A Study of the Hebrew Infinitive Absolute and Its Translation in the LXX of the Pentateuch

Translation and textual criticism are two closely related fields. When translating from the original language of the Biblical text there are places variant readings occur between manuscripts. In these places the textual variant may have an impact on how those passages are translated. The translator must interact with these textual variants in order to make a decision as to which reading seems original. One area in which these two fields overlap is in the study of the Septuagint (LXX). This ancient translation is useful for textual criticism in that it provides a text that pre-dates some of the earliest manuscripts that were available for study, until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. However, even with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the LXX is still useful for textual criticism due to the fact that recent studies on translation techniques have shown that the translations that seemed to point to a different Hebrew Vorlage are actually just a free translation by the translators. Translation techniques are any regularly used method to translate a lexeme or syntactic construction. An example of this would be the use of the Greek word κνριος; to translate the Hebrew Divine Name. The reason for studying these translation techniques is that by understanding them it becomes easier to distinguish what is a legitimate variant reading