Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 9 describes people who have already seen the light and rejoiced. The Greek Septuagint translation shifts to the future tense and speaks directly to the audience, rewriting it into a promise of what they will one day experience.
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Isaiah 9:2
Hebrew Bible
1 The gloom will be dispelled for those who were anxious. In earlier times he humiliated the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali; but now he brings honor to the way of the sea, the region beyond the Jordan, and Galilee of the nations. 2 (9:1) The people walking in darkness see a bright light; light shines on those who live in a land of deep darkness. 3 You have enlarged the nation; you give them great joy. They rejoice in your presence as harvesters rejoice; as warriors celebrate when they divide up the plunder.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
LXX Isaiah 9:2
Septuagint
1 Do this first; do it quickly, O country of Zaboulon, the land of Nephthalime, and the rest who inhabit the seashore and beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, the parts of Judea. 2 O you people who walk in darkness, see a great light! O you who live in the country and in the shadow of death, light will shine on you! 3 Most of the people, whom you have brought back in your joy, will also rejoice before you like those who rejoice at the harvest and in the same way as those who divide plunder,
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... This verse exemplifies the imperativization and personalization that is common to LXX Isaiah. The reading tradition crystallized in the Masoretic text vocalizes our verb ... and the text is consistently descriptive in the third person. The Greek translator has read the initial verb ... and has converted the final prepositional phrase from the third to the second person plural. The outcome of these conversions is that the verse now addresses either the readers or the readers as proxy for some original group of hearers. It has been cut loose from its historical moorings and contemporized. One might well conclude that it has been moved in a homiletical direction ..."
Baer, David A.
When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66
(pp. 46-47) 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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