The Textual Development of Hos 10:6a in the Septuagint and the Old Latin

Abstract

Abstract Although it seems clear that Septuagint’s doublet reading εἰς Ἀσσυρίους δήσαντες in Hos 10:6a was the product of a double translation of the Hebrew Vorlage ‮לאשור‬‎, we propose that the original Old Greek reading here was the participle δήσαντες alone, a non-isomorphic translation of the same. Christian authors from the second to the fifth century consistently quote this verse in association with the Gospel passages related to Jesus’ trial (Mark 15:1 and Matt 27:2) without the complement εἰς Ἀσσυρίους, which seems to have entered the Greek text through the kaige revision (cf. Justin Martyr, Dial. 103.4). Independent support for this hypothesis may be adduced from the Old Latin version, whereof Mss La173 and La176 attest to two distinct textual forms, with the latter witnessing the singlet Old Greek translation alligantes (= δήσαντες).