Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Isaiah 63:5 portrays God as surprised by the absence of anyone to help, expressing shock before acting alone in judgment. The Greek Septuagint translation removes this element of surprise, replacing it with more neutral language that avoids attributing emotional reaction to God.
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Isaiah 63:5
Hebrew Bible
3 “I have stomped grapes in the wine press all by myself; no one from the nations joined me. I stomped on them in my anger; I trampled them down in my rage. Their juice splashed on my garments and stained all my clothes. 4 For I looked forward to the day of vengeance, and then payback time arrived. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was shocked because there was no one offering support. So my right arm accomplished deliverance; my raging anger drove me on. 6 I trampled nations in my anger; I made them drunk in my rage; I splashed their blood on the ground.” 7 I will tell of the faithful acts of the Lord, of the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds. I will tell about all the Lord did for us, the many good things he did for the family of Israel, because of his compassion and great faithfulness.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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LXX Isaiah 63:5
Septuagint
3 “I am full of a trampled wine press, and of the nations no man is with me, and I trampled them in wrath and crushed them like earth and brought down their blood to the earth. 4 For a day of retribution has come upon them, and a year of ransom is here. 5 And I looked, but no one was a helper, and I observed, but no one was assisting; so my own arm delivered them, and my wrath was present. 6 And I trampled them down in my anger, and I brought down their blood to the earth.” 7 I called to mind the mercy of the Lord, the excellences of the Lord in all the things with which the Lord rewards us; the Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; he provides for us according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his righteousness.
Date: 1st Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... LXX Isaiah occasionally executes an ameliorative reading by means of a careful choice of Greek vocabulary. This appears to be the case in 59:16 and 63:5, where the translator offers us two anti-anthropopathisms. Our translator's theology, it would seem, can embrace divine perception but resists that limitation of it which produces surprise and astonishment ..."
Baer, David A.
When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66
(p. 126) 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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