Re: TRANSLATION: Sabaoth (cf Steg Belsky and msgs # 130585 & prequelae)
| From: | Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...> |
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| Date: | Wednesday, July 6, 2005, 19:48 |
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On Jul 5, 2005, at 12:28 PM, Tom Chappell wrote:
> Hello, I hope this question is appropriate for this list.
> In an answer I can no longer locate, Steg Belsky told me that he did
> not know where the idea that '"Sabaoth" could be interpreted as
> "Almighty"' came from.
> WebBible.html and ChristianAnswers.net say that LXX (which I take it
> means the Septuagint) use the Greek word meaning "Almighty" to
> translate the Hebrew word we transliterate as "Sabaoth" whenever it is
> used as part of God's name or title.
I don't know enough about the Septuagint in order to evaluate that
claim.
> They (that is, WebBible.html and ChristianAnswers.net and the other
> top ten Google responders) say that "Sabaoth", which could refer
> either to "the Heavenly Hosts" or "the armies of Israel", does not
> appear as a title for God in the first 6 or 7 books of the Old
> Testament, but appears frequently in the Prophetic books.
According to a quick search at Snunit's Scripture Collection
kodesh.snunit.k12.il , the combination _YHVH Tzeva'ot_ first appears in
the 8th book of the Bible, Samuel (part 1, chapter 1, verse 3).
Interestingly enough, the noun _tzeva'ot_ "armies/hosts" itself appears
only twice before that, once in the opposite compound _Tziv'ot YHVH_
("hosts of God") in Exodus 12:41, and once without a God reference,
refering to _sarey tzeva'ot_ "leaders of hosts" of the Israelites in
Deuteronomy 20:9.
> They also say that it is not always entirely clear that "Sabaoth"
> should be translated as "of hosts"; perhaps the Septuagint was closer
> to the mark in using "Almighty", sometimes.
Another name, _Shadai_, is generally what's translated as "Almighty".
-Stephen (Steg)
"Enthrone your pasts:
this done, fire and old blood
will find you again:
better hearts' breaking
than worlds'."
"Dethrone the past:
this done, day comes up new
though empty-hearted:
O the long silence,
my son!"
~ from _the romulan way_ by diane duane & peter morwood