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Document Details :

Title: About Coins and Kingship in LXX Proverbs 25,4-5
Author(s): OLIVERO, Vladimir
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 102    Issue: 4   Date: 2021   
Pages: 503-514
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.102.4.3290254

Abstract :
The article discusses the translation and meaning of LXX Prov 25,4-5. These verses seem to be often misunderstood in modern translations, which tend to convey the meaning contained in the Hebrew text rather than that of the Greek version. What I propose is that the Greek translation does not refer to metallurgy and the refining of silver, as in the Hebrew source. The translator changes the meaning of the proverb and substitutes the image of minting coins for smelting silver (correctly rendered in a minority of modern translations and studies). The new teaching of LXX Proverbs with regards to money perfectly fits the Ptolemaic social and economic context and constitutes a further element to understand the outlook on kingship and on the duties of the Lagid king in Hellenistic Alexandria.

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