Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 5 presents exile as a future consequence of the people's failure to understand, functioning as a warning. The Greek Septuagint translation changes the tone by describing the exile as a past event, removing its forward-looking urgency.
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Isaiah 5:13
Hebrew Bible
11 Beware, those who get up early to drink beer, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine. 12 They have stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and wine at their parties. So they do not recognize what the Lord is doing, they do not perceive what he is bringing about. 13 Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink. 14 So Death will open up its throat, and open wide its mouth; Zion’s dignitaries and masses will descend into it, including those who revel and celebrate within her. 15 Men will be humiliated, they will be brought low; the proud will be brought low.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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LXX Isaiah 5:13
Septuagint
11 Ah, those who rise early and pursue the sikerac, who linger till evening, for wine will inflame them! 12 For with lyre and harp and drums and flutes do they drink the wine but do not regard the works of the Lord or consider the works of his hands! 13 Therefore my people have become captive, because they do not know the Lord; they have become a multitude of corpses, because of famine and thirst for water. 14 And Hades has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without ceasing; and herd glorious ones and herd great and herd rich and herd pestilent shall go down. 15 A person shall be brought low, and a man shall be dishonored, and the eyes that are high shall be brought low.
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... According to Barr many translators in antiquity were neither consistently literal nor consistently free in their way of translating but combined these two approaches in a rather inconsistent way. This image that Barr depicts of ancient Bible translations fits the Septuagint of Isaiah quite well. Also in this translation literal and free rendition are often closely and intricately intertwined. To make this rather technical exposition somewhat more concrete, let me now offer a few illustrations of rearranged texts in LXX Isaiah ..."
Vorm-Croughs, Mirjam van der
The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of its Pluses and Minuses
(p. 23) Society of Biblical Literature, 2014
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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