337 RESCUED ALREADY ? THE SIGNIFICANCE yntyn[ OF verbal form found elsewhere could make quite acceptable sense (for example, taking it as a qal form: “From the horns of the wild oxen I am afflicted”) 5. Every other occurrence of the phrase thn ù tapeınwsın moy in the Septuagint corresponds to yyn[ in the MT 6. ¥ ¥ Whilst mechanical retroversion using such evidence is not foolproof 7, the existence of a different yet contextually acceptable meaning for the consonants ytyn[ is a point in favour of the shorter form. Regrettably the biblical manuscripts from the Judean desert provide no evidence beyond v. 21 of Ps 22 8, but in the absence of such external evidence, yyn[ is the preferable retroversion, despite the greater difference from the MT. In favour of these retroverted readings over against the MT is the use by Symmachus of thn kakws¥n moy mou in place of thn ù ¥ ı ù tapeınwsın moy. Symmachus produced what is widely agreed to ¥ ¥ be a sound translation of the Hebrew 9, so his use of a different (but related) nominal translation implies that he did have access to a text containing yyn[ or something similar. This suggests that the translation found in the Septuagint was not the product of a reading error on the part of the Septuagint translator (or indeed the product of idiosyncratic exegesis), but that an actual written Hebrew text did exist with a nominal form 10. On the other hand Symmachus seems to have had considerable respect for the Septuagint, so his translation of Ps 22 could equally reflect a refinement of the pre-existing Greek text which he favoured over against his own Hebrew manuscript 11. Aquila’s version, however, reflects the reading found in the MT, rendering yntyi"ˆ using an i : n[ aorist verb: eıshkoysav me 12. This is significant given the notably ߥ Regarding literal translation tendencies in the Psalms of the Septuagint 5 see VILLANUEVA, Uncertainty, 87. See : Gen 31,42; Ps 9,14 ; 25,18; 31,8; 119,153, and Lam 1,9. 6 TOV, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint, 67. 7 4QPsf includes Ps 22,14-17, and 5/6HevPs includes vv. 4-9 and 8 vv. 15-21. Cf. E. ULRICH, The Biblical Qumran Scrolls. Transcriptions and Textual Variants (VTS 134; Leiden 2010) 793. K.H. JOBES – M.SILVA, Invitation to the Septuagint (Carlisle 2000) 40. 9 Cf TOV, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint, 88. 10 TOV , T h e Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint, 151, notes that 11 Symmachus did apparently exercise some freedom in translating his Vorlage. F. FIELD, Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt sive veterum interpretum 12 graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta (Oxford 1875) II, 119.