Stephen,
You are correct. I was reading from Hermeneia on Jeremiah 17:9 and the
author suggested that the LXX used a text that had עמק. I guess I wasn't
paying enough attention and I assumed it had עקב.
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy
On 10/9/2012 3:32 PM, Stephen Shead wrote:
Hi Michael,
Your Hebrew didn't come out properly for me, not sure why... Anyway, a
few points:
1. Are you sure you haven't confused עקב in Jer 17:9 with עמק in Psa
64:7[6]? It's true that the latter means "deep" in the sense of
"mysterious, impenetrable", but עקב in Jer 17:9, according to my
lexica, means "uneven bumpy terrain" and, metaphorically, "deceitful,
sly" - perhaps related to the verb עקב as well, and the name "Jacob"
with its allusion to heel-grasping?? But it's certainly not עמק.
2. Jer 17:10 is not in fact about the difficulty of understanding the
human heart (though v.9 implies that it is difficult for a mere human
to understand the heart). In fact, the question at the end of v. 9 -
"Who can understand it?" - is answered by the first words of v.10,
which is actually an extended noun phrase identifying who: אני יהוה,
"I, Yhwh, searching the heart, testing the mind...".
The combination of God "searching" (חקר) and "testing" (בחן, as of
testing and smelting metal) the human heart isn't to express
difficulty, it's to express his role as judge, even of the inner
thoughts of a person (for this use of חקר, compare Psa 139:23-24 and
Job 13:9, or Prov 18:17 for a human law-court scenario). Job 13:9 also
makes it clear that such understanding is not beyond the "searching"
of God - nothing escapes his scrutiny.
The final clause of Jer 17:10 confirms this judicial sense: "...to
give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his
deeds".
3. Returning to v.9, the second descriptor for the heart - אנשׁ (or
אנושׁ) - connotes not just sickness, but, in contexts referring to some
metaphorical "wound", being incurable (Job 34:6; Isa. 17:11; Jer
15:18; 30:12, 15; Micah 1:9). If we add that to the first descriptor,
it seems to me we have a description of the heart as deceitful, and
incurably so.
Best regards,
Stephen Shead
Centro de Estudios Pastorales,
Santiago, Chile
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From: Michael Abernathy <[email protected]
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To: "[email protected]
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Cc:
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:49:11 -0500
Subject: [b-hebrew] Jeremiah 17:9
I'm having some trouble getting a handle on Jeremiah 17:9.
עָקֹ֥ב הַלֵּ֛ב מִכֹּ֖ל וְאָנֻ֣שׁ ה֑וּא מִ֖י יֵדָעֶֽנּוּ׃
A number of Christian translations read something like
The heart is more deceitful than anything else and incurable who
can understand it?
This translation seems to be influenced by the doctrine of total
depravity.I don’t have a real problem with that but I’m not sure
the context fits this.The context of verse 10 seems to make this
look like it focuses more on the difficulty of understanding the
human mind.
עֲקֻבָּ֖הis used in Psalm 64:6 in the sense of deep and the Septuagint
translation of Jeremiah 17:9 fits that definition.
That suggests the following translation, “The heart is deeper
(more complicated) than anything. . .”
וְאָנֻ֣שׁsuggests a number of options, sick, incurable, man (both the
Syriac and LXX interpret it that way),
The second half may be translated in the following ways:
“and incurable, who can understand it?”
“and sick, who can understand it?”
“and who will understand it is sick?”
“and it is man, who can understand him (or it)?”
I see that Jeremiah 17:14 may give some credence to the idea of
the heart being sick but I’m not sure how this would be
understood.Would that be sick as in mentally ill, raving lunatic,
moral sickness?
I’d appreciate any help in sorting this out.
Sincerely,
Michael Abernathy
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