Dear Doug, 1. LXX: KURIOS; NT: KURIOS; Vulgate: Deus. Remember, the LXX is important, but it is the Hebrew-Aramaic Text of the Old Testament that is important for this issue. The Greek NT would have used the LXX in most of the quotes, but not all. To argue that kurios would have replaced the Tetragrammaton in the Greek text is an argument from silence; and a poor one at that.
2. I doubt it very much; although it is possible, but not probable. Contstantine had 50 copies of the Bible to be copied ca. 420 AD. Of those copies, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Sinaiticus and Washingtonensis are the survivors. The compiled the LXX: Greek OT, Apocryphas and NT. Jerome, died in 419-420 AD, wrote the Vulgate ca. 380-400 AD. He knew of 3different recensions of the LXX in his day, in Egypt (Hesychius), Syria (Lucian), and Palestine (Origen). In fact, Origen's Hexapla presented a proto-MT text with 6 columns of the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew, Aquila, Symmachus, the LXX, and Theodotion was completed between 240-245 AD. Column 5 was the LXX. He did not know of any recension of the LXX before he started work. He thought that the differences between the LXX and the proto-MT were due to the corruption of the LXX and the purity of the Hebrew. Thus, he noted differences between his sources and the LXX in the 5th column. He indicated the sources from which he made omissions and additions in relation to the proto-MT. Unfortunately, only the 5th column was copied over and over, the notes were lost and, eventually, the Hexapla was lost as well (a portion of the Psalms was recently discovered). Thus, there is not Greek manuscripts available that preserve his careful work. There are Greek mss available, but the quality and quantity of the work is definitely in question. Most of this is due to the accidents of history both for and against the preservation of the mss. Wars, heat, moisture, bad scribal habits, etc. have contributed to this decline or absence. I would reserve judgement until the entire process is worked out. Frequently, claims are made that when brought out into the full light of day are found to be wanting; they aren't there. You and I could name legions of claims that when later looked at were false claims. En Xristwi, Rev. Bryant J. Williams III _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
