Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 51 says the heavens will vanish like smoke. The Greek Septuagint reverses this, saying heaven was established like smoke, preserving creation rather than predicting its destruction.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 51:6
Hebrew Bible
5 I am ready to vindicate, I am ready to deliver, I will establish justice among the nations. The coastlands wait patiently for me; they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. 6 Look up at the sky. Look at the earth below. For the sky will dissipate like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give is permanent; the vindication I provide will not disappear. 7 Listen to me, you who know what is right, you people who have my law in their heart.22 Don’t be afraid of the insults of men; don’t be discouraged because of their abuse.
LXX Isaiah 51:6
Septuagint
5 My righteousness draws near swiftly; my salvation will go out, and the nations will hope in my arm; the islands will wait for me and hope in my arm. 6 Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look at the earth beneath, because heaven was strengthened like smoke, and the earth will become old like a garment, and those who live on the earth will die like these things, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not fail. 7 Hear me, you who know judgment, my people, you in whose heart is my law; do not fear the reproach of men, and do not be dismayed by their contempt.
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Notes and References
The Septuagint, by contrast, may not be equally pessimistic about the fate of the heavens. The explanation that I have been developing, which seeks to explain the considerable Septuagint deviations in terms of conscious manipulation of the text, may be supported by a similar move at Isaiah 51.6. In the Masoretic Text passage that groups the heavens and the earth together with human beings as perishable goods, over against the Lord’s salvation and righteousness, which will be eternal... The translator appears to have substituted a creative word for the difficult verb מלח, which may refer to the tearing apart or dissipation of the heavens. Thus, he has converted the destruction and disappearance of the heavens into their confirmation, strengthening, or solidification. This is apparent in his use — unique in the Septuagint — of στερεοῦν for God’s creative spreading out of the heavens in 45.12 and 48.13. It is possible that the translator, faced with a rare verb that was unknown to him, has simply reverted to vocabulary familiar to him with reference to the heavens. However, such an inadvertence seems unlikely in view of the complete reversal of the Masoretic Text meaning that his translation effects.
Baer, David A.
When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66
(pp. 186-187) 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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