Lexeme panîm and its Greek Rendering in Exodus 33: Between Grammaticalized Idiom and Playfulness

Abstract

This article addresses the fascinating rendering in the Septuagint version of Exodus 33 of the wordplay using the lexeme panîm, פני ם (face, front). It will firstly set out how and in what sense the lexeme is used throughout Exodus 33. Next, it strives to offer a detailed analysis of the Greek rendering of the lexeme, that does not seem to safeguard the ‘bodily subpart’ face in most of the renderings. Is this rendering due to an anti-anthropomorphism, avoiding the attribution of a bodily, anthropomorphic ‘face’ to God - or is it rather due to an idiomatic translation of the grammaticalized idiom as semipreposition? The present article argues that the Greek translation is situated carefully in between using grammaticalized idioms and a playful interaction with the immediate context of the lexeme panîm, as well as with larger intertextual issues.