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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 11

1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots.⁠ 2 The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him—a⁠ Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans,⁠ a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord.⁠ 3 His smelling is in the fear of the Lord7.⁠ He will not judge by mere appearances or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. 4 He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth.⁠ He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and order the wicked to be executed.⁠ 5 Justice will be like a belt around his waist, integrity will be like a belt around his hips. 6 A wolf will reside with a lamb, and a leopard will lie down with a young goat; an ox and a young lion will graze together, as a small child leads them along.⁠ 7 A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. A lion, like an ox, will eat straw. 8 A baby will play over the hole of a snake; over the nest of a serpent an infant will put his hand.⁠ 9 They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain. For there will be universal submission to the Lord’s sovereignty, just as the waters completely cover the sea.⁠ 10 At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations.⁠ Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic. 11 At that time the Lord will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the seacoasts.⁠ 12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel’s dispersed people and assemble Judah’s scattered people from the four corners of the earth. 13 Ephraim’s jealousy will end, and Judah’s hostility will be eliminated. Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah, and Judah will no longer be hostile toward Ephraim. 14 They will swoop down on the Philistine hills to the west; together they will loot the people of the east. They will take over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects. 15 The Lord will divide the gulf of the Egyptian Sea; he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River and send a strong wind; he will turn it into seven dried-up streams and enable them to walk across in their sandals.⁠ 16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria for the remnant of his people,⁠ just as there was for Israel, when they went up from the land of Egypt.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 11:11 and LXX Genesis 10:10 and LXX Isaiah 11:11

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

In the Greek Septuagint of Isaiah, obscure names like Hamath are replaced with familiar ones like Arabia, using Genesis to help readers recognize forgotten locations. This creates anachronistic links to Genesis and reshapes Isaiah's geography.

Passages

Isaiah 11:11

Hebrew Bible
10 At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic. 11 At that time the Lord will again lift his hand to reclaim the remnant of his people from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the seacoasts. 12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations; he will gather Israel’s dispersed people and assemble Judah’s scattered people from the four corners of the earth.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Genesis 10:10

Septuagint
9 He was a giant hunter before the Lord God; therefore they say, As Nimrod the giant hunter before the Lord. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babylon, and Erech, and Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land came Asshur, and built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

LXX Isaiah 11:11

Septuagint
10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; the Gentiles will trust in him, and his rest shall be glorious. 11 And it shall be in that day, that the Lord shall again show his hand, to be zealous for the remnant that is left of the people, which shall be left by the Assyrians, and that from Egypt, and from the country of Babylon, and from Ethiopia, and from the Elamites, and from the rising of the sun, and out of Arabia. 12 And he shall lift up a standard for the nations, and he shall gather the lost ones of Israel, and he shall gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... a hint towards viewing the period of the Isaiah translation seems to be revealed in what might appear as the translator's struggle in seeking to help his audience to recognize some of the place-names in both chapter 10 and 11. As Troxel has rightly observed, it is only in chapter 10 and 11 where the translator (via intertextual associations with texts outside Isaiah, i.e., LXX Genesis 10:10 and 11:2), has translated חמת by Ἀραβία (Isaiah 10:9 and 11:11; compare 15:7, 9), inserted τὴν χώραν τὴν ἐπὶ τῶν Βαβυλωνίων (Isaiah 10:9), and intelligibly rendered וּמִשְׁנֵהָ with Βαβυλωνίας (Isaiah 11:11). Troxel’s interesting observation here provides further vital proof of the argument advanced in our study pertinent to the translator's use of intertextuality in the production of his text, a method that seems to have been set for any reader of his text to read hermeneutically ..."
Abi T. Ngunga, Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah: An Intertextual Analysis, FRLANT 245 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 99.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Isaiah 11:11 and LXX Genesis 10:10 and LXX Isaiah 11:11

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