Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 7 promises a child to Ahaz who will reject evil and choose good. The Greek Septuagint adds that he defies evil to choose good, creating logical tension since the child is said to choose good before knowing what it is.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 7:16
Hebrew Bible
15 He will eat sour milk and honey, which will help him know how to reject evil and choose what is right. 16 Here is why this will be so: Before the child knows how to reject evil and choose what is right, the land whose two kings you fear will be desolate. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s family a time unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Isaiah 7:16
Septuagint
15 Butter and honey he will eat; before he knows or prefers evil, he shall choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which you are afraid of because of the two kings. 17 But God shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon the house of your father, days which have never come, from the day that Ephraim took away from Judah the king of the Assyrians.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... let us look at the translator’s addition of ἀγαθοῦ ἢ κακοῦ in Isaiah 7:16 ... [scholars] have seen a possible link between this and the texts of LXX Deuteronomy 1:39; Numbers 14:23; 32:11. In addition to these texts, de Sousa has also discussed another possible link (1QSa 1:8–11) that was overlooked by his predecessors. He argues (with reference to the latter possible connection) that “there is enough evidence that the choice between ‘good and evil’ is a strong and widespread motif in early Judaism, and it could have made its way into the Isaiah translation and contributed to a reading that deviates from the original.” ...in the LXX the focus is on the child’s unique devotion to τὸ ἀγαθόν; thus showing that the translator’s interest was “in safeguarding the character of the child.” Syntactically, this emphasis on the child’s rejection of evil and choice of ‘the good’ is clearly displayed in the translator’s use of the phrase γνῶναι ἀγαθὸν ἢ κακόν as to offer an “explanation for why the child will select the good without even knowing about evil”. It should be observed that the promise of the desolation of the enemies’ land (in verses 16–17) is found after the announcement of the birth of Immanuel and the understanding of his characteristics ..."
Abi T. Ngunga, Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah: An Intertextual Analysis, FRLANT 245 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 81.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
1 && show(index - 1)"
@keydown.right.window="open && comments.length > 1 && show(index + 1)">
User Comments
,