Il significato di “yĕšurũn” nei Profeti e negli Agiografi. TM e versioni greche

As in Pentateuch (Deut 32:15; 33:5.26), the LXX translate “yĕšurũn” in the Prophets (Isa 44:2) and the Writings (Sir 37:25) with ἀγαπάω, i.e. the same term used in the Torah as its regular rendering of Hebrew “ʾāhab”. Textual comparison shows up the obvious agreement of perspective between the Pentateuch and the Prophets-Writings with regard to the treatment of ἀγαπάω. So the LXX's lexical choice for rendering “yĕšurũn” in the latter complexes seems inspired by doctrinal premises related to the theology of Deut 32-33: above all, the motif of Israel’s election confirms that in MT “yĕšurũn” means “favourite,” a nuance well brought out by the Greek translation, i.e. ἠγαπημένος, which represents Israel as the object of YHWH's loving predilection. Then, in trying to determine if also in the Prophets and the Writings ἀγαπάω maybe considered regular equivalent for “ʾāhab,” one needs to take into account the prophetic passages (Isa 5:1; Jer 11:15) in which the Greek verb corresponds rather to a Hebrew “yādîd.” In conclusion, in the LXX’s usage no traces of the original polysemy of ἀγαπάω remains; rather, this verb recurs in the Greek Bible with an essentially univocal meaning, that one of love between God and humans.