From: David C. Hindley (dhindley@compuserve.com)
Date: Sat Dec 22 2001 - 01:54:22 EST
Clay,
>>There are a number of rare words here, like SELHNAGWGIAS
(8:3) but my question isn't about these.
In 8:3, what did ARMARWS teach? My best guess about EPAOIDWN
LUTHRION is: "the breaking of evil spells" or how to perform
the reverse action of what SEMIAZAS taught in the clause
before.
The translations of the Ethiopic Texts of Enoch are not all
that helpful since it is assumed by some that the Ethiopic
text was made from the Greek text. Here are the English
renderings of Ethiopic:
RH Charles: "resolving of enchantments"
R. Laurence "solution of sorcery"<<
Charles made use of an eclectic Ethiopic text he created
himself. I am not familiar with R. Laurence's translation,
but he too likely relied upon one or more of the five or so
Ethiopic mss known today, and these have some significant
differences between them. So, I might add, do the two Greek
mss containing this passage that both of these translators
surely relied upon. This may partly explain why there are
differences between translations in some particular points.
Also, the scanned e-text of Charles' English translation
available on the Web is actually that found in APOT, not his
earlier 1912 publication. Keep in mind, too, that because of
the way the text was formatted (verse number precedes the
beginning of the line in which the new verse starts) the
verse numbers in the scanned text are out of whack with
their proper place in the translation.
Have you consulted J. T. Milik's _The Books of Enoch_ (with
Matthew Black, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976)? Enoch was
probably written in Aramaic, and Milik here published almost
all of the Aramaic fragments of the book found in Qumran
cave 4.
Fragment 4QEn-b 1.iii evidently contains the passage you
inquire about in the original language.
Unfortunately I do not read Aramaic, but Milik translates
the passage as "(8:3) Semihazah taught [spell-binding and
cutting of roots. Hermoni] taught the loosing of spells,
[magic ...]". He provides a diplomatic transcription and
also photos of the Aramaic fragments. There is also a handy
table of fallen angels as they are found in the Greek,
Ethiopic and Aramaic fragments, including what the names
probably signify, in the footnotes to 4QEn-a.
Alternately, E[phraim?] Isaac, in his English translation of
the Ethiopic Kebran mss, renders 8:3 "... and Armaros the
resolving of incantations". [See James H. Charlesworth, ed.,
_The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha_ (Garden City: Doubleday,
vol 1, 1983)]
Respectfully,
Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
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