Texts in Conversation
In the Hebrew version of Isaiah, a voice cries out and the wilderness marks where the road for God is cleared. The Greek translation changes this so the voice itself cries in the wilderness, the language the Gospels use when describing John the Baptist.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 40:3
Hebrew Bible
2 “Speak kindly to Jerusalem and tell her that her time of warfare is over, that her punishment is completed. For the Lord has made her pay double for all her sins.” 3 A voice cries out, “In the wilderness clear a way for the Lord; build a level road through the rift valley for our God. 4 Every valley must be elevated and every mountain and hill leveled. The rough terrain will become a level plain, the rugged landscape a wide valley.
LXX Isaiah 40:3
Septuagint
2 O priests, speak to the heart of Ierousalem; comfort her, because her humiliation has been fulfilled, her sin has been done away with, because she has received from the Lord’s hand double that of her sins. 3 A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight the paths of our God. 4 Every ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and all the crooked ways shall become straight, and the rough place shall become plains.
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Notes and References
"... The Hebrew allows for the readings “a voice crying” or “the voice of one crying”; the Septuagint, followed by the New Testament writers, adopted the latter version. Also, the Hebrew has, “A voice crying, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,’” while the Septuagint, followed by the New Testament writers, reads, “A voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the LORD’” (Snodgrass 1980). In the original, taking “in the wilderness” with what follows preserves the parallelism; in the New Testament, reading “in the wilderness” in conjunction with the “voice crying” adapts Isaiah’s message to the person of John the Baptist. It is not clear that the Septuagint and the New Testament writers here change the meaning of the original Hebrew, however. ..."
Köstenberger, Andreas J.
"John" in Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson, editors. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
(pp. 1016-1017) Baker Academic, 2007
* 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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