4Q120

The manuscript 4Q120 (also pap4QLXXLev^b; AT22; VH 46; Rahlfs 802; LDAB 3452) is a Septuagint manuscript (LXX) of the biblical Book of Leviticus written on papyrus, found at Qumran. The Rahlfs-No. is 802. Paleographically it dates from the first century BCE. Currently the manuscript is housed in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.

History

The manuscript was written in the Hasmonean period, and Patrick W. Skehan dated 4Q120 to "late first century BCE or opening years of the first century CE". The manuscript was found at Qumran, Cave 4b. Cave 4 was discovered in August 1952, and was excavated on 22–29 September 1952 by Gerald Lankester Harding, Roland de Vaux, and Józef Milik.

Description

This scroll is in a very fragmented condition. Today it consists of 97 fragments. However, only 31 of those fragments can be reasonably reconstructed and deciphered, allowing for a reading of Leviticus 1.11 through 5.25; the remaining fragments are too small to allow for reliable identification. Additionally, space bands are occasionally used for the separation of concepts, and divisions within the text. A special sign (⌐) for separation of paragraphs is found fragment 27, between the lines 6 and 7. While the later divisions would label these verses 5:20-26, it appears to testify to a classical transition from chapter 5 to 6. Scriptio continua is used throughout.

Version

Emanuel Tov agrees with Eugene Ulrich that "4QLXXNum is a superior representative of the Old Greek text than LXX^Gö." Albert Pietersma says that "the genuinely Septuagintal credentials of 4QLXXLevb are well-nigh impeccable." Within what he called "limited scope of evidence", Patrick W. Skehan describes it "as a considerable reworking of the original LXX to make it conform both in quantity and in diction to a Hebrew consonantal text nearly indistinguishable [...] from that of MT." According to Wilkinson, 4Q120 "is an irreproachably Septuagint text from the 1st century B.C. which bears no trace of having been subsequently conformed to the Hebrew text".

God's name ΙΑŌ

Apart from minor variants, the main interest of the text lies in its use of (Iaō) to translate the tetragrammaton in Leviticus 3:12 (frg. 6) and 4:27 (frg. 20). The presence of the name of God in this ancient manuscript has supported the conclusion of some scholars that this was the original form in the Septuagint. Skehan, Tov and Ulrich agrees that "this writing of the divine name is more original than Κύριος". Meyer states that the fact that appears with the same script in the fragments indicates that the same scribe wrote the name, and does not support Johann Lust of an original Κύριος.

Skehan suggests that, in the Septuagint version of the Pentateuch, is more original than the (Kyrios, "Lord") of editions based on later manuscripts, and he assumes that, in the books of the prophets, the Septuagint did use to translate both (the tetragrammaton) and (Adonai), the word that traditionally replaced the tetragrammaton when reading aloud.

Emanuel Tov claims the use here of as proof that the "papyrus represents an early version of the Greek scripture" antedating the text of the main manuscripts. He states that "the writing of the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew characters in Greek revisional texts is a relatively late phenomenon. On the basis of the available evidence, the analysis of the original representation of the Tetragrammaton in Greek Scriptures therefore focuses on the question of whether the first translators wrote either or ." Tov wrote: "this papyrus represents an early version of Greek Scripture, as shown by several unusual renderings, including the transliteration of the Tetragrammaton as , instead of its translation as in the later Christian manuscripts of the Septuagint. 4QpapLXXLev^b probably reflects a version antedating the text of the main manuscript tradition of the LXX".

Frank E. Shaw says that "the appearance of in 4Q120, roundly judged a good, third century B.C.E. exemplar of the LXX of Leviticus 1-5, evinces that some early Septuagintal manuscripts used Ιαω to represent the Tetragram (p. 33)." According to Shaw:

According to Meyer, 4Q127 ("though technically not a Septuagint manuscript, perhaps a paraphrase of Exodus or an apocalyptic work") appears to have two occurrences of . The Codex Marchalianus gives , not as a part of the Scripture text, but instead in marginal notes on Ezekiel 1:2 and 11:1, as in several other marginal notes it gives ΠΙΠΙ.

Greek text

Text according to A. R. Meyer:

Lev 4:27

[αφεθησεται ]αυτωι εαν[ δε ψυχη μια] <br> [αμαρτ]η[ι α]κουσιως εκ[ του λαου της] <br> [γης ]εν τωι ποιησαι μιαν απ[ο πασων] <br> των εντολων ιαω ου πο[ιηθησε]

Lev 3:12–13

[τωι ιαω] ¹² εαν δ[ε απο των αιγων] <br> [το δωρ]ον αυτο[υ και προσαξει εν] <br> [αντι ι]αω ¹³ και ε[πιθησει τας χει]

Romanization of Meyer:

Lev 4:27

[aphethēsetai ]autōi ean[ de psychē mia] <br> [hamart]ē[i a]kousiōs ek[ tou laou tēs] <br> [gēs ]en tōi poiēsai mian ap[o pasōn] <br> tōn entolōn iaō hou po[iēthēse]

Lev 3:12–13

[tōi iaō] ¹² ean d[e apo tōn aigōn] <br> [to dōr]on auto[u kai prosaxei en] <br> [anti i]aō ¹³ kai e[pithēsei tas chei]

NIV:

Lev 4:27

he will be forgiven. If any member of the community<br> sins unintentionally and does <br> what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s<br> commands, when they realize...

Lev 3:12–13

...to the LORD. If your offering is <br> a goat, you are to present <br> it before the LORD, lay your hand...

References

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