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Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

1. Statement for T:

Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark [Gr. tau] on the foreheads of the men that groan and that grieve for all the iniquities that are done in the midst of them. Ezek 9:4 (LXX). [NOTE: THE GREEK LETTER TAU, EQUIVALENT TO THE ENGLISH CAPITAL “T,” IS IN THE SHAPE OF A CROSS.] https://ante-nicenechristianity.com/dictionary/cross/

2. Statement for X:

Тав ✕ – последняя буква еврейского алфавита, произошедшая от финикийской буквы «тав», первоначально имевшей значение знака, метки. Тау Τ (греч. ταυ, др.-греч. ταῦ) – девятнадцатая буква греческого алфавита, происходит от финикийской буквы «тав».

ENGLISH Tav ✕ is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter "tav", which originally had the meaning of a sign, a mark. Tau Τ (Greek ταυ, Old Greek ταῦ) is the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter "tav". https://dzen.ru/a/ZVOzJzos1mpZOzG6

3. Statement:

In the view of Tertullian[14] and of Origen (184/185 – 253/254)[15] the passage in Ezekiel 9:4 in which an angel וְהִתְוִיתָ תָּו עַל־מִצְחֹות הָאֲנָשִׁים, "set a mark [tav; after the cross-shaped Phoenician and early Hebrew letter] on the forehead of the men" who are saved was a prediction of the Early Christian custom of repeatedly tracing on their own foreheads the sign of the cross.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_cross

4.Tertullian ca. 160-220

Premising, therefore, and likewise subjoining the fact that Christ suffered, He foretold that His just ones should suffer equally with Him— both the apostles and all the faithful in succession; and He signed them with that very seal of which Ezekiel spoke: The Lord said unto me, Go through the gate, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set the mark Tau upon the foreheads of the men. Now the Greek letter Tau and our own letter T is the very form of the cross, which He predicted would be the sign on our foreheads in the true Catholic Jerusalem, in which, according to the twenty-first Psalm, the brethren of Christ or children of God would ascribe glory to God the Father, in the person of Christ Himself addressing His Father; I will declare Your name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I sing praise unto You…Now, inasmuch as all these things are also found among you, and the sign upon the forehead, and the sacraments of the church, and the offerings of the pure sacrifice, you ought now to burst forth, and declare that the Spirit of the Creator prophesied of your Christ. (Against Marcion, Book III: Chap. 22)

https://classicalchristianity.com/2011/06/05/on-the-sign-of-the-cross/

5. Catholic

The Greek letter tau is one of the most ancient symbols known to the Church: its etymological predecessor – the Hebrew letter taw meaning truth – was already spoken of in the Book of Ezekiel as a symbol.

“And the LORD said to him: Pass through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark an X [taw] on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the abominations practiced within it.” – Ezekiel 9:4

https://ucatholic.com/blog/did-you-know-the-history-behind-the-tau-cross-the-staurogram/

Some people both catholic, orthodox and other say that the shape of the mark in Ezekiel 9:4 is T or Х. I tried to look at the Hebrew and the Septuagint text - I only see that the hebrew word for mark / sign starts I think with "תָּ֜" that maybe is "t" "latinized". But this letter in Hebrew does not have the shape of T or t.
https://dzen.ru/a/ZVOzJzos1mpZOzG6

Hebrew: a mark תָּ֜ו (t��w)

  • A mark, a signature

https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/9-4.htm

I then look at the Septuagint -

Septuagint:

Ezekiel 9:4 4 καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτόν· δίελθε μέσην τὴν ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ καὶ δὸς τὸ σημεῖον ἐπὶ τὰ μέτωπα τῶν ἀνδρῶν τῶν καταστεναζόντων καὶ τῶν κατωδυνωμένων ἐπὶ πάσαις ταῖς ἀνομίαις ταῖς γινομέναις ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῆς.

https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuagint/chapter.asp?book=48&page=9 https://biblehub.com/sepd/ezekiel/9.htm

Greek - LXX - Septuagint :

σημεῖον - sémeion: Sign, miracle, token, indication

https://biblehub.com/greek/4592.htm

  1. The Hebrew text - תָּ֜ו (tāw) - A mark, a signature

  2. The Greek - LXX - Septuagint - σημεῖον (sémeion) - Sign, miracle, token, indication

I am confused about the shape of this sign in Ezekiel 9:4. Why some state T other X and maybe t. And where to look in the text to see the exact shape of the sign in Ezekiel 9:4.

Some sources state that - "Tav ✕ is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet", but here I think that there are 2 letter - תָּ֜ ,ו. - (tāw)?

Tertulian also says - and set the mark Tau. But the translation says - and set a mark upon the foreheads? (no Tau after mark)

Also from this what I read it seems that the word תָּ֜ו (tāw) is a "a mark".

Will the ancient Hebrew spell תָּ֜ו differently maybe X and how this will be equivalent to T in Greek? If in ancient text's tau was X, where to look to see the most ancient text's that has X in them as Tau if it is not תָּ֜ו but X?

Tertulian says set the mark Tau and the the text says - set a mark and the word mark is תָּ֜ו (tāw). But it does not say - set a mark Taw, but just set a mark?

In Biblical times, the taw was put on men to distinguish those who lamented sin, although newer versions of the Bible have replaced the ancient term taw with mark (Ezekiel 9:4) or signature (Job 31:35). Its original sound value is a voiceless alveolar plosive, IPA /t/[citation needed]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau

How should all this be understood? How is it written in the most ancient manuscripts? Is there any indication for the shape of the sign in Ezekiel 9:4?

Thanks in advance

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Phoenician or Paleo-Hebrew characters: enter image description here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleo-Hebrew_alphabet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_alphabet

It would be good if we could find ancient manuscript of Ezekiel 9:4 and compare to see if the tau was X. enter image description here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_alphabet

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  • The "Statement for T" confuses me. It says "… set a mark [Gr. tau] on the foreheads …", but as you later noted, the LXX has "σημεῖον" not "tau". Where do they get the "[Gr.tau]" from? Commented Aug 20 at 0:40
  • Hi Ray. I am not exactly sure. I just found in Wikipedia the Paleo-Hebrew - X and it says it is tau - mark, sign. I updated the question with link to it. It could be good if there are ancient manuscripts to see if tau really was written as X. I am not familiar with Hebrew alphabet or when how they wrote or if in the time of Ezekiel they used these characters. Need to research. Commented Aug 20 at 9:21

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The operative Hebrew word in Eze 9:4 &6 is simply תָּו (taw) which means a mark or signature. This word only occurs in Job 31:35, Eze 9:4, 6.

In the Greek LXX the word is translated by σημεῖον = "sign".

However, there appears to be an allusion in all of these to earlier incidents, namely:

  • Gen 4:15 – The mark [Heb: אוֹת "owth"] on Cain shows mercy in judgment
  • Ex 12:13 – Blood on doorposts is a saving sign to protect from judgement

All this is repeated in the NT in the book of Revelation as:

  • Rev 7:3 - seal on the forehead protects from divine judgements
  • Rev 9:4 - seal on the forehead protects from divine judgements
  • Rev 13:16 - mark on the forehead or hand from the beast to allow people to buy and sell

In all these things, there is no information about what the mark or sign is, nor its shape, etc. Indeed, most see the mark as symbolic and not literal.

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  • Thank you for your answer Dottard. I think that It is also interesting that - "the man clothed with linen" sets the mark upon the foreheads of the men , but not the men themselves. Also Rev 7:3; Commented Aug 20 at 9:01

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