Dear Stephen,

  Thank you for your reply!

You say: "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?"

It is not clear to me what you mean by "perilous" but I think you help me along 
in my observation that there is something special going on in these clunky 
phrases that include κύριος ο θεός. And the fact that the Tetragrammaton 
appears in the MT where the hand of the scribe/translator is applied at these 
points should draw our attention. BDAG and other great minds intimate that 
κύριος seems to have the status of a personal name - יהוה. If there is truth in 
this, if it has such a meaning then what is wrong in translating as such?

From: [email protected]
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:32:23 +1000
Subject: Re: G. Geroux and the Name
To: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

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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