The translation of Hebrew prepositions into Greek in Septuagint Ruth

<p dir="ltr">The traditional view has been that the translator of Septuagint Ruth composed a word-for-word translation, displayed considerable bilingual interference, and had limited knowledge of the Greek language. An examination of the translation of Hebrew prepositions into Greek in Septuagint Ruth demonstrates that the traditional view does not fit the evidence.</p><p dir="ltr">While LXX Ruth does closely follow the Hebrew Vorlage, the translator does not automatically translate Hebrew prepositions the same way each time. There is, however, considerable consistency within a particular use of a Hebrew preposition. When the context permitted, the Greek preposition that was an obvious equivalent to a Hebrew preposition was frequently used, but this was not always the case. Even when the obvious equivalent preposition would have been appropriate, sometimes a different Greek preposition or even a different grammatical construction was chosen. Additionally, there are examples where the same Hebrew word or phrase was translated in more than one way in Septuagint Ruth.</p><p dir="ltr">Only two of the approximately 280 Hebrew preposition examined show evidence of semantic extension when translated into Greek. Both were expressed as ἐν ἐμοί, “<i>against me</i>”. While the underlying Hebrew prepositions are different, both can have an adversative sense. The Greek preposition ἐν usually does not.</p><p dir="ltr">In contrast to the traditional view, this study suggests that the translator had sufficient Greek language competency to choose appropriate Greek prepositions or idioms depending on context. The flexibility to translate in more than one way even when the meaning was the same, suggests that the translator did engage in stylistic variation.</p>