“Instruction” and “Justification” in the Masoretic text, Septuagint, Elisabethian Bible and the Book of Psalms by archbishop Ambrose (Zertis-Kamensky): The translation of the lexeme חקָֻּה

Abstract

The article is about the analysis of the variants of the translation of the Masoretic text’s lexeme חקָֻּה in the Septuagint, Elisabethian Bible and the Book of Psalms by archbishop Ambrose (Zertis-Kamensky), the translation from Hebrew made in the 2nd half of the 18th century. The causes of the distinctions in Greek, Church Slavic texts and in this Psalter are analyzed in this article. Archbishop Ambrose wished to clear the verses, which are the cases of the usage of this lexeme, by showing obviously, that the instructions should be understood there. The possible influence of the Church Fathers’ and medieval theologians’ exegesis on the translation of archb. Ambrose is philologically and theologically analyzed. Also the correlation between it and the academical exegetes, both Russian and West, is researched. The works of st. Athanasius the Great, st. Theodoret of Cyrus, st. Augustinus, st. Jerome of Stridon, st. Hilarius of Pictavium, Euthimius Zigaben and Cassiodorus are chosen from the first ones. The commentaries of the Lopukhin’s Explanatory Bible, of P. A. Iungerov, the Americans E. S. Gerstenberger, S. L. Terrien, the Germans F.-L. Hossfeld, E. Zenger, H.-J. Kraus and New Geneva Bible are from the second ones. The parallel between the analyzed Psalter and the Church Fathers is mostly in the works, where the “justification” is differed from the commandments. As for the academicals, only Lopukhin’s Explanatory Bible and Iungerov’s commentaries have it. Therefore, these works are also near to the analyzed Psalter.