Texts in Conversation
The Hebrew version of Isaiah describes ruined Edom filled with wild goats and howling desert animals. The Greek Septuagint translates them as demons and donkey-centaurs, importing Greek hybrid creatures into the description of desolation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 34:14
Hebrew Bible
13 Her fortresses will be overgrown with thorns; thickets and weeds will grow in her fortified cities. Jackals will settle there; ostriches will live there. 14 Wild animals and wild dogs will congregate there; wild goats will bleat to one another. Yes, nocturnal animals will rest there and make for themselves a nest. 15 Owls will make nests and lay eggs there; they will hatch them and protect them. Yes, hawks will gather there, each with its mate.
LXX Isaiah 34:14
Septuagint
13 And thorns shall spring up in their cities, and in her strong holds: and they shall be habitations of monsters, and a court of ostriches. 14 And demons shall meet with donkey-centaurs, and they shall cry one to the other: there shall donkey-centaurs rest, having found for themselves a place of rest. 15 There the hedgehog has made its nest, and the earth has safely preserved its young: there the deer have met, and seen one another's faces.
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Notes and References
“... What is meant by ‘donkey centaur’ must remain speculative. In both passages (Isaiah 13:22; 34:14) this odd creature corresponds to ʾiyyîm. Again, the choice makes it evident that the writer did not have the normative animal world in view. His use of daimonia at the beginning of Isaiah 34:14 (for ṣiyyîm; ‘wild animals’) points us in the direction of sinister supernatural entities. ...”
Heiser, Michael S.
Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness
(p. 55) Lexham Press, 2020
* 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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