New Discovery in Wisdom of Solomon



Work on the Hebraic Roots Version of the Apocrypha continues.  We have plans for the HRV Apocrypha to be part of a very special project that I hope to announce soon.  While working on the translation work today I found something very interesting that I wanted to share with you, something that could only be seen in the Aramaic.

Today I was working on the HRV translation of the Apocrypha, and in particular the book of Wisdom of Solomon.  When I came

to Wisdom 3:5 I found something very interesting in the Aramaic which was absent from the Greek.

The Greek reads:

καὶ ὀλίγα παιδευθέντες
μεγάλα εὐεργετηθήσονται,
ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐπείρασεν αὐτοὺς
καὶ εὗρεν αὐτοὺς ἀξίους ἑαυτοῦ·

Having been disciplined a little,
they will receive great good,
because God tested them
and found them worthy of himself;
(Wisdom 3:5 RSV)

However the Aramaic reads:

דקליל בקא אנון
וקליל אתרדיו סגי נארתון
מטל דאהא נסי אנון
ואשכח אנון דשוין לה

And having been a little investigated,
and they shall be swiftly disciplined:
because Elohim tested them,
and found them worthy of Him.
(Wisdom 3:5 HRV)

In the Greek the words for "little" (ὀλίγα) and "great" (μεγάλα) are being contrasted (these are two unrealted words in the

Greek).

But the Aramaic expresses a special beauty in this verse which is absent from the Greek, and not immediately apparant in

the English.  In the HRV English translation of the Aramaic the two words in question are "little" and "swiftly."  But

these two different English words are needed to convey the meaning of a single ambiguous Aramaic word that is used in the

Aramaic of both phrases "קליל" (kalil) meaning "light" or "swift".

This points to an underlying cognate Hebrew word in the original Hebrew (קלל)(kalal) which shared the same ambiguity as our Aramaic word.  For example "they were swifter than eagles" (2Sam. 1:23) and "lightly esteemed" (1Sam. 18:23)

In the Aramaic the single word (kalil) implies a certain justice in that they were investigated "a little" (kalil) therefore they will be therefore judged "swiftly" (kalil).

Up until now all published editions of the Apocrypha in English have been translated from the Greek and Latin manuscripts, the HRV will be the first edition translated where possible from Hebrew and Aramaic sources.

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