Genesis 34:15

Μόνον ἐν τούτῳ ὁμοιωθησόμεθα ὑμῖν καὶ κατοικήσομεν ἐν ὑμῖν, ἐὰν γένησθε ὡς ἡμεῖς καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἐν τῷ περιτμηθῆναι ὑμῶν πᾶν ἀρσενικόν.

Only on this (condition) will we become like you and dwell among you, if you also will be as we are, in that every male of you be circumcised.

אך־בזאת נאות לכם אם תהיו כמנו להמל לכם כל־זכר׃

 

* Μόνον | some MSS omit Μόνον
* κατοικήσομεν | some MSS κατοικήσωμεν
* Only on this (condition) will we become like you OR we shall only consent to you on the following condition. This sense is likely an Aramaism: cf. Syr. ‘estwi and Palest. Trg. (Cairo Genizah) at Ge 34.15, 23 נִשְׁתַּוֵה ; see also Egypt. Ar. at TAD B2.11:2 אשתוין כחדה ‘we have reached agreement.’ See Muraoka 2005b. 106.

In Gen 34:15 the rare verb ֵנאוֹת probably meaning “we will consent (to give you our sister in marriage)” is rendered ὁμοιωθησόμεθα “we will become like  (you)”, which appears to reflect Aramaic אשתוי “to be similar” but also “to agree, to consent.” The Aramaic verb is found in a Palestinian Targum fragment found in the Cairo Geniza. (Jan Joosten, The Text Of The Hebrew Bible & Its Editions – Studies In Celebration Of The 5th Centennial Of The Complutensian Polyglot, 2017, p 153)

 

This entry was posted in Genesis. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.