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LXX Isaiah

Septuagint

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Chapter 16

1 I will send as it were reptiles on the land:⁠ is not the mount of Zion a desolate rock? 2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown, daughter of Moab: and then, Arnon, 3 take further counsel, and continually make a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; do not be led captive.⁠ 4 The fugitives of Moab shall stay with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from the earth. 5 And a throne shall be restored with mercy;⁠ and one shall sit upon it with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and earnestly seeking judgments, and hastening righteousness. 6 We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud. You have cut off his pride: your prophecy shall not be thus. 7 Not thus; Moab shall howl; for all shall howl in the land of Moab: but you shall care for those who dwell in Deseth, and you shall not be ashamed. 8 The plains of Heshbon shall mourn, the vine of Sibmah: swallowing up the nations, trample her vines, even to Jazer: you shall not come together; wander in the desert: they that were sent are deserted, for they have gone over the desert. 9 Therefore I will weep as with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; Heshbon and Elealeh have cast down your trees; for I will trample on your harvest and on your vintages, and all your plants shall fall. 10 And gladness and rejoicing shall be taken away from your vineyards; and in your vineyards they shall not rejoice at all, and they shall not at all tread wine into the vats; for the vintage has ceased. 11 Therefore my belly shall sound as a harp for Moab, and you have repaired my inward parts as a wall. 12 And it shall be to your shame, (for Moab is wearied at the altars,)⁠ that he shall go in to her idols to pray, but they shall not be at all able to deliver him. 13 This is the word which the Lord spoke against Moab, when he spoke. 14 And now I say, in three years, of the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be dishonored with all his great wealth; and he shall be left few in number, and not honored.

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 16:1 and LXX Isaiah 16:1

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

The Hebrew version of Isaiah 16 tells Moab to send a lamb as tribute to the ruler in Zion. The Greek Septuagint misunderstands this as a threat, describing God sending creeping animals over the land and asking whether Zion has become a desolate rock.

Passages

Isaiah 16:1

Hebrew Bible
1 Send rams as tribute to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the wilderness to the hill of Daughter Zion. 2 At the fords of the Arnon the Moabite women are like a bird that flies about when forced from its nest. 3 “Bring a plan, make a decision. Provide some shade in the middle of the day. Hide the fugitives! Do not betray the one who tries to escape. 4 Please let the Moabite fugitives live among you. Hide them from the destroyer!” Certainly the one who applies pressure will cease; the destroyer will come to an end; those who trample will disappear from the earth.
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 16:1

Septuagint
1 I will send as it were reptiles on the land: is not the mount of Zion a desolate rock? 2 For you shall be as a young bird taken away from a bird that has flown, daughter of Moab: and then, Arnon, 3 take further counsel, and continually make a shelter from grief: they flee in darkness at mid-day; they are amazed; do not be led captive. 4 The fugitives of Moab shall stay with you; they shall be to you a shelter from the face of the pursuer: for your alliance has been taken away, and the oppressing ruler has perished from the earth.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

... Given this view, the thought in Isaiah 16:1 in its Greek form seems to indicate that the Lord will punish the entire land of Moab (ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν) by sending something like reptiles (ἀποστελῶ ὡς ἑρπετὰ). This idea is to some extent contrary to the one in the Masoretic Text which sets the path for either: (a) urging Moab to send (if the verb is taken as imperative) a lamb to the ruler of the land (perhaps the king in Jerusalem), or (b) appealing to Israel, backed up by a present of a lamb, to help Moab in her plight. In the Masoretic Text, the gift is sent from Sela to the mountain of the daughter of Zion, thus contrasting the panic in Moab with the security of God’s chosen city. However, in the Septuagint, the assurance of this safety in Zion is expressed in a question ...
Abi T. Ngunga, Messianism in the Old Greek of Isaiah: An Intertextual Analysis, FRLANT 245 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013), 119.

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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