the verse in between? Fortunately it has been preserved in the Greek of the LXX; and by translating this back to Hebrew, we come out with the probable original line: ne'eman YHWH bekol-de barayw wehasid bekol-maàsayw ("Yahweh is faithful in all his words and gracious in all his works"). The recurrence of YHWH be kol ("Yahweh in all") soon after YHWH le kol ("Yaweh to all") was enough to throw the scribe off; and some time after the LXX translation of Psalter had been completed, the verse beginning with n became entirely lost in the Masoretic text.
9. Homoeoarkton
This means "that which has a similar beginning" and involves a similar loss of intervening words, as the eye of the scribe jumps from one beginning to another. A striking example may be found in 1 Samuel 14:41, where the MT reads, "And Saul said to Yahweh, Ò God of Israel, grant a perfect one [i.e., a perfect lot].'" The situation 28
demanded a discovery of God's leading in a time of national crisis. But according to the LXX version, Saul prefaced this request for a correct lot by a lengthy petition, saying,
"Why have you not answered your servant today? If the fault is in me or my son Jonathan, respond with Urim; but if the men of Israel are a fault, respond with Thummim." The spelling of "a perfect one" ( tamim ) and "Thummim" ( tummim ) would have been the same in the consonantal text of the Hebrew Volage . (It should be explained that the Urim and Thummim were the two precious gems contained in a special compartment of the breastplate of the high priest and were to be used in ascertaining God's will when a choice was to be made between two
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