James K. Aitken

Ancient Hebrew inscriptions : corpus and concordance

Introduction 1. Corpus of new texts 2. Concordance to the new texts Additions and corrections to AHI Synoptic tables.

Apocalyptic, Revelation and Early Jewish Wisdom Literature

Included among the manuscript finds from Qumran are a number of Wisdom texts, which have enlarged our knowledge of that genre in the late Second Temple Period. Fragments of Job, Proverbs, Qohelet, Ben Sira and Psalms. 154, previously only preserved in Syriac, have been known to us already, but attest to the presence of a wide range of Wisdom literature available in this period. Despite many similarities between Ben Sira and the Qumran Wisdom literature, they are normally contrasted when it comes to the subject of apocalyptic speculation and divine revelation. Given Ben Siras apparent interest in revelation and prediction of the future, it is informative to see what he has to say on the figure of Enoch, who played a prominent role in apocalyptic thought. In comparing Ben Sira and Sapiential Work A it can be seen that the Wisdom text is explicit where Ben Sira is implicit. Keywords: Ben Sira; Enoch; Job; Proverbs; Psalms; Qohelet; Qumran Wisdom literature; Second Temple Period

On stone and scroll : essays in honour of Graham Ivor Davies

The volume will appeal to those interested in the biblical text and its place within the wider archaeological and ancient near eastern context. It will appeal to those wishing to understand the diversity of historical approaches to the Bible, and to those utilising the evidence of archaeology, inscriptions, theology and linguistics to the interpretation of the Bible.

New Heaven and New Earth. Prophecy and the Millennium

This Festschrift for Anthony Gelston contains nineteen essays on prophecy and apocalyptic. The papers examine a wide range of biblical and early Jewish texts, as well as the interpretation of the Bible in more recent times.

The Jewish-Greek tradition in antiquity and the Byzantine empire

Preface Amos Oz 1. Introduction James K. Aitken and James N. Carleton Paget Part I. History: 2. Jews and Greco-Roman culture: from Alexander to Theodosius II Gunter Stemberger 3. The Jewish experience in Byzantium Steven Bowman 4. Jews and Jewish communities in the Balkans and the Aegean until the twelfth century Alexander Panayotov Part II. Historiography: 5. Origen and the Jews and Jewish-Greek-Christian relations William Horbury 6. Jewish-Greek studies in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Germany: a brief overview Giuseppe Veltri Part III. Greek Bible and Language: 7. The origins of the Septuagint James N. Carleton Paget 8. The language of the Septuagint James K. Aitken 9. Afterlives of the Septuagint: a Christian witness to the Greek Bible in Byzantine Judaism Cameron Boyd-Taylor 10. Medieval and early modern Judaeo-Greek biblical translations: a linguistic viewpoint Julia Krivoruchko Part IV. Culture: 11. Philos knowledge of Hebrew: the meaning of the etymologies Tessa Rajak 12. The plain and laughter: the hermeneutical function of the sign in Philo of Alexandria Francis Schmidt 13. Jewish archaeology and art in antiquity David Noy 14. Jewish-Greek epigraphy in antiquity Pieter van der Horst 15. The rabbis, the Greek Bible, and Hellenism Philip Alexander 16. Greek-Hebrew linguistic contacts in late antique and medieval magical texts Gideon Bohak 17. Jewish and Christian hymnody in the early Byzantine period Wout van Bekkum 18. On the Hebrew script of the Greek-Hebrew palimpsests from the Cairo Genizah Judith Olszowy-Schlanger.

The Literary Attainment of the Translator of Greek Sirach

A number of brief studies have recently appeared that have touched on the Greek, to complement the older work by Ziegler and Cadbury. Three major monographs on the Greek translation have appeared in recent years, by Wright, Minissale and Wagner. There remains much work to be done on the translation itself, despite the many complex textual difficulties. Most attention has perhaps been devoted to the prologue to the Greek translation. Naturally this has particularly focused on its possible allusions to the tripartite canon (ll. 12, 2425). The Greek translation is clearly a curious specimen of translation work. It is strikingly inconsistent in its renderings of the Hebrew, as far as we can tell, and yet at times chooses a range of favourite words and a vast number of words not attested elsewhere in the Septuagint, or attested only in the later Greek compositions. Keywords: Greek translation; Hebrew; prologue; Septuagint

ΣΧΟΙΝΟΣ IN THE SEPTUAGINT

The lexeme σχο νοsigma reed, rush in the LXX denotes a pen once and translates twice the name Shittim. Although some explanation is needed for these instances, they are explicable translations. In Jer. xviii 15, however, the glosses reed or measure do not make sense in the context, and way is probably to be preferred. This would be a metaphorical application of the meaning measure, popular in Hellenistic geographers. The same meaning also makes sense of the context of LXX Ps. cxxxviii 3, where bed is the normal gloss suggested. The meaning bed is derived from Schleusner and Brenton, and, although it is not attested elsewhere in Greek, has been adopted by the Supplements to LSJ and even incorrectly categorized there under a gloss with a different denotation. The interpretation of σχο νοsigma as way is supported by similar metaphorical uses in the LXX for words from the semantic field of way.

Index of Sources

This Festschrift for Anthony Gelston contains nineteen essays on prophecy and apocalyptic. The papers examine a wide range of biblical and early Jewish texts, as well as the interpretation of the Bible in more recent times.