Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 16 makes an urgent appeal to help Moabite fugitives. The Greek Septuagint rearranges the passage, blending the plea into the narrative and obscuring who is speaking, likely because the translator struggled with the original language.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
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: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 16:3
Septuagint
1 I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is not the mount of Zion a desolate rock? 2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown, daughter of Moab: and then, Arnon, 3 take further counsel, and continually make a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; do not be led captive. 4 The fugitives of Moab shall stay with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from the earth. 5 And a throne shall be restored with mercy; and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgments, and hastening righteousness.
Date: 100–1 BCE (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 ..."
Mirjam van der Vorm-Croughs, The Old Greek of Isaiah: An Analysis of Its Pluses and Minuses, SCS 61 (Atlanta: SBL, 2014), 23.
* 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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