Ezekiel 1-11 of Codex B: Edition, translation, philological analysis, classification

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Karin Finsterbusch
• Subject Area: Protestant Theology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 540476564

The main witnesses to the Old Greek Ezekiel are LXX967 (the preserved sections cover most of Ezek 11:25–48:35) and LXXB. Old Greek and MT-Ezek differ in arrangement (different sequence of verses within Ezek 7, different position of Ezek 37 within the book), in length (the Old Greek is about 4–5% shorter, since several passages and many small units with less than three words are absent) and in numerous details with regard to semantics and grammar. When referring to the Old Greek Ezekiel, studies on Ezek 12–48 have increasingly displayed the use of Papyrus 967’s text as the oldest available prehexaplaric witness. In contrast, for analyses of Ezek 1–11 Ziegler’s critical text is usually used in spite of the significance which is ascribed in scholarly literature unanimously to LXXB. As yet, no comprehensive study of LXXB’s character and linguistic quality has appeared; neither exists a text-critical edition nor a translation into German. The proposed project wants to address this desideratum. Firstly, complementary to the synoptic edition of Ezek 12–48 according to LXX967 und MTL (WMANT 173), a synoptic edition of Ezek 1–11 according to LXXB and MTL is to be prepared. Secondly, complementary to the synoptic translation into German of Ezek 12–48 according to LXX967 und MTL (WMANT 172), a synoptic translation of Ezek 1–11 according to LXXB and MTL is to be compiled. The presentation of LXXB together with the MT, a notification-system within the synoptic translation, highlighting the differences between the versions, and a text-critical apparatus at the end of the pages should facilitate its textual study. Supplementing the preparation of the synoptic edition and the translation, the material is to be systematically explored: The expected results of a comparison of the translations of texts in LXXB-Ezek 1–11 and their parallels in Ezek 12–48 (LXX967/LXXB) will address the character and the quality of the Old Greek (semantic inconsistencies?, multiple translators?, interpretative renderings?) as well as the question of the relationship between LXXB and LXX967 (same features of revision in LXXB-Ezek 1–11 as in LXXB-Ezek 12–48 in comparison with LXX967?). The analysis of LXXB and MT as „variant literary editions“ in the case of passages which display significant differences between the versions, and the examination of the pluses in the versions with regard to redactional tendencies could contribute to a further clarification of the chronology between the versions and the redaction history of the Ezekielian texts. The results might significantly influence both the study of the book of Ezekiel as well as the study of the Septuagint in general.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants