questa è la corrispondenza che ho trovato pubblicata sul forum seguente
http://www.evangelici.net/cgi/forum/YaBB.p...;num=1062572139io non me la cavo con l'inglese,ma probabilmente viene chiarita meglio la questione dei 10 manoscritti,chi sa l'inglese può verificarlo
Thank you for your inquiry. Let me try to address your comments/questions as
best as I can.
The purpose of my article on Ps. 22 is to show that the Hebrew originally
did not have "like a lion" and that the current standard reading of ka'ari
"like the lion" is corrupt. Originally the phrase was "karu yadai v'raglai"
which means (let's say for now) "they pierced my hands and my feet." This
is attested by two different Hebrew manuscripts from the Dead Sea Scrolls,
and ten Hebrew manuscripts from the Masoretic Text. In addition to these,
both the Septuagint and Peshitta (Greek and Syriac) translations agree with
this older reading.
Although they do not support the "pierced" translation, both Symmachus' and
Aquila's Greek versions read other than like a lion. My article doesnt
bring this out, but the absence of "like a lion" in these two Jewish
"anti-Septuagint" versions lends further credibility to the argument that
the Hebrew did not have "like a lion" originally.
So my point is simply that the ka'ari reading is corrupt, and that it
originally had karu. Karu (they pierced or they xxx'd) comes from the root
karah (Kaph Resh Hey).
As for the translation issue:
Now your friend is raising a good point about the meaning of karah. It is
complicated, and probably hard to follow if you don't read Hebrew. In
simple terms, the word predominately means "to dig." In modern Hebrew that
is the case. But in Biblical Hebrew we have the word used in a variety of
contexts. Most of the time you can translate it literally as digging dirt.
In some cases though it is used differently, as in a figure of speech. Take
Ps 40:6, for example. The Hebrew literally says "ears you dug for me". In
this case we know it is an idiom. How then should it be translated for the
modern speaker of English? Digging the ears may an idiom for opening the
ears, that is, helping one to understand. Or it may refer to the
boring/piercing of the ear as in Dt. 15:17 or Ex.21:6.
In the same way, what does it mean to "dig" one's hands and feet?
Note that translations of Ps 22:16 vary:
"they pierced my hands and my feet." -
KJV,ASV,NIV,NASB,RSV,NKJV,Webster's,NLT
"my hands and feet are shriveled" - NRSV
"they have dug my hands and feet" - Douay Rheims 1899
"they made wounds in my hands and feet" - The Bible in Basic English
"So wasted are my hands and feet" - New American Bible
"...as if to hack off my hands and my feet" - New Jerusalem Bible
These are just a few of the variations. Other interpretations include
marking the body for a magical curse and tying or binding with rope. The
point is that the victim is innocent and that he is surrounded by enemies
who wish to do him harm. Whether one reads into this the crucifixion or the
holocaust is an interpretive issue that I won't debate. I won't even debate
that "pierced" is the best word to translate karu. But I would debate that
the traditional text is corrupt and that karu is the correct form. How to
best translate karu is a different story.
Its important to keep in mind that this passage is never quoted in the New
Testament. I hope that this answers some of your questions. Let me know if
there's anything else I can help with. By the way, the Hebrew displayed in
the article apparently does not show up on your monitor, so the hebrew word
karu shows up on your screen as (wrk). I am working to correct it so that
Hebrew is displayed on computers even if they don't have that particular
Hebrew font. Sorry about that.
Shalom in Messiah,
Ruben Barrett
HaDavar Ministries
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your friend is correct about the spelling. Let me explain how the change
occured though, and if you forward the email maybe it will make sense to
him. Kaf-resh-vav is the older and Biblical form of the word karu (they dug
through/bored/pierced). In Hasmonean (2nd temple) times words of this
nature were influenced by Aramaic and frequently gained an aleph in their
spelling. The Dead Sea Scrolls are full of examples of this. When I say
words of this nature I'm referring to II-vav forms (words where the 2nd
letter is a vav). Karu can be derived from one of two roots and still be
spelled karu, but the fact that it took on an aleph in post-biblical Hebrew
indicates that the more likely root is not karah but kur (kaph-vav-resh),
which itself is derived from karah. The basic meaning is still "to dig" but
kur is used more in the sense of digging through, boring or piercing.
So the spelling changed during the post-biblical period, and by the 2nd
century CE there was a move to standardize the spelling. During that time,
it would have been easy to mistake ka'aru for ka'ari with the only
difference being the last letter. A vav written too short looks like a yod,
and a yod writen too long looks like a vav. It would be a very easy mistake
to make. The Masoretes were the ones who preserved the Hebrew manuscript
traditions. There are ten known Hebrew editions of the Masoretic Text that
read ka'aru, not ka'ari. In addition, the two oldest Hebrew manuscripts of
Psalm 22 from the Dead Sea Scrolls read karu and ka'aru instead of ka'ari.
Finally, ancient translations of Psalm 22 (Septuagint and Peshitta) agree
with the karu/ka'aru reading instead of ka'ari.
Im surprised how this article has got around; Jewish Watchdog has
labeled me now as a "Counter anti-missionary" because of the article. Go
figure. The first of their claims was this psalmm 22 issue, which
I was asked to research and address.
I appreciate your correspondence. Let me know if there's anything I can do
for you.
Shalom in Messiah,
Ruben Barrett
HaDavar Ministries
----------------------------------------
The LXX does translate it into "dig" or "pierced", which may have been from
the Hebrew word "ka'aru", and the masoretic text uses "ka'ari," which can be
translated "like a lion." "ka'ari" can also be translated "dig" or "pierce"
in a variant participle form.
The LXX, according to Jewish tradition, was produced by a conference of
seventy Greek-speaking Rabbis several centuries before Jesus (and many more
centuries before the 8th cent. Masoretic text). For this reason, it make
sense to trust their translation, since it precedes the controversy of
Jesus' fulfillment of the prophecy, whereas the Masoretic text does not. In
other words, the text could have been changed.
But when one looks the text itself, the issue becomes more clear that "like
a lion" was a later insertion to make the passage about something besides
the crucifixion of Jesus. Why? Because the text simply doesn't make any
sense with "like a lion".
First, there are no prepositions or verbs in the phrase to connect it to "my
hands and my feet", thus it would actually be "like a lion my hands and my
feet." This has no meaning. The translators who prefer "like a lion" fudge
a little and render it "like a lion on my hands and my feet", inserting a
non-existant "on." But this doesn't work, because the word is not there.
Second, what exactly is the meaning of a lion on someone's hands and feet?
I can understand lions ravenous and roaring (13), and I can understand
salvation from the lion's mouth (21), but a lion being, well, "on" somebody?
No real metaphoric meaning there.
So, if we go with the earliest Jewish texts, untainted by apologetic issues
from either side, we must go with "pierced." Moreover, this also is the
only translation that makes sense in the context.
As to the idea that it can only be translated "dug": while it is true that
in most cases the verb is used for digging wells, the verb is also
translated "opened" in Psalm 40:6 ("my ears You have opened" NAS or
"receptive ears You opened for me" ArtScroll version), and "cut "in 2
Chronicles 16:14, so the translation as "pierced" for Psalm 22:16 is quite
reasonable.
In Messiah,
Ariel, Ministry intern
--
The LXX is the neutral witness in this case, because it was translated into
Greek by our Jewish scribes long before Jesus came on the scene. It
translates the word as "pierce," from whatever the original Hebrew was,
whether it was ka'aru or ka'ari!
From what I understand, ka'aru could also be Caf-ALEF-resh-vav (the alef
sometimes comes in as a variant for this kind of verb, which has a weak
"vav" as the second letter of its root, caf-vav-resh). This would be a
difference of just one letter, and an easily mistakable letter.
But the argument still applies if the word was originally ka'ari, which can
also mean "dug" or "pierced", as a variant for the plural masculine
participle (Something like "They are piercing"). Finally, "like a lion"
simply makes no sense in the context, as I explained before. Please reread
my earlier email on this issue.
May the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob reveal the truth to your friend!
Ariel
P.S. Perhaps ask him a question:
"If I could show to you that "pierce" is in fact a reasonable translation of
that verse, would you begin to consider the possibility that Jesus is the
Messiah?" If he is unwilling to consider these things, what is he arguing
about?
Ariel
