336 DAVID ARMITAGE privileged status over against readings derived from the Versions. As Tov puts it, “In principle, the evaluation of Hebrew and retroverted variants is identical, as long as the retroversion is reliable [italics original]” 2. In practice the evaluation of Hebrew and retroverted variants is indeed different, but this is not due to any inherent weakness in the Versions themselves, but results from the uncertainty involved in the process of reconstructing the u n d erl y i n g Hebrew texts. Evaluating the trustworthiness of proposed retroversions is therefore necessary. I. The Septuagint reading The Septuagint reading is typically interpreted along the following lines: “Save me from the mouth of the lion, and my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen”. This assumes retroversion from thn tapeınwsın moy to a Hebrew original of yyˆ[ ù ¥ ¥ in ; or yt:i"ˆ, derived from the homonym of the root hn[ glossed in BDB i yn[ as “be bowed down, afflicted” 3. In favour of ytyn[ is that it differs by only one consonant from the MT. However this set of consonants does not occur as a noun in BHS. It does occur on four occasions as a verb: in Ps 35,13 (piel), 116,10 (qal), and 119,71 (pual), it is found as a first person qatal form rendered in the Septuagint by appropriate variants of tapeinow. The fourth ¥ occurrence (Hos 14,9) is also rendered in the Septuagint as a verbal form from tapeinow, although most English translations ¥ derive this Hebrew verb from the homonym meaning “answer” 4. G i ve n the consonants ytyn[ i n the Hebrew Vorlage o f the Septuagint, it is not clear (unless traditional oral vocalisation demanded it) why literally inclined Septuagint translators would have opted for an otherwise unattested nominal form when the E. TOV, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research 2 (Jerusalem 1997) 213-214. This is not universally accepted. Compare (for example) D.F PAYNE, “Old Testament Textual Criticism: Its Principles and Practice ”, TynB 25 (1974) 108. BRIGGS – BRIGGS, Psalms I, 205; J. LUST et al., A Greek-English 3 Lexicon of the Septuagint (Stuttgart 1992) 605; VILLANUEVA, Uncertainty, 81. See for example English Standard Version, New American Standard 4 Bible, New English Translation, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible.