04_Biblica_Collins_Layout 1 01/04/14 11:47 Pagina 66 66 C. JOHN COLLINS 1. Background in the Hebrew Bible The closest we come is a few places that use the Hebrew verb ‘āmaḏ (“stand”), for which a Greek rendering with i[sthmi and cog- nates makes good sense. A good example is Ps 33,9, “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm”. Here “it stood firm” renders wayya‘ămōḏ, which the Israeli commentator Hakham suggests refers to “establishment of existence” 4. The Greek uses ektisqhsan, which captures this sense. In Ps 119,90b we find, “you v, have established the earth, and it stands fast [Heb. watta‘ămōḏ; Gk. kai. diame,nei]”. The stress here is on the enduring existence of what God has established. There are two relevant examples where the Hebrew verb comes into Greek with the more “literal” i[sthmi. In Ps 148,6 God “estab- lished [Heb. wayya‘ămîḏēm “made them stand”; Gk. e[sthsen]” the heavenly bodies “forever and ever”. In Isa 48,13 God says, My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together [Heb. ya‘amḏȗ yaḥdāw; Gk. sth,sontai a[ma] Hakham explains the last line as “the heavens and the earth are joined together”, giving a coherent system 5. This seems more likely than Koole’s suggestion that we take “call” as “call into being”, as in 41,4, and thus “stand forth” as “come into being” 6. The syntax of “call” is different: in 41,4 God “calls” the generations, a simple transitive usage, while in 48,13 he “calls to [Heb. ’el]” the heavens and earth, implying they already exist. The notion of the world as a coherent system will be relevant to the discussion that follows. This usage probably lies behind the saying in Pirqe Abot, 1.2, “Upon three things the world stands [Heb. ‘ômēḏ]: upon the Torah, and upon worship, and upon the practice of charity”. Quite similar 4 A. HAKHAM, Sefer Tehillim (Da‘at Miqra’; Jerusalem 1979) I, 182 (bpq). 5 A. HAKHAM, Sefer Yesha‘yahu (Da‘at Miqra’; Jerusalem 1984) II, 622 (bkqt). 6 J. KOOLE, Isaiah, Part 3, Volume 1: Isaiah 40–48 (Historical Commen- tary on the OT; Kampen 1997) 581.