열왕기하 9장의 “하샬롬”

Abstract

In the story of Jehu’s rebellion in 2 Kings 9, the question hăšālôm appears five times. The speakers are Jehu’s fellow commander (v. 11), the first (v. 18) and second (v. 19) horsemen sent by Joram, Joram himself (v. 21), and Jezebel (v. 31), while the addressee is Jehu in all these cases. The Septuagint renders hăšālôm in 2 Kings 9 consistently as an interrogative particle εἰ and εἰρήνη (‘peace’). The Vulgate also employs the words pax (peace) and pacatus (peaceful) in four of the five cases. Yet the Latin version is not as literal as the Greek in its translation of the expression. Some modern translations use words meaning peace, either consistently or partly, while others resort to a greeting formula.<BR> In its form, hăšālôm is a typical polar question. A speaker can utter this short question simply to greet the addressee or ask about a third party’s wellbeing by adding a prepositional phrase which points to the third party. As with other polar questions in Biblical Hebrew, an echo system language, the addressee generally responds with šālôm, the first word of the question, to answer the question in the affirmative. The negative answer lō’ expected in other polar questions is not found for hăšālôm in the Old Testament. Probably, the expression was generally not taken as a serious question but a greeting formula.<BR> In 2 Kings 9, Jehu never answers hăšālôm questions with šālôm. He either does not respond to the question (vv. 11, 31) or responds in an uncooperative manner (vv. 18, 19, 22). At any rate, the five occurrences of hăšālôm directed to Jehu are not real questions about peace but general greetings. Therefore, it is best to render hăšālôm as a greeting in the target language, such as annyeong- in Korean.