Symmachus uses the lexeme τριβακοῦσθαι in his translation of Psalm 6:8.[1] The relevant passage reads as follows in the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text:
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LXX Ps 6:8a–b, ed. A. Rahlfs |
MT Ps 6:8a–b, ed. H. Bardtke (BHS) |
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aἐταράχθη ἀπὸ θυμοῦ ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου, bἐπαλαιώθην ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου. |
עָֽשְׁשָׁ֣ה מִכַּ֣עַס עֵינִ֑י עָֽ֝תְקָ֗ה בְּכָל־צֹורְרָֽי׃ |
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English translation by NETS: |
English translation by RJPS: |
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My eye was troubled due to anger; I grew old among all my enemies. |
My eyes are wasted by vexation, |
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German translation by LXX.D: |
German translation by Elberfelder: |
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Erschrocken ist mein Auge vom Grimm, alt geworden bin ich durch alle meine Feinde. |
Geschwächt von Gram ist mein Auge, gealtert wegen all meiner Dränger. |
Hexaplaric Evidence for τριβακοῦσθαι (σ' Ps 6:8b)
The Göttingen Hexapla Database, which is in its Beta version, gives the following information for Psalm 6:8b:
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LXX Ps 6:8b |
MT Ps 6:8b |
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LXX |
MT |
α' |
σ' |
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ἐπαλαιώθην |
עָתְקָה |
μετήρθην Field |
ἐτριβανώθην Field |
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ἐν πᾶσιν |
בְּכָל־ |
ἐν πᾶσιν Field |
διὰ Field |
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τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου. |
צוֹרְרָי׃ |
ἐνδεσμοῦσι με Field |
τοὺς θλίβοντάς με Field |
MT
The Masoretic Text has the verb עָתְקָה, a qal third-person feminine singular qatal verb from the root עתק. The basic sense of this lexeme appears to be “move (away).”[2] In Job 21:7, this basic sense is extended metaphorically to yield a new sense: “move on in years,” i.e., “to be/grow old.” In Psalm 6:8, there appears to be a further metaphorical extension, based on the association between old age and weakness: “move on grow old become weak/worn out.” The Aramaic verb עתק can also mean “grow old” and “wear out,” and it is possible that the use of verb עתק in Hebrew reflects Aramaic influence.[3]
The ancient translations generally agree on the meaning of the word, though they represent different facets of its semantic range. Aquila renders the word according to its most basic sense: “I was moved away” (μετήρθην). The Septuagint renders it according to its metaphorical sense: “I grew old” (ἐπαλαιώθην). Jerome and the Targum similarly render it as “be worn out” (consumptus sum; איתבליאת).[4] The Peshitta uses a more general term for being “upset” (ܘܐܬܕܠܚܬ).[5] The following chart shows every occurrence of the verb עתק (qal) in the Hebrew Bible together with its attested Greek equivalents:[6]
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עתק (qal) |
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Ps 6:8 |
עָתְקָה |
ἐπαλαιώθην (LXX) ἐτριβακώθην (σ') μετήρθην (α') |
καταστρέφεσθαι μεταίρειν παλαιοῦσθαι τριβακοῦσθαι |
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Job 14:18 |
יֶעְתַּק |
παλαιωθήσεται (LXX*)[7] |
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Job 18:4 |
וְיֶעְתַּק |
καταστραφήσεται (LXX)[8] |
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Job 21:7 |
עָתְקוּ |
πεπαλαίωνται (LXX)[9] |
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LXX
The Septuagint has the verb ἐπαλαιώθην, which means “to become old and worn out.”[10] Elsewhere, the Psalms translator uses this lexeme to render the Hebrew root בלה (qal; Pss 17[18]:46; 31[32]:3; 101[102]:27; piel: Ps 48[49]:15).[11] It would seem to be an appropriate equivalent of עתק as well.
Despite the agreement in sense, however, the Septuagint disagrees with the verb עָתְקָה (so MT) in terms of grammatical person.[12] Whereas the Masoretic Text has a third-person feminine singular verb – “it [= my eye] has become weak (עָתְקָה)” – the Septuagint has a first-person verb: “I grew old/was worn out (ἐπαλαιώθην)” (=עָתַקְתִּי ?). According to Barthélemy et al., the first-person reading of the Septuagint “represents a simplified text that accurately resolved the synecdoche in the MT [i.e., the eye stands figuratively for the whole person], which they considered too bold.”[13]
Symmachus
Among the Hexaplaric translations, only the translations of Aquila and Symmachus have survived. The Database, in its Beta version, has drawn these reading from Field’s edition of the Hexapla.[14] Field reconstructs both readings as follows: “Ἀ. μετήρθην ἐν πᾶσιν ἐνδεσμοῦσί με. Σ. ἐτριβανώθην διὰ τοὺς θλίβοντάς με.”[15] Field gives the same sources for both readings: “Nobil., Vat. Syro-hex.”[16] The reference to “Vat” in the first note is a reference to the Vatican manuscript gr. 754 (= Ra 1175), and the reference to “Nobil.” is a reference to the notes of “Nobilius,” who, according to Field, used manuscripts that appear to be closely related to Vat. gr. 754.[17] There are, then, two main sources for the hexaplaric readings in this verse: (1) Ra 1175, and (2) the Syro-Hexapla. The following section discusses each of these sources.
Manuscript Attestation and Patristic Evidence
Ra 1175
Ra 1175 (Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 754) is a 10th century copy of the Psalms and Odes, surrounded by a marginal Catena commentary.[18] The hexaplaric readings for Psalm 6:8 appear in the margin on page 45r:
Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 754 (Ra 1175), f. 45r
The manuscript gives the following two hexaplaric readings:
α' (Aquila): μετήρθην ἐν πᾶσιν ἐνδεσμοῦσίν με
σ' (Symmachus): ἐτριβακώθην διὰ τ[οὺς] θλίβ[ον]τ[άς] με
Despite centuries of printing the reading ἐτριβανώθην, the reading for Symmachus in Ra 1175 is unmistakably ἐτριβακώθην. The kappa is clear; the form of the letter is identical, for example, to the kappa at the top of the image, in the phrase [πι]κρας μοῦ.
Syro-Hexapla
The Syro-Hexapla translates the verb in the Septuagint (ἐπαλαιώθην) as ܐ̇ܥܬܩܬ̣ (“to grow old, wear out”), using a cognate of the underlying Hebrew verb (עָתְקָה). It then presents the readings of Aquila and Symmachus in the margin:[19]
Codex Ambrosianus C. 313 Inf. (Syro-Hexapla), f. 7r
The Syro-Hexapla provides the following hexaplaric readings:
ܐ. (Aquila): ܐ̇ܫܬܢܝܬ̣ ܒܟܠܗܘܢ ܕܐܣ̇ܪܝܢ ܠܝ ܀ (= μετήρθην ἐν πᾶσιν ἐνδεσμοῦσίν με)
ܣ. (Symmachus): ܒ̇ܠܝܬ ܡܛܠ ܐ̈ܠܘܨܝ ܀ (= ἐτριβακώθην διὰ τοὺς θλίβοντάς με)
These readings clearly correspond to the Greek readings preserved in Ra 1175. The word ἐτριβακώθην has been translated as ܒ̇ܠܝܬ (peal; cf. Hebrew בלה), which can mean either “to be worn out” or “to grow old.”[20]
Refined Representation of Hexaplaric Evidence (σ' Ps 6:8b)
A refined representation of the reading in question and its attestation looks like this:
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LXX Ps 6:8b |
MT Ps 6:8b |
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LXX |
MT |
α' |
σ' |
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ἐπαλαιώθην |
עָתְקָה |
μετήρθην (Ra 1175; cf. Syh: ܐ̇ܫܬܢܝܬܼ) |
ἐτριβακώθην (Ra 1175; cf. Syh: ܒ̇ܠܝܬ) |
One question remains to be answered, however: why do the Greek translators use a first-person verb to render the Hebrew third-person verb? The argument that they are translating contextually and resolving the synecdoche in the Hebrew text (so Barthélemy et al., see above) might explain the translations of the Septuagint and Symmachus, but not Aquila, whose translation is characterized by strict formal correspondence.[21] Perhaps, then, all three translators – or, at least, Aquila – read a different Vorlage (עָתַקְתִּי).[22] Yet no such Hebrew text appears to have survived.[23] A more satisfying explanation is that Aquila and Symmachus – or, at least, Aquila – originally used third-person verbs (μετήρθη and ἐτριβακώθη; cf. MT: עָתְקָה) and that the first-person readings (μετήρθην and ἐτριβανώθην) represent secondary assimilations to the Septuagint text (ἐπαλαιώθην). Perhaps a scribe assumed that μετήρθη was an abbreviated form of μετήρθην and ἐτριβανώθη an abbreviated form of ἐτριβανώθην.[24] Despite the plausibility of this scenario, however, it remains conjectural. Unfortunately, the Syro-Hexapla is ambiguous; the forms could be either first-person singular or third-person feminine (with ܥܝܢܐ as the grammatical subject).
Analysis of σ' τριβακοῦσθαι in Ps 6:8b
The word ἐτριβακώθην, which Symmachus uses in Ps 6:8b to translate the Hebrew verb עָתְקָה, is a first-person singular aorist passive indicative verb (infinitive: τριβακοῦσθαι; lexical form: τριβακόω). Unfortunately, all of the lexica, misled by more than four centuries of Hexapla scholarship, present the word as τριβανοῦσθαι/τριβανόω.
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Biel and Mutzenbecher, Thesaurus III (1780), 462 |
Τριβανόω, attero. עתק consenesco. Sym. Psalm. VI, 8. ἐτριβανώθην. |
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Schleusner, Thesaurus III (1829 [London edn]), 290–1 |
ΤΡΙΒΑΝΟ´Ω, attero, et ex adjuncto: absumo, consumo. עָתַק, consenesco. Symm. Psalm. VI. 8. ἐτριβανώθην. Hieron. consumtus sum. Recte: nam quae inveterascunt, ea paulatim consummuntur. |
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Stephanus, Thesaurus VII (1865), 2412 |
Τριβανόω, Attero, et ex adjuncto, Absumo, Consumo. עָתַק, consenesco. Symm. Ps. 6, 8 : Ἐτριβανώθην, Hieron. Consumtus sum. Recte; nam quae inveterascunt, ea paulatim consummuntur. Schleusn. Lex. V.T. |
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Dimitriakos, Λεξικόν XIV (1936–1950), 7273 |
τριβανῶ-όω μτγν. τρίβω, κατατρίβω, φθείρω, τὸ παθ. : Συμμ.ΠΔΨαλμ.6,8 ἐτριβανώθην. |
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Liddell and Scott, Lexicon (1996), 1816 |
τρῐβᾰνόω, wear away, consume, Sm.Ps.6.8. |
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Montanari, Dictionary (2015), 2147 |
τρῐβᾰνόω, contr. [τρίβανον] to wear out: pass. to age VT (Sym.) Ps. 6.8 (aor. pass. ἐτριβανώθην). |
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Montanari, Wörterbuch (2023), 2019 |
τρῐβᾰνόω, kontr. [τρίβανον] abnutzen: Pass. altern VT. (Sym.) Ps. 6.8 (Aor. Pass. ἐτριβανώθην). |
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Bailly – Hugo-Chávez, Dictionnaire (2020), 2309 |
τριβανόω-ῶ [ῐᾰ] consumer, épuiser, Symm. Ps. 6, 8 (τρίβω). |
The verb τριβακοῦσθαι is rare but not unique. According to Montanari’s Dictionary, the verb “τρῐβᾰκόομαι,” a contract verb related to the adjective τριβακός, occurs in Didymus the Blind’s commentary on Psalm 17[18]:46, where it means “to be consumed.”[25] The passage reads as follows, according to Muhlenberg’s edition:[26]
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Υἱοὶ ἀλλότριοι ἐπαλαιώθησαν, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.
…
μεταπεσόντες δὲ εἰς τὴν κακίαν παλαιωθεῖενὑπὸ τῆς φθορᾶς αὐτῶν (ἵν᾽ οὕτως εἴπω) τριβακούμενοι. |
“Sons of strangers grew old,” etc.
…
Having lapsed into wickedness, they would be made old by their corruption (so to speak) being consumed/worn out. |
Didymus uses the word in the context of “corruption” (φθορά), as a synonym of παλαιοῦσθαι (“grow old, be worn out”).
This basic meaning of the word makes sense etymologically. The verb τριβακοῦσθαι is an -όω contract verb, and such verbs “generally have factitive meaning (make…), and are mostly built on (second-declension) adjectives in -ος.”[27] For example, the -οω verb παλαιόω means “to make someone/something παλαιός,” and, in the middle/passive voice, “to become παλαιός.”[28] Similarly, τριβακοῦσθαι means “to become τριβακός,” i.e., “worn out, used up, old.”[29]
This interpretation of the word makes excellent sense in the context of Symmachus’ translation, where the psalmist’s “worn-out” state is caused by those who “afflict” him (lit.: those who compress or crush him):[30]
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ἐτριβακώθην διὰ τοὺς θλίβοντάς με |
I have become worn out because of those who afflict me. |
[1] José Ramón Busto Saiz, La Traducción de Símaco en el Libro de Los Salmos, Textos y Estudios Cardenal Cisneros 22 (Madrid: Instituto Arias Montano, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1978), 593, following Frederick Field, Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt, vol. 2 Job–Malachi (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1875), 93, adopts the reading ἐτριβανώθην (with a nun) and thus presents the lexeme as τριβανοῦσθαι. However, as will be discussed below, the main source for this reading, Ra 1175, clearly reads ἐτριβακώθην (with a kappa). The reading ἐτριβανώθην (with a nun) appears to be an error, going back at least to Vetus Testamentum iuxta Septuaginta ex Auctoritate Sixti V Pon. Max. (Rome: Zannetti, 1587), 419 (cited as “Nobil.”), and perpetuated in Johannes Drusius, Veterum Interpretum Graecum in Totum V.T. Fragmenta, Collecta, Versa, et Notis Illustrata a Johanne Drusio, Linguae Sanctae in illustrium Frisiae Ordinum Academia, Dum Viveret, Professore (Arnhemiae: Typis Frederici Heynsii Typogr. in Acad. Franek., 1622), 875, and Bernard de Montfaucon, Hexaplorum Origenis Quae Supersunt, Multis Partibus Auctiora, Quam a Flaminio Nobilio & Joanne Drusio Edita Fuerint [...] (Paris: apud Ludovicum Guerin, viduam Joannis Boudot, et Carolum Robustel, 1713), 479–80 (“ex Vaticano [= Ra 1175] & Drusio”).
[2] Ludwig Köhler/Walter Baumgartner, The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. M.E.J. Richardson (Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000), 905; cf. Wilhelm Gesenius, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, ed. Herbert Donner, 18th edn (Berlin/Heidelberg: Springer, 2013), 1032: “fort- wegrücken.”
[3] So Köhler/Baumgartner, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 905; cf. Max Wagner, Die lexikalischen und grammatikalischen Aramaismen im alttestamentalischen Hebräisch, Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 96 (Berlin: Alfred Töpelmann, 1966), 93. See the entry “ˁtq vb. e/a to advance; age,” in the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=%28tq%20V.
[4] Robert Weber/Roger Gryson, eds., Biblia Sacra: iuxta vulgatam versionem, editio quinta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007), 775; David M. Stec, ed., The Targum of Psalms, The Aramaic Bible 16 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2004), 34; https://cal.huc.edu/get_a_chapter.php?file=81002&sub=006&cset=H.
[5] D.M. Walter/A. Vogel/R.Y. Ebied, eds., Psalms = Liber Psalmorum, The Old Testament in Syriac according to the Peshiṭta Version 2.3 (Leiden: Brill, 1982).
[6] Abraham Even-Shoshan, ed., קונקורדנציה חדשׁה לתורה נביאים וכתובים, 4th edn (Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sefer, 1983), 934. The verb also occurs several times (with various senses) in the hiphil stem.
[7] Joseph Ziegler, ed., Iob, Septuaginta. Vetus Testamentum Graecum XI, 4 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1982), 274. The text appears with an asterisk and is attributed to Theodotion in the Syro-Hexapla and certain Catena manuscripts. See Nancy Therese Woods, “A Critical Edition of the Hexaplaric Fragments of Job: Chapters 1-21” (PhD, Louisville, 2009), 277.
[11] Edwin Hatch/Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the other Greek Versions of the Old Testament: including the Apocryphal Books (Graz: Akademische Druck-und Verlagsanstalt, 1975), II,1051.
In Psalm 17[18]:46, the verb in MT (יִבֹּלוּ) is actually נָבֵל, but the translation ἐπαλαιώθησαν suggests that the Greek translator read it as יִבְלוּ (qalfrom בלה).
[12] Rahlfs, 86, notes, however that some manuscripts (Lpau) have a third-person verb (ἐπαλαιώθη). See Robert Holmes/Jacob Parsons, eds., Vetus Testamentum Graecum Cum Variis Lectionibus, Tomus IV (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1823), who list six manuscripts that support this reading.
[13] Dominique Barthélemy et al., Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament 4: Psaumes, ed. Stephen Desmond Ryan and Adrian Schenker, Orbis biblicus et orientalis, 50,4 (Fribourg: Academic Press, 2005), 11–2. (translation by Deep-L). For similar cases of the eye standing for the whole person, see e.g., Ps 119:82, 148.
[15] Field Origenis Hexaplorum, 93. The reading in the Göttingen Database is missing an acute accent on the ultima of ἐνδεσμοῦσί.
[17] Field, Origenis Hexaplorum, 84: “Nobilius in Notis ad hunc librum… scholia et interpretationum varietates in libris manuscriptis repertas affert, quae cum lectionibus Vaticani 754 supra memorati arctissimam cognationem habere videntur.” For the edition cited as “Nobil.,” see Vetus Testamentum iuxta Septuaginta ex Auctoritate Sixti V Pon. Max. (Rome: Zannetti, 1587), 419. It was actually Peter Morinus who was responsible for the hexaplaric material in this edition. Woods, “Hexaplaric Fragments,” 29.
[18] Felix Albrecht, “Ra 1175,” Göttinger Septuaginta, 2022, https://septuaginta.uni-goettingen.de/catalogue/Ra_1175/.
[19] Antonio Maria Ceriani, ed., Codex Syro-Hexaplaris Ambrosianus photolithographice editus, vol. 7, Monumenta Sacra et Profana ex Codicibus Praesertim Bibliothecae Ambrosianae (Milan: Impensis Bibliothecae Ambrosianae, 1874).
[20] See “bly vb. to be worn out,” in the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, https://cal.huc.edu/oneentry.php?lemma=bly%20V&cits=all.
[21] Gilles Dorival, Les Psaumes, 1. Psaumes 1-40, ed. Monique Alexandre, La Bible d’Alexandrie 16 (Paris: Cerf, 2021), 273. On Aquila’s translation style, see Joseph Reider, Prolegomena to a Greek-Hebrew & Hebrew-Greek Index to Aquila (Philadelphia, 1916), 16–36.
[23] See, e.g., the absence of variants in Benjamin Kennicott, Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum : Cum Variis Lectionibus (1776), 310.
[24] On the use of abbreviations in Greek manuscripts, see, e.g., Viktor Emil Gardthausen, Griechische palaeographie (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1879), 243–60. Omitting or suspending final letters (especially nun) was common practice.
[25] Franco Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder (Leiden: Brill, 2015), 2146. The entry does not appear, however, in Montanari, Wörterbuch (2023), 2018.
[26] Ekkehard Muhlenberg, Psalmenkommentare aus der Katenenüberlieferung, Bd. 1 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1975), 207.