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Isaiah 60 includes references to God's feet and Zion's feet. The Greek Septuagint translation removes both, likely to avoid describing God having a body, but the reason for the second removal is less clear.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 60:14
Hebrew Bible
12 Indeed, nations or kingdoms that do not serve you will perish; such nations will definitely be destroyed. 13 The splendor of Lebanon will come to you, its evergreens, firs, and cypresses together, to beautify my palace; I will bestow honor at the place of my feet24. 14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing to you; all who treated you with disrespect will bow down at your feet. They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.’ 15 You were once abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, but I will make you a permanent source of pride and joy to coming generations. 16 You will drink the milk of nations; you will nurse at the breasts of kings. Then you will recognize that I, the Lord, am your Deliverer, your Protector, the Powerful One of Jacob.
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 60:14
Septuagint
12 For the nations and the kings which will not serve you shall perish; and those nations shall be made utterly desolate. 13 And the glory of Lebanon shall come to you, with the cypress, and pine, and cedar together, to glorify my holy place. 14 And the sons of those who afflicted you, and of those who provoked you, shall come to you in fear; and you shall be called the city of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15 Because you have become desolate and hated, and there was no helper, therefore I will make you a perpetual gladness, a joy of many generations. 16 And you shall suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shall eat the wealth of kings: and shall know that I am the Lord that saves you and delivers you, the God of Israel.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In chapter 60 the omission in the LXX of a reference to God's feet in verse 13 might pass as an inadvertence were it not for a similar omission one verse later. The context of the Masoretic text at 60:13 is eschatological reversal ... The LXX omits the verse's final sentence ... This appears not to be an accidental omission. Furthermore, the loss in translation of consecutive statements about feet seems too much to be attributed to coincidence. It could easily be classed as an anti-anthropomorphism were it not for the fact that the feet of 60:14 belong to Zion rather than to God ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 111–112.
* 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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