Author: John Screnock

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Published: 2015

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In this dissertation, I propose and apply a methodology that situates the Septuagint within the broader scribal culture of the ancient world. Drawing on theory from the field of Translation Studies and a comparative analysis of textual and translation data in Exodus 1-14, I argue that the phenomena of translation and textual transmission are fundamentally similar, particularly in the case of the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint. First, I consider the extent to which textual transmission could be considered translation, using the framework of "intralingual translation" derived from the field of Translation Studies. Second, I argue that the translator held the Hebrew from the source text in short-term memory before translating. This notion suggests that many of the differences between the Septuagint and the Hebrew Bible result from changes to the Hebrew in the translator's mind before any translation has occurred. Third, I present a full investigation of the variants in Exodus 1, in both Hebrew manuscripts and the Septuagint, finding that the types of change are essentially the same in both transmission and translation. Finally, I consider "large-scale" variation in the Ten Plagues narrative, analyzing a much discussed pattern of insertions found in 4QpaleoExodm and the Samaritan Pentateuch. Nothing comparable can be found in the Septuagint, showing that the translator, in this case, was more conservative in the transmission of the text than were some scribes. The conclusions of my dissertation are significant: the process of translation does not, as many assume, introduce an insurmountable barrier between the Greek and the Hebrew text it represents; rather, the Septuagint should be used, though carefully, to reconstruct its source text for use in textual criticism and other studies.