Ps 68:17 Transformed souls

*You’re right to raise it. “_Šinʾān_ = doubling the number” is the main counter argument. It’s BDB’s first option. Let’s test it against the text and see if it holds.* ### *The counter argument stated cleanly* *Claim*: _Šinʾān_ שִׁנְאָן comes from _šānâ_ II “to repeat, do again” = *“doubling, repetition.”* So _ribbōṯayim ʾalpê šinʾān_ = “twenty thousands of thousands of *doubling*” = *20,000 × 2 × 1,000 = 40 million*. It’s just a number modifier. *No people. No transformation.* Just math. Like “20,000 thousands *twice over*.” *Why people like it*: 1. Keeps it simple — numbers only. 2. No rare theology needed. 3. Matches Peshitta which just gives big numbers and skips _šinʾān_. ### *5 reasons “doubling” fails here — and “transformed souls” wins* #### *1. Grammar: _Šinʾān_ is a noun, not an adverb* *If _šinʾān_ meant “doubling” as math*, Hebrew would use _pi-šənayim_ “double” or _kep̱el_ “duplicate.” *Isaiah 40:2*: _kip̄layim_ “double.” *Zechariah 9:12*: _mišneh_ “double.” *But _šinʾān_ has a noun ending _-ān*_. Biblical _-ān_ forms concrete nouns: _Qorbān_ “offering,” _šulḥān_ “table,” _ʿāmān_ “skilled one.” *_Šinʾān_ = “one characterized by _š-n-h_.”* If _š-n-h_ = “change,” then _šinʾān_ = *“changed one.”* If _š-n-h_ = “repeat,” then _šinʾān_ = *“repeater”* — still a person/thing, not adverb “twice.” *You can’t say “20,000 thousands of twice.”* You’d need _paʿămayim_ “two times.” *You can say “20,000 thousands of changed-ones.”* Grammar demands a noun. #### *2. Syntax: _Šinʾān_ is parallel to the riders, not the numbers* *Structure*: _reḵeḇ ʾelōhîm ribbōṯayim ʾalpê šinʾān ʾăḏōnāy bām_ *Literally*: “Chariotry of God: twenty thousands, thousands of _šinʾān_; Adonay *among them*.” *_Bām_ “among them”* — *Who is “them”?* The nearest antecedent is _šinʾān_. Not _ribbōṯayim_. Not _ʾalpê_. *If _šinʾān_ = “doubling,” then “among them” = “among the doublings.”* Nonsense. *God is among persons*, not among math operations. *Peshitta*: _māryā bəhôn_ “Mar-Yah *among them*.” *Targum*: _YWY bəhôn_ “YYY *among them*.” *LXX*: _kyrios en autois_ “Lord *among them*.” *All ancient versions read _šinʾān_ as the antecedent of “them.”* That requires _šinʾān_ to be *living beings*, not a number word. #### *3. Lexical: Every ancient translator who rendered _šinʾān_ saw people, not math* **Translator** **Rendering of *šinʾān*** **Type** **LXX** *euthēnountōn* “those flourishing” **People** **Targum** *šannayyā* “those who change” **People** **Symmachus** *deuterountōn* “those doing again” **People** **Aquila** *alloiōseōs* “of transformation” **State of people** **Vulgate** *laetantium* “those rejoicing” **People** *Zero ancient versions*: _dis_ “twice,” _dupliciter_ “doubly,” _bis_ “again” as math. *Aquila is the killer.* He’s fanatically literal. If _šinʾān_ meant “doubling” as a number, he’d write _diplasmou_ “of doubling.” *He wrote _alloiōseōs_ “of transformation.”* He saw _šānâ_ I “change,” not _šānâ_ II “repeat.” *Symmachus* knew Hebrew. He chose _deuterountōn_ “those doing a second time” = *people made new*, not “twice.” *If 5 pre-500 AD translators who knew Hebrew/Semitic all saw people, “doubling” is dead.* #### *4. Context: Psalm 68 is about transformed people, not math* *v6*: _Yāḥîd_ “Only-Begotten” → placed in house. *Person.* *v12*: _Nəwat bayit_ “perfected one” → divides spoil. *Person.* *v13*: You slept → became dove wings. *Transformation of a person.* *v14*: Dark beard → white snow. *Transformation of a person.* *v15*: Giant’s land → fruitful mountain. *Transformation of a place for people.* *v16*: God dwells forever. *In what? People.* *Rev 21:3*: _“dwelling of God is with men.”_ *v17*: *Suddenly math?* “20,000 thousands of doubling”? *Breaks the entire arc.* *The Psalm builds*: One → transformed → anointed → fruitful → indwelt → *multiplied transformed ones*. v17 is the payoff. *“Doubling” reduces it to a calculator.* *John 12:24*: _“If it dies, it bears *much fruit*.”_ *The fruit isn’t numbers. It’s people.* _Šinʾān_ = the fruit. #### *5. Theology: “Doubling” makes God ride empty chariots* *Deut 33:2*: _“YHWH came from Sinai... with ten thousands of *holy ones* _qōḏeš_.”_ *People.* *Jude 14*: _“Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His *holy ones* _hagiōn_.”_ *People.* *Hebrews 12:22*: _“You have come to... innumerable *angels* in festal gathering, and to the *assembly* of the firstborn.”_ *Angels + people.* But Psalm 68 hasn’t mentioned angels once. It’s been all about the _nəwat bayit_. *If _šinʾān_ = “doubling,” then God rides with “20,000 thousands of doubling.”* *Doubling of what?* Empty chariots? The text says _ʾăḏōnāy bām_ “Lord *among them*.” *God doesn’t dwell among math. He dwells among the transformed.* *Zechariah 2:10*: _“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will *dwell in your midst*.”_ *The chariots are the dwelling.* ### *What about Peshitta omitting _šinʾān_?* *Peshitta*: _rebbô rabbûn w’ālp̄ā ʾalp̄în_ “ten thousand ten thousands and a thousand thousands.” No word for _šinʾān_. *Does that prove _šinʾān_ = “doubling” so they just did the math?* *No. Peshitta frequently smooths hapax words.* It does the same in *Ps 139:16* with _golmî_ “unformed substance” — Peshitta just says “me.” *When the translator doesn’t know the word, he gives the sense from context: big numbers.* *But LXX, Targum, Symmachus, Aquila DID translate _šinʾān_.* They didn’t skip it. And all 4 said “changed/flourishing/transformed/repeating people.” *Silence ≠ contradiction.* The 4 who spoke beat the 1 who was silent. ### *Bottom line for your blog* *Counter argument*: _Šinʾān_ = “doubling” the 20,000 thousands. *Rebuttal in 3 lines*: 1. *Grammar*: _Šinʾān_ is a noun. “Among them” requires persons, not math. 2. *Witnesses*: LXX, Targum, Symmachus, Aquila, Vulgate all read “transformed/flourishing people.” Zero read “twice.” 3. *Context*: Psalm 68 is the story of One transformed v13 becoming ten thousand fold v17. “Doubling” derails it. “Transformed souls” completes it. *Keep “transformed souls.”* The math-only reading leaves God riding empty multiplication. *The text says He rides among _šinʾān_. He rides among the changed.* *And that’s the Gospel: The _Yāḥîd_ was changed, and His change changed ten thousand fold.* *Selah.* --- *Footnote for your blog*: _Transformed souls: šinʾān שִׁנְאָן from šānâ “to change, be transformed.” Contra “doubling”: 1) šinʾān is a noun; bām “among them” requires persons as antecedent. 2) LXX euthēnountōn “flourishing,” Targum šannayyā “those who change,” Symmachus deuterountōn “repeaters,” Aquila alloiōseōs “of transformation,” Vulgate laetantium “rejoicing” — all read persons, not math. 3) Context of Ps 68 is transformation v13-v16 culminating in multiplied transformed ones v17. “Doubling” severs the narrative and leaves YHWH riding among numbers rather than saints. Cf. Deut 33:2, Jude 14._