Please Help Us Keep These Thousands of Blog Posts Growing and Free for All
$5.00
EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 100 books. Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).
Major Critical Texts and Manuscript Abbreviations of the Old Testament
AC: Aleppo Codex AT: Aramaic Targum(s)
B.C.E.: Before Common Era
BHS: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart, 1984. B 19A: Codex Leningrad c.: Circa, about, approximately LXX: The Greek Septuagint (Greek Jewish OT Scriptures in general and specifically used during of Jesus and the apostles) OG: Original Greek (Oldest recoverable form of the Greek OT (280-150 B.C.E.) SOPHERIM: Copyists of the Hebrew OT text from the time of Era to the time of Jesus. CT: Consonantal Text is the OT Hebrew manuscripts that became fixed in form between the first and second centuries C.E., even though manuscripts with variant readings continued to circulate for some time. Alterations of the previous period by the Sopherim were no longer made. Very similar to the MT. MT: The Masoretic Text encompasses the Hebrew OT manuscripts from the second half of the first millennium C.E. QT: Qumran Texts (Dead Sea Scrolls) SP: Samaritan Pentateuch SYR: Syriac Peshitta VG: Latin Vulgate
Genesis 4:8 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
15 So Jehovah said to him, “Not so! Whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” And Jehovah put a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.
The BHS/MT, along with the KJV, ASV, NASB, and the LEB has the reading “Therefore whoever kills Cain.” This reading would suggest that God is agreeing with Cain that his punishment is too severe (vv. 13–14). On the other hand, we have a variant in the LXX, SYR, and VG, along with the ESV, NIV, NRSV, REB, and the UASV that reads “Not so! Whoever kills Cain.” In this reading, God is correcting Cain’s fearful rant in his response, not dealing with his being expelled, telling him that his punishment is not too severe. This latter variant reading [‘Not so!] fits the context better because God had already corrected Cain earlier (4:6–7, 10), and his banishment “from the presence of Jehovah” (v. 16) shows that the sentence is not lessened.
The primary weight of external evidence generally goes to the original language manuscripts. The Codex Leningrad B 19A and the Aleppo Codex are almost always preferred. In the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS; critical edition of the Hebrew Bible), 90 percent is without a significant variation. Of the 10 percent that does exist, a very small percentage of that has any impact on its meaning, and in almost all of these very limited textual variants, we can ascertain the original wording of the original text with certainty. Yes, it is rare to find a substantive variant among manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible. The Codex Leningrad B 19A dating to about (1008 C.E.) and the Aleppo Codex from about (930 C.E.) were produced by the Masoretes, who are the most by far extremely disciplined copyists of all time, whose scribal practices date back to about the year 500 C.E. In fact, by the second century C.E., a particular text entire Hebrew Bible became the generally accepted standard text, which is often referred to as the Proto-Masoretic text, as it preceded the work of the Masoretes and, it already had the basic form of the Masoretic text that was to come. These subtle differences in the Masoretic manuscripts are almost exclusively spelling differences, which also included vocalization, as well as the presence or absence of the conjunction wāw, in addition to other features that in no way impacts the meaning of the text. In Old Testament Textual Criticism, the Masoretic text is our starting point and should only be abandoned as a last resort. While it is true that the Masoretic text is not perfect, there needs to be a heavy burden of proof in we are to go with an alternative reading. All of the evidence needs to be examined before we conclude that a reading in the Masoretic Text is a corruption.
A represented reading from more than one version may be preferred to even a Codex Leningrad B 19A and the Aleppo Codex reading. The reason is that the odds are increased greatly against a reading being changed from the original in such a wide number of versions, especially if the Septuagint is in that number. The Septuagint continues to be very much important today and is used by textual scholars to help uncover copyists’ errors that might have crept into Hebrew manuscripts either intentionally or unintentionally. Again, the account at Genesis 4:15 reads: “So Jehovah said to him, [‘Not so!] Whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.’ And Jehovah put a mark on Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.”
What could have happened? On this question, the NET Bible offers a textual note. “The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.” Some have argued that it was the versions that changed the reading from “Therefore whoever kills Cain.” so that it reads “Not so! Whoever kills Cain” in order to make a stronger contrast to Cain’s words in verse 14. However, the internal and external evidence is against this, it is likely Genesis 4:15 in the original Hebrew text read “Not so! (לֹא־כֵ֣ן) Whoever kills Cain” because it fits the context best (e.g., internal evidence), as it is likely God would not have been agreeing with Cain that his punishment is too severe (vv. 13–14). Rather, it is far more likely that God is correcting Cain’s cowardly tirade in his response, not dealing with his being expelled, telling him that his punishment is not too severe. The external evidence is found in such a wide number of versions (SYR, VG), especially with the Septuagint being one of those versions.The bracketed words [‘Not so!] is not found in the Codex Leningrad B 19A and the Aleppo Codex, nor is it found in the QT Qumran Texts (Dead Sea Scrolls; Scroll 4Q2) because that verse is missing, it only has chapter 4:2-11. However, the reading is included in older Septuagint manuscripts and in SYR, and the VG.
Keep in mind that this instance does not suggest that the copies of the Septuagint are superior in quality to the Hebrew texts, as they are also subject to error, and many times the Hebrew text is referred to in correcting the Greek. Thus, comparing the Hebrew manuscripts with the Greek Septuagint and the Syriac Peshitta, and the Vulgate, results in finding translation errors as well as copyists’ mistakes, giving us a more accurate rendering of God’s Word.
Christian Publishing is beginning a free online Old Testament Textual Commentary. In order to better understand the reader should be able to have an evaluation of the usefulness of the sources that enable the textual scholar to ascertain the original words of the original text. See the following blog article:
Leave a Reply