Dear Scott,

You said to Bryant:
>>    The information you present is interesting but seemingly not directly
related to the point I made that κύριος ο θεός by its poor grammatical
construction which also appears in the NT text. This may be a possible
indication that YHVH has been removed from the Greek of the LXX.

Style (or "poor grammatical construction") is a perilous basis for this
kind of argument - especially in a case like this, where we are talking
about a highly special word/construction, which the author is likely to
treat with particular reverence. That is, (1) how are we to know just how
awkward-sounding a particular Greek phrase would have been to a Second
Temple bilingual Jewish ear? and (2) Even if it was awkward grammar in
certain contexts, mightn't that have been considered appropriate for such a
sacred phrase?

The fact that the LXX is a translation makes it even more perilous. Either
the original translators chose κύριος ο θεός, or a later copyist did.
Either way, the person who made this choice was *at least* a Greek speaker
(maybe native, maybe bilingual, maybe not). If it's clunky grammar,
presumably they could have picked a grammatically smoother construction,
but chose not to, for whatever reason. Why is it more likely that a later
copyist would have made this choice, rather than an earlier translator?

Best regards,
Stephen.
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