What was the Old Greek translator’s literary and theological understanding of the
book of Habakkuk? This is the central question of this thesis. The prophecy of
Ambakoum (OG translation of “Habakkuk”) shows evidence of Greek rhetoric amidst
numerous linguistic transformations. These features reflect part of the translator’s
personal literary and translational style in the transformation process – an act of
interpretation. The meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures was carried over into a new
Greek text by a multi-lingual translator, working in Alexandria sometime in the second
century B.C.E. The process of interpretation was affected by more than so-called
literalism, but also by socio-historical, linguistic and theological considerations. When
the translator was not literal his approach was not simply free or exegetical. A real
challenge for the translator was not his comprehension of, or ability with, his Hebrew
text, but his choice of words, syntax and grammar in his own language. Sometimes his
knowledge of Aramaic, which was more familiar than Classical Hebrew, was a quicker
or more logical recourse through which to make decisions when rendering his Koine
text.
An understanding of the translator’s style is derived from an examination of the
linguistics (i.e. lexemes, morphosyntax, semantics, etc.) and literary shapes of the new
target text. This provides a basis upon which to then derive the translator’s sense for
his Hebrew Vorlage. It is the Greek translation that lays out his view(s). This thesis
puts the translator’s style on display by providing studies on the different aspects of it.
The shape of the target text highlights subtle differences that reveal the translator’s
particular textual and thematic perspective. These studies answer the main question;
they draw out and explain the translator’s approach, linguistic hurdles and inventions,
Aramaic interference, and some subtle theological distinctions. Only by building upon
a study of the Greek document can one then form a constructive response to this
enquiry.
This thesis contributes to the field by clearly presenting the translator’s adept
ability with his own language, which was also marked with some Greek rhetorical
devices. It also examines the concept of literalism in the Septuagint by drawing into
focus the multi-faceted aspects of the translational, and therefore interpretational,
process. And by reading Ambakoum as a religious and historical product, the
theological differences with that of MT appear germane to the target text, unbound
from our later readings of the source. The translator simply read his Hebrew text
differently from the way we read ours; this thesis shows how