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Isaiah 42 describes God as a warrior who shouts and prepares himself for battle, using very human language. The Greek Septuagint translation keeps some of this language but makes several changes that makes God look less human.
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Isaiah 42:13
Hebrew Bible
11 Let the wilderness and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live. Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops. 12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. 13 The Lord emerges like a hero, like a man of war27 he inspires himself for battle; he shouts, yes, he yells, he shows his enemies his power. 14 “I have been inactive for a long time; I kept quiet and held back. Like a woman in labor I groan; I pant and gasp. 15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up; I will dry up all their vegetation. I will turn streams into islands and dry up pools of water.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
LXX Isaiah 42:13
Septuagint
11 Rejoice, O wilderness and its villages, O homesteads and those who inhabit Kedar. Those who inhabit Petra will rejoice; they will shout from the tops of the mountains. 12 They will give glory to God; they will declare his excellences in the islands. 13 The Lord God of the powers will go forth and crush the war; he will stir up jealousy and shout against his foes with strength. 14 I have been silent. Shall I even always be silent and hold back? I have endured like a woman in labor; I will amaze and wither at once. 15 And I will turn rivers into islands and dry up marshlands.
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Isaiah translator sometimes draws upon resources from outside his text in order to avoid anthropomorphic description of God. Several anomalies in LXX Isaiah 42:13 reveal details of the translator's intertextual hermeneutic as he encounters a description of the Lord in the form of a warrior. These may also support the suggestion that LXX Isaiah postdates the Greek Minor Prophets ..."
Baer, David A.
When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66
(pp. 87-88) 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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