A great number of the
transmitters of the Greek Scriptures modified the ideal of translation from the
first century BCE onward. The Hebrew text had formed the standard for the Greek
translation from the beginning. But the previous translations often had looked
for an equilibrium to the target language and sometimes preferred a free Greek
narrative. Now the proximity to the source language gained priority. The
translation technique introduced strong Greek isomorphs to the Hebrew language
(cf. the scroll of the Dodekaporopheton from Naḥal Ḥever). Ultimately, the
reproduction of the Hebrew was pursued to such an extent that even violations
of Greek syntax were tolerated. Second Esdras wrote, for example, names in
Greek indeclinably as in Hebrew despite the fact that Greek would demand a
declination.
The unusual Greek rendition
of וגם (“and also”) with καί γε gave the longstanding tendency the name
“kaige.” The variety of linguistic appearances prohibits one from speaking of a
deliberate and unified redaction. The rendition of the texts rather changed
gradually in the manuscripts.72 Moreover, the most prominent reworking, Daniel
Θ, attracted the name of Theodotion. Therefore, the relation between kaige and
the so-called younger translation attributed to the figure of Theodotion
(mostly ascribed to the second c. CE) needs clarification.
The followers of Jesus
occasionally used manuscripts with the kaige tendency; the eponymous καί γε is
found in the citation of Joel 3:2 in Acts 2:18 (against the simple καί in the
Old Greek of Joel 3:2). The famous Son of Man phrase from Dan 7:13 was probably
even received in both of the existing versions; the older Septuagint text (LXXRa
and Papyrus 967) identified the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days (cf. Rev
1:13–14) whereas the Theodotionic text did not make this identification (cf.
Rev 1:7). (Martin Karrer, “Israel’s Greek Scriptures in Their Collection in the
Septuagint,” in Israel’s Scriptures in Early Christian Writings: The Use of
the Old Testament in the New, ed. Matthias Henze and David Lincicum [Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2023], 95-96)
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