2Corinthians 6:15 - Satana to Belial

[Burning one]

Shlama,

i don't have any idea why there is a difference between Satana and Beliar, but here's a few variant spellings from different Greek texts that might be of interest to throw into the midst:

BELIAR

BELIAL

BELIAN

BELIAB

if you know Estrangela, you can see how BELIAB, BELIAL, and perhaps even BELIAN (if the nun was not in sophit form) could each be misconstrued with the last letter. Beliar - not so much... i don't know that it helps, since we don't have any Peshitta texts that actually contain such a variant term, but the lamadh, bet, and nun could indeed be mistaken for one another - especially the lamadh and nun, depending on height -- and i've seen an instance or so of misreading between a lamadh and a bet accounting for a disparate reading between the Greek and Aramaic, so that is possible, as well.


Chayim b'Moshiach,
Jeremy

What about misreading a final lamed for a nun? That's a strange phenomenon since the nun would have to be in a final form (see Manaen)

Shlama akhi,

yes, it would be a less likely case, unless the translator saw the Lamadh and was thinking "nun" even though the final form would have been wrong. we've seen other instances where Zorba in all his glory made similar mistakes, so it is at least possible, the admittedly the least likely of the proposed solutions.

the more likely scenario would fit with BELIAB and BELIAL, between the Bet and Lamadh being confused, which i've seen elsewhere as explanation for Greek variants. perhaps the other reading, BELIAR, could have arisen from a misreading of a smudged or faded or poorly-finished Bet, since the two letters share the same structural form to a good degree in Estrangela....

it is all up in the air, but the similarity of three of the Greek variant's last letters in Estrangela makes me tend to think the original would have been something in Aramaic, not Hebrew.

just my half-shekel worth! <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->


Chayim b'Moshiach v'Shabbat shalom,
Jeremy