Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Isaiah 63:16 speaks about God as father and redeemer in descriptive terms, reflecting on the distance between the people and their ancestors. The Greek Septuagint translation changes parts of the verse into a direct address, turning a statement about God into a plea.
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Isaiah 63:16
Hebrew Bible
15 Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion! 16 For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our father; you have been called our Protector from ancient times. 17 Why, Lord, do you make us stray from your ways and make our minds stubborn so that we do not obey you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance! 18 For a short time your special nation possessed a land, but then our adversaries knocked down your holy sanctuary.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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LXX Isaiah 63:16
Septuagint
15 Turn from heaven, and see from your holy house and glory. Where are your zeal and your strength? Where is the abundance of your mercy and of your compassions, that you have held back from us? 16 For you are our father, because Abraam did not know us and Israel did not recognize us, but you, O Lord, are our father; deliver us; from the beginning your name is upon us. 17 Why, O Lord, did you make us stray from your way and harden our hearts so that we would not fear you? Turn back on account of your slaves, on account of the tribes of your inheritance, 18 so that we may inherit a little of your holy mountain; our adversaries have trampled down your holy precinct.
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This is the first case of imperativization directed towards God in LXX Isaiah 56-66. However, it is not surprising that our translator, whose urge to contemporize a text produces both a dramatic intensification and a tendency towards exhortation, might also intuitively lead his audience in prayer when his source text presents such an option. If one were to postulate for this translator a liturgical preoccupation, this might well be understood to include the tendency to move texts towards both exhortation and prayer ..."
Baer, David A.
When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66
(p. 40) Sheffield Academic Press, 2001
* 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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