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Isaiah

About this book
Chapter 56

1 This is what the Lord says, “Promote justice! Do what is right!⁠ For I am ready to deliver you; I am ready to vindicate you openly. 2 The people who do this will be blessed, the people who commit themselves to obedience, who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, who refrain from doing anything that is wrong. 3 No foreigner who becomes a follower of the Lord should say, ‘The Lord will certainly exclude me from his people. ’The eunuch should not say, ‘Look, I am like a dried-up tree.’” 4 For this is what the Lord says: “For the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and are faithful to my covenant, 5 I will set up within my temple and my walls a monument that will be better than sons and daughters. I will set up a permanent monument for them that will remain.⁠ 6 As for foreigners who become followers of the Lord and serve him, who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants—all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, and who are faithful to my covenant—⁠ 7 I will bring them to my holy mountain; I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” 8 The Sovereign Lord says this, the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will still gather them up.”⁠ 9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest! 10 All their watchmen are blind, they are unaware. All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, lie down, and love to snooze.⁠ 11 The dogs have big appetites; they are never full. They are shepherds who have no understanding; they all go their own way, each one looking for monetary gain. 12 Each one says, “Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!”

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 56:10 and LXX Isaiah 56:10

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 56 targets the watchmen, portraying them as blind and inactive, and limiting the critique to the leadership. The Greek Septuagint translation broadens this to “all,” extending the criticism beyond the leaders to the entire community.

Passages

Isaiah 56:10

Hebrew Bible
8 The Sovereign Lord says this, the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel: “I will still gather them up.” 9 All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest! 10 All their watchmen are blind, they are unaware. All of them are like mute dogs, unable to bark. They pant, lie down, and love to snooze. 11 The dogs have big appetites; they are never full. They are shepherds who have no understanding; they all go their own way, each one looking for monetary gain. 12 Each one says, “Come on, I’ll get some wine! Let’s guzzle some beer! Tomorrow will be just like today! We’ll have everything we want!”
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 56:10

Septuagint
8 says the Lord that gathers the dispersed of Israel; for I will gather to him a congregation. 9 All you beasts of the field, come, devour, all you beasts of the forest. 10 See how they are all blinded: they have not known how to understand; they are all silent dogs that will not bark; dreaming of rest, loving to slumber. 11 Yes, they are insatiable dogs, that do not know what it is to be filled, and they are wicked, having no understanding: all have followed their own ways, each according to his will.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... The translator has read the text as though it were vocalized ... The resulting rhetorical summons to 'see that' or 'see how' requires a semantic shift as well, for it normally has connotations of stealthy observation, whether carried out behind enemy lines or from a watchtower. [This] lacks this meaning and is never generated by it elsewhere in the LXX. Thus, it is only upon weak semantic grounds that the LXX produces it to announce Israel's blindness. The translator's affection for this word is clear, for he uses it with the slenderest of justification. The employment of it in this verse is unexpected and may speak eloquently of the translator's homiletical bias ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 38–39.

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 56:10 and LXX Isaiah 56:10

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