The Analysis of the Translation of 'אֲמֻצִּים' in Zechariah 63 and 67

There are some ancient sacred texts for Christianity such as Hebrew Bible, Syriac Peshitta, Septuagint, Aramaic Targum and Latin Vulgate. However, the translation of these ancient texts is not always having the same nuance or literal meaning. Zechariah 6:3 and 6:7 are one example. The word “אֲמֻצִּים” or strong has been translated diversely in our ancient sacred texts. Therefore, this paper will attempt to discuss multiple translations for the word “אֲמֻצִּים” or strong. The discussion will cover the purpose of these various translations. The possible reason behind the selection of the meaning will also be discussed in this paper.


INTRODUCTION
Most of commentaries on the Bible seek to explain the meaning of the words, phrases, and ideas of the scriptural text in their nearer and wider context: a textual commentary. 1 However, there are some obstacles to find out the meaning; for instance, some of Hebrew Bible and Greek NT texts are unclear in terms of meaning or / and the ancient texts convey different attestation. Zechariah 6:3, for example, conveys these difficulties: both unclear from Hebrew text and have different attestations. Latin Vulgate translates the word ‫ִּים"‬ ‫צ‬ ֻ ‫ֲמ‬ ‫"א‬ as strong; however, the other ancient texts -Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, and Aramaic Targum -employ "spotted-skewbald (horses)" for this word. In other words, this same word of Hebrew has two different 1 Bruce Metzger, Textual Commentary on the NT 2 nd edition (Stuttgart: Deutsche meanings. This word appears two times in the entire Hebrew Bible: Zechariah 6:3 and 6:7. To analyze this word, I am going over to the ancient manuscripts -Biblia Hebraica Quinta, Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum and Latin Vulgate -, and list them all. Then, I will compare these texts and explain the reason and the purpose of these diverse translations; this paper does not try to find out the original word and meaning as in textual criticism study. Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), 1. The list of the ancient texts conveys the discrepancy of the description of the fourth chariot. Latin Vulgate seems not only depict the appearance of the fourth chariot, but also the strength. The other texts, however, only focus on the color of the fourth chariot. 7

‫ִּים‬ ‫ֻצ‬ ‫ֲמ‬ ‫א‬
(2) ‫ִּים‬ ‫ֻצ‬ ‫ֲמ‬ ‫א‬ These four lexicons translate ‫ִּים"‬ ‫צ‬ ‫"אֲמֻ‬ differently. BDB, for instance, translates it as strong. 8 The rests use flesh-coloured or varied dapple-grays horse; Syriac Peshitta: particolored horses; Aramaic Targum: shining (dazzling) ash horses; Latin Vulgate: brown horses. 8 Adjective masculine plural absolute from the word ‫ֹץ"‬ ‫."ָאמ‬ BDB notes that this word appears twice and only in this book (6:3; 6:7). Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, James Strong, and Wilhelm Gesenius, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English lexicon: with an appendix containing the Biblical Aramaic : coded with the numbering system from Strong's Exhaustive concordance of the Bible (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996). skewbald or piebald or dappled (horses). 9 Although the dictionary of classical Hebrew volume 1 and TWOT choose spotted and dappled (horses) for this word, this dictionary also mentions that the same word could have a different meaning: strong. 10 In short, the dilemma is the word ‫ֹץ"‬ ‫"ָאמ‬ has two meanings: spotted and dappled (horses) or strong; and this information answers the reason of different attestations of the ancient manuscripts.

Different Translations from the Ancient
Texts.

/ dappled (variegated) .
Based on table observation above, three ancient texts -Quinta, Peshitta and Vulgate -are rather ambiguous about the color of the flock; they only mention the characteristic of the flock' appearance such as spotted, speckled and variegated (highly decorated). Targum seems to explain more further, in this case the color, which is white. Septuagint, on the other hand, is obviously describing the color of the sprinkled (spotted): the pale gray color of ash.
If Zechariah emphasizes on the description of the chariots' colors, then spotted-skewbald is the most plausible reading; because ‫ים‬ ִּ֖ ‫דִּ‬ ‫ְרֻ‬ ‫ב‬ only gives the appearance of the fourth chariot, not the color. TWOT also supports this reading and points out that because the first three are given colors and it seems incongruous to call the last pair "strong". 12 Septuagint, Targum and Peshitta' translations seem to maintain the colors description of the chariots. The geography plays important role in these verses. Because of the geography of Palestine, all of Israel's enemies came against her from north or south. The east of Israel and Judah is Arabian deserts; on the other hand, the west side is sea Mediterranean. The appellation of North and South is also related to geography. Old Testament prophetic texts display on going tradition of the threat from the north country. The north country is the place from which attacks come from Assyria and Babylon (Isa. 14:31; Jer. 1:14-15  [8][9], and given the significance of Edom elsewhere in the Book of the Twelve as an enemy of God's people (Am. 9:12; Obad. 1:1; Mal. 1:4). Alternatively, it probably refers to Egypt (Is. 43:6) and it was another implacable and long-term enemy; the place which some Judah fled after the destruction of Jerusalem (Jer. 44). 14 In short, it was from the north and the south that the traditional enemies came into their land. It is these directions in which the horses and chariots go out.
All the ancient texts concur that both the black and white chariot go to the North -Assyria and Babel -to execute God's judgment, and the spotted chariot go to the South. Also, Peshitta, Targum and Septuagint keep consistently the depiction of the fourth chariot both appearance and color. The distinction is Targum and Septuagint give no information about the red chariot which is mentioned earlier in verse 2; Syriac-Peshitta, nevertheless, adds one word "the red ones" in 6:7 which it is not appeared in Peshitta text in verse 3. It seems that Syriac-Peshitta discusses the destination and activity of all the chariots including the red ones which went and patrolled the earth (6:7). Thus, Syriac-Peshitta depicts every destination for every chariot.
Latin Vulgate, on the other hand, follows Targum and Septuagint in respect to disregard the red chariot. Then, Vulgate not only uses the word "strong" (same in 6:3), but also use that word in the superlative form in the verse 7 ("issimi" in Latin). Whether the usage of relative pronoun qui in the beginning of verse 7 modifies the fourth chariot only or the whole chariots, this superlative form is unique because it is not attested in any ancient texts. It seems Vulgate reminds and encourages the reader that Yahweh is the true king over all the earth (14:9), he will judge his enemies (1:21; 2:9; 6:8-9) and save his people (2:11; 8:20; 9:7; 14:16), and he is in control. Although the people of God feel fall short of promising and restoration of Israel' fortune, the imagery of the strongest chariot(s) of God that go and patrol the earth confirms Zechariah' message: God is in control and God is more powerful than their situation.

CONCLUSION
The different translation of the word ‫ִּים"‬ ‫ֻצ‬ ‫ֲמ‬ ‫"א‬ in the Hebrew text not only because that word has two different meanings, but also there is a reason behind the selection of the meaning. Targum and Septuagint, for example, consistently and faithfully maintain the harmony of colors of all chariots (6:2-3): red, black, white and spottedgray (ash). Then, when the red chariot is missing from the Hebrew text, they faithfully omit the red chariot (6-7). Syriac-Peshitta, on the other hand, consistently preserves the harmony of colors like Targum and Septuagint (6:2-3), but it does not faithfully commit to Hebrew manuscript. Rather, Syriac-Peshitta adds the word "red" so that Peshitta could be consistent to verse 2-3 and provide a clearer information about the "red chariot" that is missing in all ancient manuscripts (6:6-7). Latin Vulgate is the only ancient manuscript that employs the word "strong" (6:3). This uniqueness continues to verse 7 when Latin Vulgate uses the superlative form that is not even attested in the Hebrew text. This research conveys that Latin Vulgate probably is eager to encourage Jewish people amongst their unpleasant situation (theological implication).