|
Isa 5:4 (KJV) |
2 Nephi 15:4 |
|
What could have been done more to my
vineyard, that I have not done in it? Wherefore, when I looked that it should
bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? |
What could have been done more
to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Wherefore when I looked that it
should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes. |
|
Isa 50:2 (KJV) |
2 Nephi 7:2 |
|
Wherefore, when I came, was
there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand
shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their
fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. |
Wherefore when I came, there
was no man; when I called, yea, there was none to answer. O house of Israel,
is my hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to
deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness
and their fish to stink because the waters are dried up and they dieth
because of thirst. |
In these two verses, the Book of Mormon interprets
"wherefore" (Heb: מַדּוּעַ), not as an interrogative, but a
conjunction. According to David P. Wright,
The BoM reading depends on the ambiguity
or polysemy of the English “wherefore.” . . . the BoM reading uses “wherefore”
as a conjunction which is not possible for Hebrew maddûac,
which reveals the BoM’s dependence on the English text. (David P. Wright,
“Joseph Smith in Isaiah: Or Joseph Smith in Isaiah,” in American Apocrypha:
Essays on the Book of Mormon, ed. Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe [Salt
Lake City: Signature Books, 2002], 168)
While this is possible, it is also possible that an ancient
scribe or interpreter would understand it to have the sense of “therefore” or
be a rhetorical question.
What is interesting is that the LXX of Isa 5:4 interprets
the passage as being indicative:
What more shall I do for my
vineyard that I did not do for it? Because I waited for it to produce grapes,
but it produced thorns. (Lexham English Septuagint, Second Edition)
The Greek reads:
τί ποιήσω ἔτι τῷ ἀμπελῶνί μου καὶ
οὐκ ἐποίησα αὐτῷ; διότι ἔμεινα τοῦ ποιῆσαι σταφυλήν, ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας.
(Göttingen)
The word διοτι, according to BDAG, is "1. marker of a
causal connection between two statements, because" and "2.
marker used to introduce an inference, therefore."
For a similar usage in the Hebrew is Exo 3:3:
And Moses said, I will now turn
aside, and see this great sight, why (מַדּוּעַ) the bush is not burnt.
Examples of מַדּוּעַ being used in the sense of a rhetorical
question, consider the following examples:
Then king Jehoash called for Jehoiada with the other
priests and said to them, “Why (מַדּוּעַ) are you not repairing the house? Now
therefore do not accept any more money from your donors but hand it over for
the repair of the house. (2 Kgs 12:7 [Heb: v. 8])
As for me, is my complaint to
man? And if it were not so, why (מַדּוּעַ) should not my spirit be troubled? (Job
21:4)
