update from sparkleup
This commit is contained in:
parent
102c003868
commit
9325b64f87
|
|
@ -25,8 +25,6 @@
|
|||
<p>All the same, I was young, I was dumb, and I was flaking away at the edges of that more fundamental identity. I was making use of the space I had to explore in clumsy, gangly ways. I was building up new versions of myself, one after another, to search for the smallest bit of relief from that friction.</p>
|
||||
<p>An aside: ((furry as a queer space))<sup id="fnref:younes-translation"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:younes-translation">9</a></sup></p>
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<p>In fact, though many of the same ideas within the hymn are also there in Ecclesiastes, those in the latter tend to be more refined, more fleshed out. This might be due to the later date of composition of the former, but may also be due to the context of the book and the interpolated nature of the hymn. The author of the hymn views wisdom as an ephemeral concept. It is not something that can be held or perceived by man, or, indeed, life itself: “It is hidden from the eye of all living” (Job 28:21, Alter). Even other abstract (though often personified) concepts seem to have difficulty with it: “Perdition and Death have said, “With our own ears we have heard its rumor.”” (Job 28:22, Alter)</p>
|
||||
<p>Qohelet, on the other hand, has a much more grounded view.<sup id="fnref:younes-qohelet-interpolation"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:younes-qohelet-interpolation">3</a></sup> He says that wisdom is one of those things that you gain by experiencing, something that abides through all of the ups and downs in your life and is only ever strengthened. This is not to say that he is in any way upbeat, however. Wisdom, folly, riches, merriment, these all will go with you to the grave. They, too, will be meaningless.</p>
|
||||
<div class="footnote">
|
||||
<hr />
|
||||
<ol>
|
||||
|
|
@ -37,7 +35,9 @@
|
|||
<p>The hymn itself is a respectable piece of poetry. It begins in a roundabout way, discussing the acquisition of physical wealth. It describes the ways in which gold and silver are extracted from the earth and copper smelted from ore. It describes paths unseen by beast, ones that require work to acquire. Throughout these few verses (1–11) runs a very clear directionality. From the start, they are heading <em>towards</em> something. They are pointing <em>at</em> something. Verse 12 illuminates: “But wisdom, where is it found, and where is the place of discernment?” (Job 28:12, Alter)<sup id="fnref:younes-qohelet"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:younes-qohelet">2</a></sup> <a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:younes-interpolation1" title="Jump back to footnote 1 in the text">↩</a></p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li id="fn:younes-qohelet">
|
||||
<p>Certainly not beneath the earth! If Qohelet has taught us anything, it is that. Wisdom abides despite toil, despite merriment, despite even riches. <a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:younes-qohelet" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text">↩</a></p>
|
||||
<p>Certainly not beneath the earth! If Qohelet has taught us anything, it is that. Wisdom abides despite toil, despite merriment, despite even riches.</p>
|
||||
<p>In fact, though many of the same ideas within the hymn are also there in Ecclesiastes, those in the latter tend to be more refined, more fleshed out. This might be due to the later date of composition of the former, but may also be due to the context of the book and the interpolated nature of the hymn. The author of the hymn views wisdom as an ephemeral concept. It is not something that can be held or perceived by man, or, indeed, life itself: “It is hidden from the eye of all living” (Job 28:21, Alter). Even other abstract (though often personified) concepts seem to have difficulty with it: “Perdition and Death have said, “With our own ears we have heard its rumor.”” (Job 28:22, Alter)</p>
|
||||
<p>Qohelet, on the other hand, has a much more grounded view.<sup id="fnref:younes-qohelet-interpolation"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:younes-qohelet-interpolation">3</a></sup> He says that wisdom is one of those things that you gain by experiencing, something that abides through all of the ups and downs in your life and is only ever strengthened. This is not to say that he is in any way upbeat, however. Wisdom, folly, riches, merriment, these all will go with you to the grave. They, too, will be meaningless. <a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:younes-qohelet" title="Jump back to footnote 2 in the text">↩</a></p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li id="fn:younes-qohelet-interpolation">
|
||||
<p>That is, until, one gets to the end of Ecclesiastes. The second half of chapter 12 is, per Alter, likely an interpolation of its own, where an epilogist rounds out the remainder of the book with some sounder, more conventional piety. “The last word, all being heard: fear God and keep His commands, for that is all humankind. Since every deed will God bring to judgment, for every hidden act, be it good or Evil” (Job 12:13-14, Alter) echoes the end of the hymn, which puts it, “Look, fear of the master, that is wisdom, and the shunning of evil is insight.”</p>
|
||||
|
|
@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
|
|||
<p>Christian sources, however, all lean on righteous, while the HCSB, NIV, and KJV having identical wording for that phrase. This colors the meaning, does it not? Alter, JPS, and Greenstein describe Elihu as being angry because he is declaring himself more right than God, whereas the Christian sources all interpret the text as Job justifying himself <em>rather than</em> God. Interestingly, the 2001 translation of the Septuagint has Elihu upset that Job is “declaring himself righteous before God” (Job 32:2, Septuagint 2001\nocite{septuagint}), a sense of uncolored plainness that is missing from the other translations. In this case, Elihu is seemingly upset at Job for being upset. <a class="footnote-backref" href="#fnref:younes-eyes" title="Jump back to footnote 8 in the text">↩</a></p>
|
||||
</li>
|
||||
<li id="fn:younes-translation">
|
||||
<p>The next verse is all over the place in translation. KJV and NIV suggest that Elihu is upset at Job’s friends because they couldn’t find any fault in Job but still condemned him. JPS agrees, but uses <code>merely' before</code>condemn’ which adds a value judgement. Alter has him upset because Job’s friends couldn’t show Job to be guilty. Though it is difficult to pin down why, Alter posits that Elihu is angry at Job’s friends because they just couldn’t actually find a way to condemn him: “because they had not found an answer that showed Job guilty” (Job 32:3, Alter) (a sentiment echoed in the footnotes for verse 13: “In attributing this statement to the three reprovers, Elihu shows them admitting the failure of their own arguments.” \parencite[548]{alter}), while the NRSV walks the middle path with “because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.” (Job 32:3, NRSV)</p>
|
||||
<p>The next verse is all over the place in translation. KJV and NIV suggest that Elihu is upset at Job’s friends because they couldn’t find any fault in Job but still condemned him. JPS agrees, but uses ‘merely’ before ‘condemn’ which adds a value judgement. Alter has him upset because Job’s friends couldn’t show Job to be guilty. Though it is difficult to pin down why, Alter posits that Elihu is angry at Job’s friends because they just couldn’t actually find a way to condemn him: “because they had not found an answer that showed Job guilty” (Job 32:3, Alter) (a sentiment echoed in the footnotes for verse 13: “In attributing this statement to the three reprovers, Elihu shows them admitting the failure of their own arguments.” \parencite[548]{alter}), while the NRSV walks the middle path with “because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.” (Job 32:3, NRSV)</p>
|
||||
<p>Weinberger continues to be relevant: “[…] translation is more than a leap from dictionary to dictionary; it is a reimagining of the poem.” \parencite[46]{wangwei}</p>
|
||||
<p>This is where we leave off, and then this youngster, this whippersnapper, this upstart Elihu picks up.</p>
|
||||
<p>“I am young in years, and you are aged. Therefore I was awed and feared to speak my mind with you,” (Job 32:6, Alter) he begins, and we are off to the races, or at least some brash exhortations to wisdom. Jobs friends may have left off on their attempts to convince him of some perhaps-guilt, but Elihu does not: “And I attended to you, and, look, Job has no refuter, none to answer his talk among you.” (Job 32:12, Alter) Were it not for the (admittedly quite beautiful) poetic form of Elihu’s speeches, he would be beyond tiresome. He goes on for more than a chapter simply talking about how he is going to answer Job before he actually does so. He is going to talk. He is going to get there eventually. He will speak.<sup id="fnref:younes-alien"><a class="footnote-ref" href="#fn:younes-alien">10</a></sup> Verse after verse of promises.</p>
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
Loading…
Reference in New Issue