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LXX Isaiah

Septuagint

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Chapter 66

1 Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of a house will you build me? and of what kind is to be the place of my rest?⁠ 2 For all these things my hand has made, and all these things are mine, says the Lord: and to whom will I look, but to the humble and quiet, and the man that trembles at my words?⁠ 3 But the transgressor that sacrifices a calf to me, is as he that kills a dog; and he that offers fine flour, as one that offers swine's blood; he that gives frankincense for a memorial, is as a blasphemer. Yet they have chosen their own ways, and their soul has delighted in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their mockeries, and will repay them for their sins; because I called them, and they did not listen to me; I spoke, and they did not hear: and they did evil before me, and chose the things in which I did not delight. 5 Hear the words of the Lord, you that tremble at his word; speak, our brothers, to those who hate us and abominate us, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and may appear in their joy; but they shall be ashamed.⁠ 6 A voice of a cry from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord rendering payment to his adversaries. 7 Before she that was in labor brought forth, before the labor-pain came on, she escaped it and brought forth a male. 8 Who has heard such a thing? and who has seen after this manner? Has the earth been in labor in one day? or has even a nation been born at once, that Zion has been in labor, and brought forth her children? 9 But I have raised this expectation, yet you have not remembered me, says the Lord: look, have not I made the bearing and barren woman? says God.⁠ 10 Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all you that love her hold in her a general assembly: rejoice greatly with her, all that now mourn over her: 11 that you may suck, and be satisfied with the breast of her consolation; that you may milk out, and delight yourselves with the influx of her glory. 12 For thus says the Lord, Look, I turn toward them as a river of peace, and as a torrent bringing upon them in a flood the glory of the Gentiles: their children shall be borne upon the shoulders, and comforted on the knees. 13 As if his mother should comfort one, so I will also comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And you shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall thrive like grass: and the hand of the Lord shall be known to those who worship him, and he shall threaten the disobedient.⁠ 15 For, look, the Lord will come as fire, and his chariots as a storm, to render his vengeance with fierce anger, and his rebuke with a flame of fire. 16 For with the fire of the Lord all the earth shall be judged, and all flesh with his sword: many shall be killed by the Lord. 17 They that sanctify themselves and purify themselves in the gardens, and eat swine's flesh in the porches, and the abominations, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the Lord. 18 And I know their works and their imagination. I am going to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will leave a sign upon them, and I will send forth those who have escaped of them to the nations, to Tarshish, and Put, and Lud, and Meshech, and to Tubal, and to Greece, and to the isles afar off, to those who have not heard my name, nor seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring your brothers out of all nations for a gift to the Lord with horses, and chariots, in litters drawn by mules with awnings, to the holy city Jerusalem, said the Lord, as though the children of Israel should bring their sacrifices to me with psalms into the house of the Lord. 21 And I will take of them priests and Levites, says the Lord. 22 For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I make, remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name continue. 23 And it will happen from month to month, and from sabbath to sabbath, that all flesh shall come to worship before me in Jerusalem, says the Lord. 24 And they shall go forth, and see the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Isaiah 66:5 and LXX Isaiah 66:5

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 66 speaks to people who honor God’s word but are excluded and mocked. The Greek Septuagint translation turns this into a direct appeal to a present group seen as despised, giving the message a personal tone.

Passages

Isaiah 66:5

Hebrew Bible
4 So I will choose severe punishment for them; I will bring on them what they dread because I called, and no one responded. I spoke and they did not listen. They did evil before me; they chose to do what displeases me.” 5 Listen to the Lord’s message, you who respect his word! “Your countrymen, who hate you and exclude you, supposedly for the sake of my name, say, ‘May the Lord be glorified, then we will witness your joy.’ But they will be put to shame. 6 The sound of battle comes from the city; the sound comes from the temple! It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies. 7 Before she goes into labor, she gives birth! Before her contractions begin, she delivers a boy!
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 66:5

Septuagint
4 I also will choose their mockeries, and will repay them for their sins; because I called them, and they did not listen to me; I spoke, and they did not hear: and they did evil before me, and chose the things in which I did not delight. 5 Hear the words of the Lord, you that tremble at his word; speak, our brothers, to those who hate us and abominate us, that the name of the Lord may be glorified, and may appear in their joy; but they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of a cry from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord rendering payment to his adversaries. 7 Before she that was in labor brought forth, before the labor-pain came on, she escaped it and brought forth a male.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... The substantial personalization which this verse has undergone raises the question of contemporization once again. It appears that the translator has understood this sentence as a command to speak to some outside group that holds his community in low esteem. If there has been a thoroughgoing contemporisation of chapter 66, then one is drawn to think in the first instance of the translator's own Diaspora community as those despised ones who are here urged to speak out in some way ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 41.

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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