Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 63 describes God as surprised by the absence of anyone to help, expressing shock. The Greek Septuagint translation removes the element of surprise, replacing it with more neutral language that avoids showing God having an emotional reaction.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
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: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 63:5
Septuagint
3 I am full of trodden grape, and of the nations there is not a man with me; and I trampled them in my fury, and dashed them to pieces as earth, and brought down their blood to the earth. 4 For the day of retribution has come upon them, and the year of redemption is at hand. 5 And I looked, and there was no helper; and I observed, and none upheld: therefore my arm delivered them, and my anger drew near. 6 And I trampled them in my anger, and brought down their blood to the earth. 7 I remembered the mercy of the Lord, the praises of the Lord in all things in which he repays us. The Lord is a good judge to the house of Israel; he deals with us according to his mercy, and according to the abundance of his righteousness.
Date: 100–1 BCE (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 ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 126.
* 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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