05-05-2009, 05:05 PM
Shlama,
it appears that the Greek translators went with what is called dynamic equivalence, instead of literal. apparently, they took the idea of the b'ney haElohim -- "the sons of Elohim" who took for themselves daughters of men as wives that are also spoken of in the context of the passage, as literally being angels cohabiting with humans, and so produced nephilim -- "fallen ones." the idea of their progeny being "nephilim" was dynamically translated into the Greek understanding of "gigantes," which is not necessarily to convey the idea of "giants," per se, as it is to reference children begotten by the mixed union of supernatural and natural parents.
this appears to be how the Greek translators were working. whether one believes the above scenario recorded in Scripture is translated correctly is not important to the question, it just helps to see how they seem to have looked at the text and understand why they translated such an easy-to-translate word into a totally different idea.
the Peshitta wasn't a translation into a language with a completely different set of ancient traditions, like what was happening in the Greek, so no dynamic equivalence was necessary for the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew. nepele would sufficiently convey the idea of the Hebrew without interjecting any targumic ideas into the text. a much purer translation effort than the Greek, by all means.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy
it appears that the Greek translators went with what is called dynamic equivalence, instead of literal. apparently, they took the idea of the b'ney haElohim -- "the sons of Elohim" who took for themselves daughters of men as wives that are also spoken of in the context of the passage, as literally being angels cohabiting with humans, and so produced nephilim -- "fallen ones." the idea of their progeny being "nephilim" was dynamically translated into the Greek understanding of "gigantes," which is not necessarily to convey the idea of "giants," per se, as it is to reference children begotten by the mixed union of supernatural and natural parents.
this appears to be how the Greek translators were working. whether one believes the above scenario recorded in Scripture is translated correctly is not important to the question, it just helps to see how they seem to have looked at the text and understand why they translated such an easy-to-translate word into a totally different idea.
the Peshitta wasn't a translation into a language with a completely different set of ancient traditions, like what was happening in the Greek, so no dynamic equivalence was necessary for the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew. nepele would sufficiently convey the idea of the Hebrew without interjecting any targumic ideas into the text. a much purer translation effort than the Greek, by all means.
Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy