Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 16 makes an urgent appeal to help Moabite fugitives. The Greek Septuagint rearranges this, blending the plea into the narrative and obscuring who is speaking. This suggests the translator struggled with the language of the original.
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Isaiah 16:3
Hebrew Bible
1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the wilderness to the hill of Daughter Zion. 2 At the fords of the Arnon the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. 3 “Bring a plan, make a decision. Provide some shade in the middle of the day. Hide the fugitives! Do not betray the one who tries to escape. 4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live among you. Hide them from the destroyer!”Certainly the one who applies pressure will cease; the destroyer will come to an end; those who trample will disappear from the earth. 5 Then a trustworthy king will be established; he will rule in a reliable manner, this one from David’s family. He will be sure to make just decisions and will be experienced in executing justice.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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LXX Isaiah 16:3
Septuagint
1 I will send as it were creeping animals on the land: is Mount Sion a desolate rock? 2 For you will be as a nestling taken away from a bird that is flying, O daughter of Moab! And then, O Arnon, 3 take further counsel, and make for her a shelter for mourning for all time. They flee in darkness at noon; they were astonished; do not be taken away. 4 The fugitives of Moab will sojourn with you; they will be a shelter to youa from before a pursuer, because your alliance has been taken away and the ruler who trampled on the land has perished. 5 Then a throne shall be restored with mercy, and he shall sit on it with truth in the tent of Dauid, judging and seeking judgment and quickly procuring righteousness.
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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