Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 56 targets the watchmen, portraying them as blind and inactive, and limiting the critique to the leadership. The Greek Septuagint translation broadens this to “all,” extending the criticism beyond the leaders to the entire community.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 56:10
Hebrew Bible
8 The Sovereign Lord says this, the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will still gather them up.” 9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest! 10 All their watchmen are blind, they are unaware. All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, lie down, and love to snooze. 11 The dogs have big appetites; they are never full. They are shepherds who have no understanding; they all go their own way, each one looking for monetary gain. 12 Each one says, “Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!”
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 56:10
Septuagint
8 says the Lord that gathers the dispersed of Israel; for I will gather to him a congregation. 9 All you beasts of the field, come, devour, all you beasts of the forest. 10 See how they are all blinded: they have not known how to understand; they are all silent dogs that will not bark; dreaming of rest, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, they are insatiable dogs, that do not know what it is to be filled, and they are wicked, having no understanding: all have followed their own ways, each according to his will.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The translator has read the text as though it were vocalized ... The resulting rhetorical summons to 'see that' or 'see how' requires a semantic shift as well, for it normally has connotations of stealthy observation, whether carried out behind enemy lines or from a watchtower. [This] lacks this meaning and is never generated by it elsewhere in the LXX. Thus, it is only upon weak semantic grounds that the LXX produces it to announce Israel's blindness. The translator's affection for this word is clear, for he uses it with the slenderest of justification. The employment of it in this verse is unexpected and may speak eloquently of the translator's homiletical bias ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 38–39.
* 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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