Scribes and translators. text-critical use of translations of a translation; Proverbs 8:31 as a case study

The Greek translation of the book of Proverbs, is well known to biblical scholars for both its peculiar literary Greek, and its ad sensum renderings, which often make it difficult to recognise which is the underneath Hebrew text. Being a translation from the Hebrew language, the Septuagint of Proverbs was nonetheless in its turn translated into several ancient languages and dialects. As it is proved for other books of the Old Testament, also in Proverbs the Pre-Nicene translations in particular (Latin and Sahidic) prove to sometimes preserve readings which are not preserved by the Post-Nicene Greek manuscripts. These readings may occasionally represent a different, if not better, Hebrew Vorlage in comparison with the Masoretic Text. This complex situation is elucidated here by the case found in Prov. 8.31 where both the Latin and Sahidic show a line which has been only recently partially recognised also in a Greek papyrus. Particular attention is given to the problem of restoring the Greek text and its Hebrew Vorlage, and how these findings should be treated when editing a critical or diplomatic text and its apparatus. The author finally attempts some exegetical and theological inferences.