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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 66:9 and LXX Isaiah 66:9

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Isaiah 66 uses a midwife metaphor to describe God bringing the nation to birth. The Greek translation in the Septuagint removes the metaphor entirely, replacing it with language about expectation and memory.

Passages

Isaiah 66:9

Hebrew Bible
8 Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen this? Can a country be brought forth in one day? Can a nation be born in a single moment? Yet as soon as Zion goes into labor she gives birth to sons! 9 Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord. “Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?” asks your God. 10 “Be happy for Jerusalem and rejoice with her, all you who love her! Share in her great joy, all you who have mourned over her!
740–450 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Isaiah

LXX Isaiah 66:9

Septuagint
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:
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Isaiah

References

"... The imagery of Isaiah 66.9 brings the Lord into the messy urgencies of childbirth. Indeed, the verse’s vocabulary allows — even if it does not mean to suggest — his personal involvement in procreation and delivery itself. In commenting upon mother Zion’s sudden labour (66.8), the Masoretic Text 66.9 reads: “Shall I who break (maternal waters) not bring to birth?,” the Lord has said. “Shall I — the one who causes birth — shut up (the womb)?,” your God has said. At the least, this verse casts the Lord in a midwife’s role. The translator might also have considered that the two hiphil forms of ילד came perilously close to suggesting procreation, a meaning that the hiphil of ילד always bears outside of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible and in its Greek translation. The Septuagint deviates remarkably and evacuates the verse of metaphor: “But I gave this expectation, and you did not remember me,” the Lord has said. “Behold, am I not the one who made (both) the bearing woman and the barren woman?” God has said. ..."
David A. Baer, When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56–66, JSOTSup 318 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic, 2001), 156–158.

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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