Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Joel tells drunkards that their sweet wine has been cut off from them. The Greek Septuagint, lacking a subject for the verb, reuses 'joy and gladness' from a later verse, so what is lost becomes emotion rather than wine.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Joel 1:5
Hebrew Bible
4 What the gazam-locust left the ‘arbeh-locust consumed; what the ‘arbeh-locust left the yeleq-locust consumed, and what the yeleq-locust left the hasil-locust consumed. 5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you wine drinkers, because the sweet wine has been taken away from you. 6 For a nation has invaded my land, mighty and without number. Their teeth are lion’s teeth; they have the fangs of a lioness.
LXX Joel 1:5
Septuagint
4 The leavings of the caterpillar has the locust eaten, and the leavings of the locust has the palmerworm eaten, and the leavings of the palmerworm has the cankerworm eaten. 5 Awake, ye drunkards, from your wine, and weep: mourn, all ye that drink wine to drunkenness: for joy and gladness are removed from your mouth. 6 For a strong and innumerable nation is come up against my land, their teeth are lion's teeth, and their back teeth those of a lion's whelp.
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Notes and References
“... It has been plausibly argued that “the movement is from behavior to feeling rather than the other way around” (G. A. Anderson 1991:95). The Septuagint takes ʿal-ʿāsîs with kol-šôtê yāyin, rendering hoi pinontes oinon eis methēn (“the ones who drink wine unto drunkenness”). This leaves the verb nikrat without a subject, which is therefore supplied from 1:16 (“joy and gladness,” śimḥâ wāgîl, omitting the primary cause, food, snatched from before their eyes). Neither this euphrosyne kai chara (“joy and gladness”) nor ex oinou auton (“from their wine”), the gloss attached to the vocative, śikkôrîm, commends itself for adoption. ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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