When it was originally written, did Acts 7:43 have:
Moloch?
Malcom/ Malkum/ Malchum?
From what OT textual tradition did Acts 7:43 quote?
Acts 7:43
https://biblehub.com/parallel/acts/7-43.htm
(Berean Literal)
And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship them;
and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'
(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
'But you carry the tabernacle of Malcom and the star of The God Rephan, images which you have made to worship.
I shall remove you farther than Babel.'
Acts 7:43
https://dukhrana.com/peshitta/analyze_ve...ize=125%25
(Etheridge) But you took up the tabernacle of Malkum, And the star of the god of Raphan, Images you have made to worship them; I will remove you beyond Babel.
(Murdock) But ye bore the tabernacle of Malchum, and the star of the god Rephon, images which ye had made, that ye might bow down to them.
I will transport you beyond Babylon.
Amos 5:26-27
https://biblehub.com/parallel/amos/5-26.htm
https://biblehub.com/parallel/amos/5-27.htm
(PHBT)
But you did take up the tent of Malkom and Kuun your image, the star that you had made a god for yourselves I shall take you captive far from Darmsuq, says LORD JEHOVAH, God of Hosts his name
(JPS Tanakh)
So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith He, whose name is the LORD God of hosts.
(Brenton Septuagint)
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.
Amos 5 (NETS LXX)
https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/
specifically the Twelve Prophets
PDF
https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/...e-nets.pdf
26 You even took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan, models of them which you made for yourselves.
27 And I will deport you beyond Damascus, says the Lord-- God the Almighty is his name.
DSS Amos 5:26: not had among the known DSS fragments
https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-93...ew=theater
Targum Jonathan on Amos 5:26-27
https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_...26?lang=bi
וּנְטַלְתּוּן יַת סִכּוּת פַּת כּוּמָרֵכוֹן וְיַת כִּיוּן צַלְמֵיכוֹן כּוֹכַב טַעֲוַתְכוֹן דִי עֲבַדְתּוּן לְכוֹן:
וְאַגְלֵי יַתְכוֹן מֵהָלְאָה לְדַמֶשֶׂק אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת שְׁמֵיהּ:
google transliteration:
untaltun yat sikut phat kumarechon veyat khiwn tzalmechon kochav ta'avatchon di avadatun lechon:
ve'agli yatchon mehal'a ledamesaek amar yeyha elohim tzva'ot shemamei:
modified google translate of the Aramaic, which erroneously treats the Aramaic as if it was Hebrew:
And the taking of the tabernacle of the house of the king of the sea
And the setting of the stars of the sky, and the worship of the stars:
And the pillars of the house of Yathchan shall be set from Halah to Damascus.
Said the Lord, whose name is God of armies
=====
Amos 5, in
_The Targum of the Minor Prophets (Aramaic Bible, Vol. 14)_ (1989), 259pp., on 87
https://www.amazon.com/Targum-Minor-Prop...0814654894
https://archive.org/details/targumofminorpro0014unse
https://ebin.pub/the-targum-of-the-minor...34898.html
26. You carried Sikkut your _statue_^41 and Kiyyun your _idol_,^42 your astral _images_^43 which you had made for yourselves.
27. So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus", says _the_ Lord; the God of hosts is his name.
41: MT "your king".
_Tg._ Aramaic _ptkr'_ occurs in Isa 8:21; Zeph 1:5.
In Zeph 1:5 it translates Milcom, the name of the Ammonite deity, but in Isa 8:21, it is a rendering for "king" as here.
For a discussion of _mlk_ as the title of a deity in these texts see now G.C. Heider, _The Cult of Molek: A Reassessment_ (JSOT Suppl. 43 Sheffield, 1985) and the review article of this work by D. Edelman, _JAOS_ 107 (1987) 727-731.
42: For MT "your image"
43: MT "gods".
=====
Pulpit Commentary
https://biblehub.com/amos/5-26.htm
Verse 26. - This verse has occasioned great perplexity to commentators.
The connection with the context, the meaning of some of the terms, and whether the reference is to past, present, or future, are questions which have roused much controversy.
We need not here recapitulate the various opinions which have been held.
It will be sufficient to state what seems to be the simplest and most probable explanation of the passage.
But we must not omit to mention first the explanation adopted by Ewald, Schrader, Farrar, Konig, and others, viz. that this verse refers to the punitive deportation which was to be the people's lot, when they should take their shrines and images with them into captivity.
"So shall ye take (into exile) Sakkuth your king," etc.
But the punishment is foretold in ver. 27; and this verse contrasts their idol worship with the neglected worship of Jehovah (ver. 25).
But ye have borne; and ye bare; καὶ ἀνελάβετε (Septuagint); et portastis (Vulgate).
Ye offered me no pure worship in the wilderness, seeing that ye took false gods with you, and joined their worship with, or substituted it for, mine.
The tabernacle of your Moloch; τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μολόχ (Septuagint); tabernaculum Moloch vestro (Vulgate).
The Hebrew word rendered "tabernacle" (sikkuth), which is found nowhere else, has been variously explained.
Aquila gives συσκιασμούς: Theodotion, "vision," reading the whole sentence thus: Καὶ ἤρατε τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν ὑμῶν ἄστρον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν.
Many moderns render, "stake," "column," or "shrine."
Others suppose it to be equivalent to Sakkuth, an Assyrian name for Molech (or Adar); but this is very uncertain (see 'Studien und Kritiken.' 1874, p. 887), said [?] the parallelism requires the word to be an appellative and not a proper name.
It most probably means "shrine," a portable shrine, like those spoken of in Acts 19:24 in connection with the worship of Diana.
The Syriac and Arabic versions call it "tent," and thus the reproach stands forth emphatically that, instead of, or in conjunction with, the true tabernacle, they bore aloft, as if proud of their apostasy, the tabernacle of a false god.
Such shrines were used by the Egyptians, according to Herodotus (2:63, where see Rawlinson's note) and Diod. Sic. (1:97).
Many such may be seen in the Egyptian room of the British Museum.
Keil quotes Drumann, 'On the Rosetta Inscription,' p. 211, "These were small chapels, generally gilded and ornamented with flowers and in other ways, intended to hold a small idol when processions were made, and to be carried or driven about with it."
Hence we must look to Egypt as the source of this idolatry.
Moloch, though sanctioned by the LXX. and St. Stephen (Acts 7:43), is a mistranslation.
De Rossi, indeed, mentions that one Hebrew manuscript gives Moloch, but the received reading is Melkekem, which is confirmed by Symmachus and Theodotion, who have τοῦ βασιλέως ὑμῶν, and by the Syriac.
The translation, therefore, should run, "Ye took up the shrine of your king," i.e. of him whom ye made your king in the place of Jehovah, meaning some stellar divinity.
And Chiun your images; καὶ τὸ ἄστρον τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν Ῥαμφάν, "and the star of your god Raephan "(Septuagint); et imaginem idolorum vestrorum; literally, the kiyyun of your images.
The parallelism again requires us to take this unknown word as an appellative; and according to its probable derivation, its meaning is "pedestal," or "framework," that on which the image stood.
The Greek rendering is, as Keil thinks, owing to a false reading of the unpointed text, in old Hebrew kaph and resh being easily confounded, and vau and pe.
Theodotion considered the word a common noun, translating it by ἀμαύρωσιν.
It is probably a mere coincidence that in some Assyrian inscriptions the name Kairan occurs as that of a deity, who is identified with Saturn; that the Egyptians (from whom the Israelites must have derived the notion) ever acknowledged such a deity is quite unproved.
St. Stephen merely quotes the Textus Receptus of his day, which was close enough to the original for his argument.
The star of your god.
These words are in loose apposition with the preceding, and are equivalent to "your star god," or the star whom ye worship as god.
Whether some particular star is meant, or whether the sun is the deity signified, cannot be determined, although the universal prevalence of the worship of sun gods in Egypt makes the latter supposition very probable.
St. Stephen puts the sin in a general form: "God gave them up to serve the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42; comp. Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3).
Which ye made to yourselves.
This was the crime, self-will, desertion of the appointed way for devices of their own invention.
=====
Amos 5, in
_The Book of the 12 Prophets According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation_, on 261 of the PDF (with the typed number 95 at the bottom of the page)
https://gorgiaspress.com/the-book-of-the...ranslation
https://ebin.pub/qdownload/the-syriac-pe...01777.html
PDF
https://archive.org/download/PeshittaOld...ophets.pdf
26 But you carried
the tabernacle of Malcom
and Saturn your idol,
the star which you made your god.
27 I will lead you away captive from Damascus,
says the Lord, whose name is God the mighty.
=====
Amos 5 (NABRE)
https://biblehub.com/nabre/amos/5.htm
26 Yet you will carry away Sukuth, your king,
and Kaiwan, your star-image,
your gods that you have made for yourselves,
27 As I exile you beyond Damascus,
says the Lord,
whose name is the God of hosts.
NABRE footnote on Amos
https://biblehub.com/nabre/amos/footnotes.htm
[5:26] Sukuth: probably a hebraized form of Assyro-Babylonian Shukudu (“the Arrow”), a name of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
It was associated with the god Ninurta, who was widely worshiped in Mesopotamia.
According to 2 Kgs 17:30 the cult of Sirius was introduced into Samaria by deportees from Babylonia.
Kaiwan: a hebraized form of an Akkadian name for the planet Saturn, also worshiped as a deity in Mesopotamia.
Moloch?
Malcom/ Malkum/ Malchum?
From what OT textual tradition did Acts 7:43 quote?
Acts 7:43
https://biblehub.com/parallel/acts/7-43.htm
(Berean Literal)
And you took up the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship them;
and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'
(Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
'But you carry the tabernacle of Malcom and the star of The God Rephan, images which you have made to worship.
I shall remove you farther than Babel.'
Acts 7:43
https://dukhrana.com/peshitta/analyze_ve...ize=125%25
(Etheridge) But you took up the tabernacle of Malkum, And the star of the god of Raphan, Images you have made to worship them; I will remove you beyond Babel.
(Murdock) But ye bore the tabernacle of Malchum, and the star of the god Rephon, images which ye had made, that ye might bow down to them.
I will transport you beyond Babylon.
Amos 5:26-27
https://biblehub.com/parallel/amos/5-26.htm
https://biblehub.com/parallel/amos/5-27.htm
(PHBT)
But you did take up the tent of Malkom and Kuun your image, the star that you had made a god for yourselves I shall take you captive far from Darmsuq, says LORD JEHOVAH, God of Hosts his name
(JPS Tanakh)
So shall ye take up Siccuth your king and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith He, whose name is the LORD God of hosts.
(Brenton Septuagint)
Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves.
And I will carry you away beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, the Almighty God is his name.
Amos 5 (NETS LXX)
https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/
specifically the Twelve Prophets
https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/...e-nets.pdf
26 You even took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan, models of them which you made for yourselves.
27 And I will deport you beyond Damascus, says the Lord-- God the Almighty is his name.
DSS Amos 5:26: not had among the known DSS fragments
https://archive.org/details/B-001-001-93...ew=theater
Targum Jonathan on Amos 5:26-27
https://www.sefaria.org/Targum_Jonathan_...26?lang=bi
וּנְטַלְתּוּן יַת סִכּוּת פַּת כּוּמָרֵכוֹן וְיַת כִּיוּן צַלְמֵיכוֹן כּוֹכַב טַעֲוַתְכוֹן דִי עֲבַדְתּוּן לְכוֹן:
וְאַגְלֵי יַתְכוֹן מֵהָלְאָה לְדַמֶשֶׂק אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת שְׁמֵיהּ:
google transliteration:
untaltun yat sikut phat kumarechon veyat khiwn tzalmechon kochav ta'avatchon di avadatun lechon:
ve'agli yatchon mehal'a ledamesaek amar yeyha elohim tzva'ot shemamei:
modified google translate of the Aramaic, which erroneously treats the Aramaic as if it was Hebrew:
And the taking of the tabernacle of the house of the king of the sea
And the setting of the stars of the sky, and the worship of the stars:
And the pillars of the house of Yathchan shall be set from Halah to Damascus.
Said the Lord, whose name is God of armies
=====
Amos 5, in
_The Targum of the Minor Prophets (Aramaic Bible, Vol. 14)_ (1989), 259pp., on 87
https://www.amazon.com/Targum-Minor-Prop...0814654894
https://archive.org/details/targumofminorpro0014unse
https://ebin.pub/the-targum-of-the-minor...34898.html
26. You carried Sikkut your _statue_^41 and Kiyyun your _idol_,^42 your astral _images_^43 which you had made for yourselves.
27. So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus", says _the_ Lord; the God of hosts is his name.
41: MT "your king".
_Tg._ Aramaic _ptkr'_ occurs in Isa 8:21; Zeph 1:5.
In Zeph 1:5 it translates Milcom, the name of the Ammonite deity, but in Isa 8:21, it is a rendering for "king" as here.
For a discussion of _mlk_ as the title of a deity in these texts see now G.C. Heider, _The Cult of Molek: A Reassessment_ (JSOT Suppl. 43 Sheffield, 1985) and the review article of this work by D. Edelman, _JAOS_ 107 (1987) 727-731.
42: For MT "your image"
43: MT "gods".
=====
Pulpit Commentary
https://biblehub.com/amos/5-26.htm
Verse 26. - This verse has occasioned great perplexity to commentators.
The connection with the context, the meaning of some of the terms, and whether the reference is to past, present, or future, are questions which have roused much controversy.
We need not here recapitulate the various opinions which have been held.
It will be sufficient to state what seems to be the simplest and most probable explanation of the passage.
But we must not omit to mention first the explanation adopted by Ewald, Schrader, Farrar, Konig, and others, viz. that this verse refers to the punitive deportation which was to be the people's lot, when they should take their shrines and images with them into captivity.
"So shall ye take (into exile) Sakkuth your king," etc.
But the punishment is foretold in ver. 27; and this verse contrasts their idol worship with the neglected worship of Jehovah (ver. 25).
But ye have borne; and ye bare; καὶ ἀνελάβετε (Septuagint); et portastis (Vulgate).
Ye offered me no pure worship in the wilderness, seeing that ye took false gods with you, and joined their worship with, or substituted it for, mine.
The tabernacle of your Moloch; τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ Μολόχ (Septuagint); tabernaculum Moloch vestro (Vulgate).
The Hebrew word rendered "tabernacle" (sikkuth), which is found nowhere else, has been variously explained.
Aquila gives συσκιασμούς: Theodotion, "vision," reading the whole sentence thus: Καὶ ἤρατε τὴν ὅρασιν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν ὑμῶν ἄστρον τοῦ Θεοῦ ὑμῶν.
Many moderns render, "stake," "column," or "shrine."
Others suppose it to be equivalent to Sakkuth, an Assyrian name for Molech (or Adar); but this is very uncertain (see 'Studien und Kritiken.' 1874, p. 887), said [?] the parallelism requires the word to be an appellative and not a proper name.
It most probably means "shrine," a portable shrine, like those spoken of in Acts 19:24 in connection with the worship of Diana.
The Syriac and Arabic versions call it "tent," and thus the reproach stands forth emphatically that, instead of, or in conjunction with, the true tabernacle, they bore aloft, as if proud of their apostasy, the tabernacle of a false god.
Such shrines were used by the Egyptians, according to Herodotus (2:63, where see Rawlinson's note) and Diod. Sic. (1:97).
Many such may be seen in the Egyptian room of the British Museum.
Keil quotes Drumann, 'On the Rosetta Inscription,' p. 211, "These were small chapels, generally gilded and ornamented with flowers and in other ways, intended to hold a small idol when processions were made, and to be carried or driven about with it."
Hence we must look to Egypt as the source of this idolatry.
Moloch, though sanctioned by the LXX. and St. Stephen (Acts 7:43), is a mistranslation.
De Rossi, indeed, mentions that one Hebrew manuscript gives Moloch, but the received reading is Melkekem, which is confirmed by Symmachus and Theodotion, who have τοῦ βασιλέως ὑμῶν, and by the Syriac.
The translation, therefore, should run, "Ye took up the shrine of your king," i.e. of him whom ye made your king in the place of Jehovah, meaning some stellar divinity.
And Chiun your images; καὶ τὸ ἄστρον τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν Ῥαμφάν, "and the star of your god Raephan "(Septuagint); et imaginem idolorum vestrorum; literally, the kiyyun of your images.
The parallelism again requires us to take this unknown word as an appellative; and according to its probable derivation, its meaning is "pedestal," or "framework," that on which the image stood.
The Greek rendering is, as Keil thinks, owing to a false reading of the unpointed text, in old Hebrew kaph and resh being easily confounded, and vau and pe.
Theodotion considered the word a common noun, translating it by ἀμαύρωσιν.
It is probably a mere coincidence that in some Assyrian inscriptions the name Kairan occurs as that of a deity, who is identified with Saturn; that the Egyptians (from whom the Israelites must have derived the notion) ever acknowledged such a deity is quite unproved.
St. Stephen merely quotes the Textus Receptus of his day, which was close enough to the original for his argument.
The star of your god.
These words are in loose apposition with the preceding, and are equivalent to "your star god," or the star whom ye worship as god.
Whether some particular star is meant, or whether the sun is the deity signified, cannot be determined, although the universal prevalence of the worship of sun gods in Egypt makes the latter supposition very probable.
St. Stephen puts the sin in a general form: "God gave them up to serve the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42; comp. Deuteronomy 4:19; Deuteronomy 17:3).
Which ye made to yourselves.
This was the crime, self-will, desertion of the appointed way for devices of their own invention.
=====
Amos 5, in
_The Book of the 12 Prophets According to the Syriac Peshitta Version with English Translation_, on 261 of the PDF (with the typed number 95 at the bottom of the page)
https://gorgiaspress.com/the-book-of-the...ranslation
https://ebin.pub/qdownload/the-syriac-pe...01777.html
https://archive.org/download/PeshittaOld...ophets.pdf
26 But you carried
the tabernacle of Malcom
and Saturn your idol,
the star which you made your god.
27 I will lead you away captive from Damascus,
says the Lord, whose name is God the mighty.
=====
Amos 5 (NABRE)
https://biblehub.com/nabre/amos/5.htm
26 Yet you will carry away Sukuth, your king,
and Kaiwan, your star-image,
your gods that you have made for yourselves,
27 As I exile you beyond Damascus,
says the Lord,
whose name is the God of hosts.
NABRE footnote on Amos
https://biblehub.com/nabre/amos/footnotes.htm
[5:26] Sukuth: probably a hebraized form of Assyro-Babylonian Shukudu (“the Arrow”), a name of Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky.
It was associated with the god Ninurta, who was widely worshiped in Mesopotamia.
According to 2 Kgs 17:30 the cult of Sirius was introduced into Samaria by deportees from Babylonia.
Kaiwan: a hebraized form of an Akkadian name for the planet Saturn, also worshiped as a deity in Mesopotamia.