Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 37 and 38 (Isa 44:21-46:13)

Some beautiful verses kick off this week in Greek Isaiah in a Year:

Remember this, Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant; I formed thee for my servant, and thou, Israel, forget not me. For behold, I have blotted out thy transgressions as a cloud, and thy sins as darkness; turn thou to me, and I will redeem thee.

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 44:21-46:13. Here are the readings for each day:

08/12/13 Isa 44:21–24
08/13/13 Isa 44:25–28
08/14/13 Isa 45:1–4
08/15/13 Isa 45:5-9
08/16/13 Isa 45:10-13

08/19/13 Isa 45:14–19
08/20/13 Isa 45:20–22
08/21/13 Isa 45:23–25
08/22/13 Isa 46:1–6
08/23/13 Isa 46:7–13

Below is the text from R.R. Ottley’s Book of Isaiah According to the Septuagint, first in Greek, then with his English translation. Ottley is also here in Logos (reviewed here) and here as a free, downloadable pdf in the public domain. The full reading plan for our group is here (pdf).

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

21 Μνήσθητι ταῦτα, Ἰακὼβ καὶ Ἰσραήλ, ὅτι παῖς μου εἶ σύ· ἔπλασά σε παῖδά μου, καὶ σύ, Ἰσραήλ, μὴ ἐπιλανθάνου μου. 22 ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπήλειψα ὡς νεφέλην τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ ὡς γνόφον τὰς ἁμαρτίας σου· ἐπιστράφητι πρὸς μέ, καὶ λυτρώσομαί σε. 23 εὐφράνθητε, οὐρανοί, ὅτι ἠλέησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν Ἰσραήλ· σαλπίσατε, θεμέλια τῆς γῆς, βοήσατε ὄρη εὐφροσύνην, οἱ βουνοὶ καὶ πάντα τὰ ξύλα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς, ὅτι ἠλέησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ δοξασθήσεται. 24 Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ λυτρώμενός σε καὶ πλάσσων σε ἐκ κοιλίας Ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ συντελῶν ταῦτα, ἐξέτεινα τὸν οὐρανὸν μόνος, καὶ ἐστερέωσα τὴν γῆν. 25 τίς ἕτερος διεσκέδασεν σημεῖα ἐγγαστριμύθων καὶ μαντίας ἀπὸ καρδίας, ἀποστρέφων φρονίμους εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν μωρεύων, 26 καὶ ἱστῶν ῥήματα παίδων αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν βουλὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων αὐτοῦ ἀληθεύων; ὁ λέγων Ἰερουσαλήμ Κατοικηθήσῃ, καὶ ταῖς πόλεσιν τῆς Ἰουδαίας Οἰκοδομηθήσεσθε, καὶ τὰ ἔρημα αὐτῆς ἀνατελεῖ· 27 ὁ λέγων τῇ ἀβύσσῳ Ἐρημωθήσῃ, καὶ τοὺς ποταμούς σου ξηρανῶ· 28 ὁ λέγων Κύρῳ φρονεῖν, καὶ Πάντα τὰ θελήματά μου ποίησει· ὁ λέγων Ἰερουσαλήμ Οἰκοδομηθήσῃ, καὶ τὸν οἶκον τὸν ἅγιόν μου θεμελιώσω.

45 1 Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῷ χριστῷ μου Κύρῳ, οὗ ἐκράτησα τῆς δεξιᾶς, ἐπακοῦσαι ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ ἔθνη, καὶ ἰσχὺν βασιλέων διαρρήξω, ἀνοίξω ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ θύρας, καὶ πόλεις οὐ συγκλεισθήσονται 2 Ἐγὼ ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ πορεύσομαι καὶ ὄρη ὁμαλιῶ, θύρας χαλκᾶς συντρίψω καὶ μοχλοὺς σιδηροῦς συγκλάσω, 3 καὶ δώσω σοι θησαυροὺς σκοτινοὺς ἀποκρύφους, <ἀοράτους> ἀνοίξω σοι, ἵνα γνώσῃ ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ καλῶν τὸ ὄνομά σου, θεὸς Ἰσραήλ. 4 ἕνεκεν Ἰακὼβ τοῦ παιδός μου καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ μου ἐγὼ καλέσω σε τῷ ὀνόματί μου καὶ προσδέξομαί σε· σὺ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνως με. 5 ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ θεός· καὶ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν με, 6 ἵνα γνὡσιν οἱ ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἡλίου καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ δυσμῶν ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν πλὴν ἐμοῦ, καὶ ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι, 7 ἐγὼ ὁ κατασκευάσας φῶς καὶ ποιήσας σκότος, ὁ ποιῶν εἰρήνην καὶ κτίζων κακά· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα πάντα. 8 εὐφρανθήτω ὁ οὐρανὸς ἄνωθεν, καὶ αἱ νεφέλαι ῥαινέτωσαν δικαιοσύνην· ἀνατειλάτω ἡ γῆ καὶ βλαστησάτω ἔλεος, καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἀνατειλάτω ἅμα· ἐγῶ εἰμι Κύριος ὁ κτίσας σε. 9 Ποῖον βέλτιον κατεσκεύασα ὡς πηλὸν κεραμέως; μὴ ὁ ἀροτριῶν ἀροτριάσει τὴν γῆν; μὴ ἐρεῖ ὁ πηλὸς τῷ κεραμεῖ Τί ποιεῖς, ὅτι οὐκ ἐργάζῃ οὐδὲ ἔχεις χεῖρας; 10 ὁ λέγων τῷ πατρί Τί γεννήσεις; καὶ τῇ μητρί Τί ὠδινήσεις; 11 ὅτι οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ποιήσας τὰ ἐπερχόμενα Ἐρωτήσατέ με περὶ τῶν υἱῶν μου καὶ περὶ τῶν θυγατέρων μου, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἔργων τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐντείλασθέ μοι. 12 ἐγὼ ἐποίησα γῆν καὶ ἄνθρωπον ἐπʼ αὐτῆς, ἐγὼ τῇ χειρί μου ἐστερέωσα τὸν οὐρανόν, ἐγὼ πᾶσι τοῖς ἄστροις ἐνετειλάμην. 13 ἐγὼ ἤγειρα αὐτὸν μετὰ δικαιοσύνης, καὶ πᾶσαι αἱ ὁδοὶ αὐτοῦ εὐθεῖαι· αὐτὸς οἰκοδομήσει τὴν πόλιν μου, καὶ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν τοῦ λαοῦ μου ἐπιστρέψει, οὐ μετὰ λύτρων οὐδὲ μετὰ δώρων, εἶπεν Κύριος σαβαώθ. 14 Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος σαβαώθ Ἐκοπίασεν Αἴγυπτος, καὶ ἐμπορία Αἰθιόπων, καὶ οἱ Σεβωεὶμ ἄνδρες ὑψηλοὶ ἐπὶ σὲ διαβήσονται, καὶ σοὶ ἔσονται δοῦλοι καὶ ὀπίσω σου ἀκολουθήσουσιν δεδεμένοι χειροπέδαις, καὶ προσκυνήσουσίν σοι, καὶ ἐν σοὶ προσεύξονται· ὅτι ἐν σοὶ ὁ θεός ἐστιν, καὶ ἐροῦσιν Οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς πλὴν σοῦ. 15 σὺ γὰρ εἶ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ᾔδειμεν, ὁ θεὸς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ σωτήρ. 16 αἰσχυνθήσονται καὶ ἐντραπήσονται πάντες οἱ ἀντικείμενοι αὐτῷ, καὶ πορεύσονται ἐν αἰσχύνῃ. ἐγκαινίζεσθε πρὸς μέ, νῆσοι. 17 Ἰσραὴλ σώζεται ὑπὸ Κυρίου σωτηρίαν αἰώνιον· οὐκ αἰσχυνθήσονται οὐδὲ μὴ ἐντραπῶσιν ἕως τοῦ αἰῶνος. 18 Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανόν, οὗτος ὁ θεὸς ὁ καταδείξας τὴν γῆν καὶ ποιήσας αὐτήν, αὐτὸς διώρισεν αὐτήν, οὐκ εἰς κενὸν ἐποίησεν αὐτήν, ἀλλὰ κατοικεῖσθαι, Ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι. 19 οὐκ ἐν κρυφῇ λελάληκα οὐδὲ ἐν τόπῳ γῆς σκοτινῷ· οὐκ εἶπα τῷ σπέρματι Ἰακώβ Μάταιον ζητήσατε· ἐγώ εἰμι ἐγώ εἰμι λαλῶν δικαιοσύνην καὶ ἀναγγέλλων ἀλήθειαν. 20 συνάχθητε καὶ ἥκετε, βουλεύσασθε ἅμα, οἱ σωζόμενοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν. οὐκ ἔγνωσαν οἱ αἴροντες τὸ ξύλον γλύμμα αὐτῶν, καὶ προσευχόμενοι ὡς πρὸς θεοὺς οἳ οὐ σώζουσιν. 21 εἰ ἀναγγέλλουσιν, ἐγγισάτωσαν, ἵνα γνῶμεν ἅμα τίς ἀκουστὰ ἐποίησεν ταῦτα ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς· τότε ἀνηγγέλη ὑμῖν Ἐγὼ ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος πλὴν ἐμοῦ, δίκαιος καὶ σωτήρ, οὐκ ἔστιν παρὲξ ἐμοῦ. 22 ἐπιστράφητε πρός με καὶ σωθήσεσθε, οἱ ἀπʼ ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλος [πλὴν ἐμοῦ, δίκαιος καὶ σωτήρ, οὐκ ἔστιν παρὲξ ἐμοῦ]. 23 κατʼ ἐμαυτοῦ ὀμνύω, εἰ μὴν ἐξελεύσεται ἐκ τοῦ στόματός μου δικαιοσύνη, οἱ λόγοι μου οὐκ ἀποστραφήσονται, ὅτι ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ, καὶ ἐξομολογήσεται πᾶσα γλῶσσα τῷ θεῷ, 24 λέγων Δικαιοσύνη καὶ δόξα πρὸς αὐτὸν ἥξουσιν, καὶ αἰσχυνθήσονται πάντες οἱ ἀφορίζοντες αὐτούς· 25 ἀπὸ Κυρίου δικαιωθήσονται, καὶ ἐν τῷ θεῷ ἐνδοξασθήσονται καὶ πᾶν τὸ σπέρμα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ.

46 1 Ἔπεσε Βήλ, συνετρίβη Δαγών, ἐγένετο τὰ γλυπτὰ αὐτῶν εἰς θηρία καὶ κτήνη· αἴρετε αὐτὰ καταδεδεμένα ὡς φορτίον κοπιῶντι, 2 καὶ πεινῶντι καὶ ἐκλελυμένῳ, οὐκ ἰσχύοντι ἅμα, οἳ οὐ μὴ δύνωνται σωθῆναι ἀπὸ πολέμου, αὐτοὶ δὲ αἰχμάλωτοι ἤχθησαν. 3 Ἀκούσατέ μου, οἶκος τοῦ Ἰακώβ, καὶ πᾶν τὸ κατάλοιπον τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, οἱ αἰρόμενοι ἐκ κοιλίας καὶ παιδευόμενοι ἀπὸ παιδίου· 4 ἕως γήρους ἐγώ εἰμι, καὶ ἕως ἂν καταγηράσητε ἐγώ εἰμι, ἐγὼ ἀνέχομαι ὑμῶν, ἐγὼ ἐποίησα καὶ ἐγὼ ἀνήσω, ἐγὼ ἀναλήμψομαι καὶ σώσω ὑμᾶς. 5 τίνι με ὡμοιώσατε; ἴδετε, τεχνάσασθε, οἱ πλανώμενοι, 6 οἱ συμβαλλόμενοι χρυσίον ἐκ μαρσίππου καὶ ἀργύριον ἐν ζυγῷ· στήσουσιν ἐν σταθμῷ καὶ μισθωσάμενοι χρυσοχόον ἐποίησαν χειροποίητα, καὶ κύψαντες προσκυνοῦσιν αὐτό. 7 αἴρουσιν αὐτὸ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων καὶ πορεύονται· ἐὰν θῶσιν αὐτό, ἐπὶ τοῦ τόπου αὐτοῦ μένει, οὐ μὴ κινηθῇ· καὶ ὃς ἂν βοήσῃ πρὸς αὐτόν, οὐ μὴ ἀκούσῃ, ἀπὸ κακῶν οὐ μὴ σώσει αὐτόν. 8 Μνήσθητε ταῦτα καὶ στενάξατε, μετανοήσατε, οἱ πεπλανημένοι, ἐπιστρέψατε τῇ καρδίᾳ, 9 καὶ μνήσθητε τὰ πρότερα ἀπὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος, ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ θεὸς καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν ἐμοῦ, 10 ἀναγγέλλων πρότερον τὰ ἔσχατα πρὶν αὐτὰ γενέσθαι, καὶ ἅμα συνετελέσθη· καὶ εἶπα Πᾶσά μου ἡ βουλὴ στήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα βεβούλευμαι ποιήσω· 11 καλῶν ἀπʼ ἀνατολῶν πετεινὸν καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν περὶ ὧν βεβούλευμαι, ἐλάλησα καὶ ἤγαγον, ἔκτισα καὶ ἐποίησα, ἤγαγον αὐτὸν καὶ εὐόδωσα τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ. 12 ἀκούσατέ μου, οἱ ἀπολωλεκότες τὴν καρδίαν, οἱ μακρὰν ἀπὸ τῆς δικαιοσύνης. 13 ἤγγισα τὴν δικαιοσύνην μου, καὶ τὴν σωτηρίαν τὴν παρʼ ἐμοῦ οὐ βραδυνῶ. δέδωκα ἐν Σιὼν σωτηρίαν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς δόξασμα.

21 Remember this, Jacob, and Israel, for thou art my servant; I formed thee for my servant, and thou, Israel, forget not me.

22 For behold, I have blotted out thy transgressions as a cloud, and thy sins as darkness; turn thou to me, and I will redeem thee.

23 Rejoice, ye heavens, for God hath had mercy upon Israel: sound the trumpet, ye foundations of the earth; shout, ye mountains, in joy, ye hills, and all the trees upon them; for the Lord hath had mercy on Jacob, and Israel shall be glorified.

24 Thus saith the Lord, that redeemeth thee, and formeth thee from the womb, I am the Lord, that accomplish this; I alone stretched out the heaven, and established the earth.

25 Who else scattered the signs of ventriloquists, and divinations from the heart? turning wise men backward, and making foolish their counsel?

26 And establishing the words of his servants, and making true the counsel of his messengers? he that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built; and her desolate places shall arise:

27 That saith to the deep, Thou shalt be made desolate, and I will dry up thy rivers:

28 That biddeth Cyrus be wise, and saith, He shall perform all my desires; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and I will lay the foundation of my holy house.

45 1 Thus saith the Lord God to my anointed, Cyrus, on whose right hand I have taken hold, for nations to submit before him; and I will shatter the strength of kings, I will open doors before him, and cities shall not be shut:

2 I will go before him, and will level mountains, will break down doors of brass, and will snap asunder bolts of iron:

3 And I will give thee treasures of darkness, I will open to thee hidden treasures unseen, that thou mayest learn that I am the Lord that call thy name, the God of Israel.

4 For my servant Jacob’s sake, and Israel’s, whom I have chosen, I will call thee by thy name, and will receive thee; but thou knewest not me.

5 For I am the Lord God, and there is no other God beside me; and they knew me not.

6 That they from the rising of the sun, and they from the going down thereof may learn, that there is none beside me; and that I am the Lord God, and there is none other,

7 I, that establish light, and make darkness, that make peace, and create evils: I am the Lord God that doeth all these things.

8 Let the heaven from above rejoice, and let the clouds shower down righteousness: let the earth bring forth and make mercy to spring up, and let righteousness spring up together. I am the Lord that created thee.

9 What better things have I set up, as clay of the potter? shall the ploughman plough the earth? shall the clay say to the potter, What doest thou, for thou workest not, neither hast hands?

10 He that saith to the father, What wilt thou beget? or to the mother, Wherewith wilt thou travail?

11 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, that maketh the things to come; Ask ye me concerning my sons and concerning my daughters, and concerning the works of my hands give me a charge.

12 I made the earth, and man upon it; I with my hand established the heaven, I commanded all the stars.

13 I raised him up with righteousness, and all his ways shall bestraight; he shall build my city, and shall turn the captivity of my people, not with ransom, nor with gifts, saith the Lord of Hosts.

14 Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Egypt is weary, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians: and the men of Saba, men of lofty stature, shall pass over unto thee, and shall be slaves unto thee, and shall follow behind thee, bound with manacles, and worship before thee, and in thee shall they pray: for in thee is God, and they shall say, There is no God beside thee.

15 For thou art God, and we knew it not, O God of Israel, Saviour.

16 All they that resist him shall be ashamed, and turned backward, and shall walk in shame. Be ye made new toward me, ye isles.

17 Israel is being saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; they shall not be ashamed, nor be turned backward for ever.

18 Thus saith the Lord, that made the heaven:—he is the God that showed forth the earth and made it, he himself set its bounds; he made it not for a void, but to be inhabited: I am, and there is none beside.

19 I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth; I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye a vain thing; I am, I am one that speaketh righteousness, and declareth truth.

20 Be gathered together, and come ye, take counsel together, ye that are being saved from among the nations. They had not learnt, they that lift up the wood, their graving, and pray as to gods that save not.

21 If they do declare it, let them draw near, that they may learn together, who made these things to be heard, from the beginning: then was it declared unto you, I am God, and there is none other but me; righteous and a saviour, there is none except me.

22 Turn ye to me, and ye shall be saved, ye that are from the end of the earth; I am God, and there is none other.

23 By myself I swear, that righteousness shall go forth from my mouth; my words shall not be turned back; that unto me shall every knee bow, and every tongue shall swear by God,

24 Saying, Righteousness and glory shall come unto him, and all they that separate themselves shall be ashamed.

25 From the Lord shall men be justified, and in God shall all the seed of the children of Israel be glorified.

46 1Fallen is Bel, crushed into pieces is Dagon: their graven images were for wild beasts, and beasts of burden; lift them up bound as a load for one that is weary and hungry,

2 And enfeebled, without strength also; who shall not be able to be saved from war, but themselves were led captive.

3 Hear ye me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of Israel, that are carried from the womb, and reared up from a child.

4 Until old age I am, and until ye grow old, I am; I bear with you, I made you, and I will let you go free, I will take you up, and will save you.

5 To whom have ye likened me? See ye, deal cunningly, ye that are led astray:

6 Ye that contribute gold out of a bag, and silver by balance: they will set it in a scale, and when they have hired a goldsmith, they make works of their hands, and bow down, and worship them.

7 They lift it upon the shoulders, and walk; and if they set it down, it remaineth in his place, it shall not stir; and whosoever calleth unto him, he shall not hear, he shall not save him from evils.

8 Remember this, and lament; repent, ye that have gone astray, turn with your heart.

9 And remember the former things from eternity; for I am God, and there is none beside me:

10 Declaring the last things before they come to pass, and therewith they are fulfilled; and I said, All my counsel shall stand, and all that I have counselled will I do.

11 Calling a fowl of the air from the East, and from a land afar off them concerning whom I have counselled; I spake, and led him, I created and made, I led him, and made his way plain:

12 Hearken to me, ye that have lost your heart, ye that are far from righteousness.

13 I have brought near my righteousness, and the salvation that cometh from me will I not delay: I have given salvation in Zion to Israel for a glorifying.

Announcing the Septuagint Studies Soirée

You know the Biblical Studies Carnival, right? It’s a link-lovefest of the biblioblogosphere. I hosted one in January.

Blogger and personality Jim West (lots of personality) is offering his own rogue carnival each month. This was particularly good on August 1, when an only slightly more official carnival did not post because no one volunteered to cover July.

Of the upcoming September 1 rogue carnival, in his call for submissions, Jim says:

* Interesting topics include just about everything related to Biblical studies except the LXX. These days you can’t go to the bathroom without someone opening the stall door and shoving a LXX or a book about the LXX in your face. Sure, it’s a great text, but everywhere? All the time? In the words of Jesus ‘life is more than the belly and the greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. Therefore do not concern yourself with it to the exclusion of everything else. Let him who has ears to hear, hear’. Accordingly, in obedience to Jesus, the August carnival (posting 1 September) will be a LXX free zone.

LXX-free zone? You’d have to leave your Bible on the shelf for that to obtain!

But it inspired me to do something that I think is perhaps long overdue–institute a Septuagint-themed carnival of my own.

Each month I will highlight the best of the Web when it comes to Septuagint studies. I’m calling it…

Septuagint Studies Soirée

I know of four Septuagint-related blogs:

LXXI (Brian Davidson)
LXX Studies (John Meade, not super active of late)
Timothy Michael Law (author of When God Spoke Greek)
This one (though it’s not the exclusive focus of Words on the Word)

The International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) has a nice news page here, too, with links to plenty of resources.

There may be other LXX bloggers that I don’t know about… which is why I’m calling on you, dear reader, to please alert me to good posts that have to do with the Septuagint/Old Greek translations of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Comment right here to let me know of something that should be in the first Septuagint Studies Soirée. I’ll post as soon as I’ve got a good dose of links.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 35 and 36 (Isa 42:22-44:20)

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 42:22-44:20. Here are the readings for each day:

07/29/13 Isa 42:22–25
07/30/13 Isa 43:1–6
07/31/13 Isa 43:7–11
08/01/13 Isa 43:12–16
08/02/13 Isa 43:17–22

08/05/13 Isa 43:23–28
08/06/13 Isa 44:1–5
08/07/13 Isa 44:6–8
08/08/13 Isa 44:9–14
08/09/13 Isa 44:15–20

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

22 καὶ ἴδον, καὶ ἐγένετο ὁ λαὸς πεπρονομευμένος καὶ διηρπασμένος· ἡ γὰρ παγὶς ἐν τοῖς ταμιείοις πανταχοῦ, καὶ ἐν οἴκοις ἅμα, ὅπου ἔκρυψαν αὐτούς, ἐγένοντο εἰς προνομήν· καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ ἐξαιρούμενος ἅρπαγμα, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ὁ λέγων Ἀπόδος. 23 τίς ἐν ὑμῖν ὃς ἐνωτιεῖται ταῦτα; εἰσακούσεται εἰς τὰ ἐπερχόμενα. 24 τίς ἔδωκεν εἰς διαρπαγὴν Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ τοῖς προνομεύουσιν αὐτόν; οὐχὶ ὁ θεὸς ᾧ ἡμάρτοσαν αὐτῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἐβούλοντο ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ πορεύεσθαι οὐδὲ ἀκούειν τοῦ νόμου αὐτοῦ; 25 καὶ ἐπήγαγεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ὀργὴν θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατίσχυσεν ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς πόλεμος, καὶ οἱ συμφλέγοντες αὐτοὺς κύκλῳ, καὶ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν ἕκαστος αὐτῶν οὐδὲ ἔθεντο ἐπὶ ψυχήν.

43 1 Καὶ νῦν οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεός, ὁ ποιήσας σε Ἰακώβ, ὁ πλάσας σε Ἰσραήλ Μὴ φοβοῦ, ὅτι ἐλυτρωσάμην σε· ἐκάλεσά σε τὸ ὄνομά σου, ἐμὸς εἶ σύ. 2 καὶ ἐὰν διαβαίνῃς διʼ ὕδατος, μετὰ σοῦ εἰμι, καὶ ποταμοὶ οὐ συγκλύσουσίν σε· καὶ ἐὰν διέλθῃς διὰ πυρὸς, οὐ μὴ κατακαυθῇς, φλὸξ οὐ κατακαύσει σε. 3 ὅτι ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεός σου, ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ, ὁ σώζων σε· ἐποίησά σου ἄλλαγμα Αἴγυπτον καὶ Αἰθιοπίαν, καὶ Σοήνην ὑπὲρ σοῦ. 4 ἀφʼ οὗ ἔντιμος ἐγένου ἐναντίον μου, ἐδοξάσθης κἀγώ σε ἠγάπησα, καὶ δώσω ἀνθρώπους πολλοὺς ὑπὲρ σοῦ καὶ ἄρχοντας ὑπὲρ τῆς κεφαλῆς σου. 5 μὴ φοβοῦ, ὅτι μετὰ σοῦ εἰμι· ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν ἄξω τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ ἀπὸ δυσμῶν συνάξω σε.6 ἐρῶ τῷ βορρᾷ Ἄγε, καὶ τῷ λιβί Μὴ κώλυε· ἄγε τοὺς υἱούς μου ἀπὸ γῆς πόρρωθεν, καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας μου ἀπʼ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς, 7 πάντας ὅσοι ἐπικέκληνται τῷ ὀνόματί μου. ἐν γὰρ τῇ δόξῃ μου κατεσκεύασα αὐτὸν καὶ ἔπλασα καὶ ἐποίησα αὐτόν, 8 καὶ ἐξήγαγον λαὸν τυφλόν, καὶ ὀφθαλμοί εἰσιν ὡσαύτως τυφλοί, καὶ κωφοὶ ὦτα ἔχοντες. 9 πάντα τὰ ἔθνη συνήχθησαν ἅμα, καὶ συναχθήσονται ἄρχοντες ἐξ αὐτῶν· τίς ἀναγγελεῖ ταῦτα; ἢ τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς τίς ἀναγγελεῖ ὑμῖν; ἀγαγέτωσαν τοὺς μάρτυρας αὐτῶν καὶ δικαιωθήτωσαν, καὶ εἰπάτωσαν ἀληθῆ, καὶ ἀκουσάτωσαν. 10 γένεσθέ μοι μάρτυρες, κἀγὼ μάρτυς, λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεός, καὶ ὁ παῖς ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, ἵνα γνῶτε καὶ πιστεύσητέ μοι, καί συνῆτε ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι· ἔμπροσθέν μου οὐκ ἐγένετο ἄλλος θεός, καὶ μετʼ ἐμὲ οὐκ ἔσται. 11 ἐγὼ ὁ θεός, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν παρὲξ ἐμοῦ σώζων. 12 ἀνήγγειλα καὶ ἔσωσα, ὠνείδισα καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἐν ὑμῖν ἀλλότριος· ὑμεῖς ἐμοὶ μάρτυρες, κἀγὼ μάρτυς, λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεός· 13 ἔτι ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν μου ἐξαιρούμενος· ποιήσω, καὶ τίς ἀποστρέψει αὐτό;

14 Οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ λυτρούμενος ὑμᾶς, ὁ ἅγιος Ἰσραήλ Ἕνεκεν ὑμῶν ἀποστελῶ εἰς Βαβυλῶνα καὶ ἐπεγερῶ πάντας φεύγοντας, καὶ Χαλδαῖοι ἐν πλοίοις δεηθήσονται. 15 ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος ὑμῶν, ὁ καταδείξας Ἰσραὴλ βασιλέα ὑμῶν. 16 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ διδοὺς ὁδὸν ἐν θαλάσσῃ καὶ ἐν ὕδατι ἰσχυρῷ τρίβον, 17 ὁ ἐξάγων ἅρματα καὶ ἵππον καὶ ὄχλον ἰσχυρόν· ἀλλὰ ἐκοιμήθησαν καὶ οὐκ ἀναστήσονται, ἐσβέσθησαν ὡς λίνον ἐσβεσμένον. 18 <Μὴ> μνημονεύετε τὰ πρῶτα, καὶ τὰ ἀρχαῖα μὴ συλλογίζεσθε· 19 ἰδοῦ ποιῶ καινὰ ἃ νῦν ἀνατελεῖ, καὶ γνώσεσθε αὐτά. καὶ ποιήσω ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὁδὸν καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀνύδρῳ ποταμούς· 20 εὐλογήσει με τὰ θηρία τοῦ ἀγροῦ, σειρῆνες καὶ θυγατέρες στρουθῶν, ὅτι ἔδωκα ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ὕδωρ καὶ ποταμοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀνύδρῳ, ποτιῶ τὸ γένος μου τὸ ἐκλεκτόν, 21 λαόν μου ὃν περιεποιησάμην τὰς ἀρετάς μου διηγεῖσθαι. 22 οὐ νῦν ἐκάλεσά σε, Ἰακώβ, οὐ κοπιᾶσαί σε ἐποίησα, Ἰσραήλ· 23 οὐκ ἐμοὶ πρόβατα τῆς ὁλοκαρπώσεώς σου, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις σου ἐδόξασάς με, οὐδὲ ἐδούλευσας ἐν ταῖς θυσίαις σου, οὐδὲ ἔγκοπον ἐποίησά σε ἐν λιβάνῳ, 24 οὐδὲ ἐκτήσω μοι ἀργυρίου θυμίαμα, οὐδὲ στέαρ τῶν θυσιῶν σου ἐπεθύμησα, ἀλλὰ ἐν ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις σου καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἀδικίαις σου προέστην σου. 25 ἐγώ εἰμι ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἑξαλείφων τὰς ἀνομίας σου, καὶ οὐ μὴ μνησθήσομαι [τὰς ἀδικίας σου]. 26 σὺ δὲ μνήσθητι καὶ κριθῶμεν· λέγε σὺ τὰς ἀνομίας σου πρῶτος, ἵνα δικαιωθῇς. 27 οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν πρῶτοι καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες αὐτῶν ἠνόμησαν εἰς ἐμέ, 28 καὶ ἐμίαναν οἱ ἄρχοντες τὰ ἅγιά μου· καὶ ἔδωκα ἀπολέσαι Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ εἰς ὀνειδισμόν.

44 1 Νῦν δὲ ἄκουσον, παῖς μου Ἰακώβ, καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, 2 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας σε, καὶ ὁ πλάσας σε ἐκ κοιλίας Ἔτι βοηθηθήσῃ· μὴ φοβοῦ, παῖς μου Ἰακώβ, καὶ ὁ ἠγαπημένος Ἰσραὴλ ὃν ἐξελεξάμην. 3 ὅτι ἐγὼ δώσω ὕδωρ ἐν δίψει τοῖς πορευομένοις ἐν ἀνύδρῳ, ἐπιθήσω τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου, καὶ τὰς εὐλογίας μου ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα σου, 4 καὶ ἀνατελοῦσιν ὡσεὶ χόρτος ἀνὰ μέσον ὕδατος, καὶ ὡς ἰτέα ἐπὶ παραρέον ὕδωρ. 5 οὗτος ἐρεῖ Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, καὶ οὗτος ἐρεῖ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰακώβ, καὶ ἕτερος ἐπιγράφει Τοῦ θεοῦ εἰμι, ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰσραήλ.

6 Οὕτως λέγει ὁ θεὸς ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ῥυσάμενος αὐτόν, θεὸς σαβαώθ Ἐγὼ πρῶτος καὶ ἐγὼ μετὰ ταῦτα, πλῆν ἐμοῦ οὐκ ἔστιν θεός. 7 τίς ὥσπερ ἐγώ; στήτω, καλεσάτω, καὶ ἑτοιμασάτω μοι ἀφʼ οὗ ἐποίησα ἄνθρωπον εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα πρὸ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν ἀναγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν. 8 μὴ παρακαλύπτεσθε· οὐκ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἠνωτίσασθε, καὶ ἀπήγγειλα ὑμῖν; μάρτυρες ὑμεῖς ἐστε εἰ ἔστιν θεὸς πλὴν ἐμοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἦσαν τότε. 9 οἱ πλάσσοντες καὶ γλύφοντες πάντες μάταιοι, οἱ ποιοῦντες τὰ καταθύμια αὐτῶν ἃ οὐκ ὠφελήσει αὐτούς· ἀλλὰ αἰσχυνθήσονται. 10 πάντες οἱ πλάσσοντες θεὸν καὶ γλύφοντες ἀνωφελῆ, 11 καὶ πάντες ὅθεν ἐγένοντο ἐξηράνθησαν, καὶ κωφοὶ ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων· συναχθήτωσαν πάντες καὶ στήσονται ἅμα, ἐντραπήτωσαν καὶ αἰσχυνθήτωσαν ἅμα. 12 ὅτι ὤξυνεν τέκτων σίδηρον, σκεπάρνῳ εἰργάσατο αὐτὸ καὶ ἐν τερέτρῳ ἔτρησεν αὐτό, εἰργάσατο αὐτὸ ἐν τῷ βραχίονι τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ· καὶ πεινάσει, καὶ ἀσθενήσει, καὶ οὐ μὴ πίῃ ὕδωρ. 13 ἐκλεξάμενος τέκτων ξύλον ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέτρῳ, καὶ ἐν κόλλῃ ἐρύθμισεν αὐτό, ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ ὡς μορφὴν ἀνδρὸς καὶ ὡς ὡραιότητα ἀνθρώπου, στῆσαι αὐτὸ ἐν οἴκῳ, 14 [ὃ] ἔκοψεν ξύλον ἐκ τοῦ δρυμοῦ, ὃ ἐφύτευσεν Κύριος, καὶ ὑετὸς ἐμήκυνεν, 15 ἵνα ᾖ ἀνθρώποις εἰς καῦσιν· καὶ λαβὼν ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ ἐθερμάνθη, καὶ καύσαντες ἔπεψαν ἄρτους ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ· τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν εἰργάσατο εἰς θεούς, καὶ προσκυνοῦσιν αὐτούς. 16 οὗ τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ κατέκαυσεν ἐν πυρί, καὶ καύσαντες ἔπεψαν ἄρτους ἐπʼ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ κρέας ὀπτήσας ἔφαγεν καὶ ἐνεπλήσθη, καὶ θερμανθεὶς εἶπεν Ἡδύ μοι ὅτι ἐθερμάνθην καὶ ἴδον πῦρ. 17 τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν ἐποίησεν θεὸν γλυπτόν, καὶ προσκυνεῖ αὐτῷ καὶ προσεύχεται λέγων Ἐξελοῦ με, ὅτι θεός μου εἶ σύ. 18 οὐκ ἔγνωσαν φρονῆσαι, ὅτι ἀπημαυρώθησαν τοῦ βλέπειν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοις αὐτῶν καὶ τοῦ νοῆσαι τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν.19 καὶ οὐκ ἐλογίσατο τῇ καρδίᾳ οὐδὲ ἀνελογίσατο ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἔγνω τῇ φρονήσει ὅτι τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ κατέκαυσεν ἐν πυρί, καὶ ἔπεψεν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνθράκων αὐτοῦ ἄρτους, καὶ ὀπτήσας κρέας ἔφαγεν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς βδέλυγμα ἐποίησεν καὶ προσκυνοῦσιν αὐτῷ. 20 γνῶτε ὅτι σποδὸς ἡ καρδία αὐτῶν, καὶ πλανῶνται, καὶ οὐδεὶς δύναται ἐξελέσθαι τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ· ἴδετε, οὐκ ἐρεῖτε ὅτι Ψεῦδος ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ μου.

22 And I saw, and the people was plundered and spoiled; for the snare is in treasuries everywhere, and in houses together; where they hid themselves, they became a prey; and there was none that set free a prey, and there was none that said, Restore.

23 Who is there among you that will give ear to this? he shall hearken, for the time to come.

24 Who gave Jacob for a prey, and Israel to them that plunder him? Is it not God, before whom they sinned, and they would not walk in his ways, nor hear his law?

25 And he brought upon them the fury of his wrath, and war overpowered them, and they that set them on fire round about, and they understood not, each of them, neither laid it to heart.

43 1 And now thus saith the Lord God, who created thee, O Jacob, he that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not, for I have redeemed thee; I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.

2 Though thou pass through water, I am with thee, and rivers shall not overwhelm thee; though thou go through fire, thou shalt not be burned, flame shall not burn thee up.

3 For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour; I have made Egypt and Ethiopia thy ransom, and set Syene in thy stead.

4 Since thou hast become precious in my sight, thou hast been glorified, and I have loved thee; and I will give many men on behalf of thee, and rulers for thy head.

5 Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the East, and will gather thee from the West:

6 I will say to the North, Bring (them); and to the South, Keep not back: bring my sons from a land afar off, and my daughters from the ends of the earth,

7 All that have been called by my name. For in my glory have I established him, and formed (him), and made him,

8 And I led forth a blind people, and their eyes are likewise blind, and they are deaf, though they have ears.

9 All the nations are gathered together, and rulers shall be gathered from among them; who shall declare these things? or who shall declare to you what was from the beginning? let them bring their witnesses, and let them be approved, and let them speak truth, and let them hear.

10 Be ye witnesses to me, and I am witness, saith the Lord God, and the servant whom I have chosen out; that ye may learn, and believe me, and understand that I am; before me there came no other God, and after me there shall be none.

11 I am God, and beside me there is no Saviour.

12 I declared, and I saved, I reproached, and there was no stranger among you; ye are my witnesses, and I am witness, saith the Lord God,

13 Even from the beginning, and there is none that delivereth out of my hands: I will do it, and who shall turn it back?

14 Thus saith the Lord God who redeemeth you, the Holy One of Israel: For your sakes will I send to Babylon, and will rouse up all that flee, and the Chaldaeans shall be bound in stocks.

15 I am the Lord God, your holy one, he that shewed forth Israel your king.

16 Thus saith the Lord, that giveth a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty water,

17 He that bringeth forth chariots, and horse, and a mighty throng; but they have lain down, and shall not arise, they are quenched as flax that is quenched:

18 Remember ye <not> the first things, and consider not the things of old.

19 Behold, I do new things which shall now arise, and ye shall learn them: and I will make a path in the desert, and rivers in the waterless land:

20 The beasts of the field shall praise me, owls, and the daughters of ostriches; because I have given water in the desert, and rivers in the waterless land, I will give my chosen race to drink,

21 My people, whom I have preserved to set forth my excellences.

22 Not now have I called thee, Jacob, nor made thee weary, Israel:

23 No sheep have I of thy offering, nor didst thou glorify me in thy sacrifices, nor serve in thy sacrifices; nor have I wearied thee with frankincense,

24 Neither didst thou buy for me incense for silver, nor did I desire the fat of thy offerings; but in thy sins and in thine unrighteousness I stood before thee.

25 I am, I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will not remember thine unrighteousnesses.

26 But do thou remember, and let us be judged; tell thou first thy transgressions, that thou mayest be justified.

27 Our fathers first, and their rulers transgressed against me:

28 And the rulers defiled my holy things; and I gave Jacob over to destroy (him), and Israel for a reproach.

44 1 But now hear, Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I chose(out).

2 Thus said the Lord God who made thee, and he that formed thee from the womb, Thou shalt yet be helped: fear not, my servant Jacob, and my beloved Israel whom I chose out;

3 For I will give water in thirst to them that walk in a waterless place; I will put my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessings upon thy children,

4 And they shall rise up as grass among water, and as a willow by the side of a flowing water.

5 This one shall say, I am God’s, and this shall speak in the name of Jacob; and another writeth, I am God’s; upon the name of Israel.

6 Thus saith God, the King of Israel, and his deliverer, God of Hosts; I am first, and I am hereafter; except me there is no God.

7 Who is as I am? let him stand, let him call, and make ready for me, since I made man for everlasting; and let them declare to you the coming things before they come.

8 Hide not yourselves; did ye not give ear from the beginning, and I declared it to you? ye are witnesses, whether there be a God beside me; and they were not, at that time.

9 They that mould images, and that grave, are all of them vain; they that make their own delights, which shall not help them; but they shall be ashamed,

10 All they that mould a god, and grave unprofitable things:

11 And all are withered from whence they sprang, and (are) dumb from among men; let them all be gathered together, and they shall stand together, let them be turned backward and be ashamed together.

12 For the craftsman sharpeneth iron, with an adze he fashioneth it, and boreth it with a gimlet, worketh it with the arm of his strength; and he shall be hungry, and shall be faint, and lot drink water:

13 The craftsman, when he hath chosen a piece of wood, setteth it up by measure, and fitteth it together with glue; he maketh it like the form of a great man, and like the goodliness of man, to set it up in a house:

14 He cutteth wood out of the forest which the Lord planted, and the rain made it to grow,

15 That it may be for men for burning; and he taketh thereof, and is warmed; and they burn it, and bake loaves upon it; and the rest he maketh into gods, and they worship them.

16 Whereof he burneth half in the fire (and they burn them, and bake loaves upon them), and roasteth meat upon it, and eateth, and is filled: and when he is warmed, he saith, Sweet is it to me that I am warmed, and have seen fire.

17 But the rest of it he maketh a graven god, and worshippeth it, and prayeth to it, saying, Deliver me, for thou art my god.

18 They have not learnt to have understanding, for they are darkened, from seeing with their eyes, and understanding with their heart.

19 And he considereth not in his heart, nor pondereth in his soul, nor perceiveth with his understanding, that he hath burned half thereof in the fire, and baked loaves upon the ashes thereof, and roasted meat, and eaten; and made the rest of it into an abomination, and they worship it.

20 Learn ye that their heart is ashes, and they wander out of the way, and no one can deliver his soul; see, ye will not say, There is a lie in my right hand.

When God Spoke Greek, a review mini-essay

Today I review chapters 7 and 8 of Timothy Michael Law‘s new book When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible.

Law writes this book because:

[M]y mother still asks what I do for a living, and my father knows but still gets tripped up on the final syllable of Sep-tu-a-gint.

This is not an academic introduction, but what Law has elsewhere called a “narrative history” of the origins, understandings, and uses of the Septuagint. He has in mind as his audience “those who are interested in the history of the Bible and in its use in the early centuries of the Christian Church but who may never have considered the Septuagint’s role in that story.” Further, he writes, “[W]e who call ourselves specialists in this field have not communicated very well to those outside of our societies.”

Law’s prose promises to connect with his audience. It’s accessible, engaging, and generally easy to read.

Chapter 7 picks up just after Law has examined some of the “textual artifacts” in the Septuagint that “were otherwise lost once the Hebrew Bible was formed and all variety extinguished” (like Esdras, Sirach, Maccabees, etc.). The Septuagint text(s) had been “produced in a period of textual plurality,” the close of which period Law now addresses.

Chapter 7, “E Pluribus Unum”

Law looks at the kaige recensions (revisions) found in the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll among the Dead Sea Scrolls:

To put it simply, these revisers were part of a process lasting several centuries through which some Jewish scribes were working to modify the oldest Greek translations so that they would conform to the tradition behind the Hebrew Bible.

At long last, he continues,

The many textual streams that were flowing dynamically during the third and second centuries BCE, delivering a variety of biblical forms, were soon damned up [AKJ: I think “dammed” is intended here] in favor of a unified current that would propose to carry forward a single, authoritative text into the Common Era.

The collection of books deemed “scripture” came to be called the canon. And while Law acknowledges that popular support was needed to constitute the canon, ultimately ecclesial leadership exerted significant influence over which books were finally included. Law understands canonization, then, as (among other things) “a mechanism used by authorities to define the boundaries of their groups, to determine who is in and who is out, partly by declaring which writings are in and which are out.”

Chapter 8, “The Septuagint Behind the New Testament”

In chapter 1 (“Why This Book?”) Law had said that the New Testament quotes the Old “almost entirely from the Greek.” In chapter 8 (and especially chapter 9) he further unpacks that claim. When Bible readers look up an OT quotation they have seen in the NT, and the OT verse differs, this is due “in many cases” to the fact that English Old Testaments or Spanish ones translate the Hebrew Bible, whereas the New Testament writers use “almost exclusively the Greek Septuagint.” In other words, they are quoting using a different text base than our Old Testaments use.

Score a point for Law in terms of reaching out beyond the Academy. What churchgoer hasn’t asked this question? When a New Testament writer says, “It is written…” only to lead you to an Old Testament passage where it isn’t exactly written in that way, it can cause confusion. Law’s explanation of this dynamic is clear and concise. In chapter 9 (which exceeds the scope of this review) he will give specific examples–all without using Hebrew or Greek!

Law notes that if canonization was not complete by the time of the writing of the New Testament (not all agree with him here), then we should expect the New Testament writers to use a variety of text forms. Indeed, to speak of the or a Septuagint is a misnomer: “[W]hile we can say the new Testament writers overwhelmingly used the ‘Septuagint,’ we must admit that the Septuagint itself was not a singular entity.” (See Göttingen.)

“How did the New Testament writers encounter the scriptures?” Law asks. Only the wealthy elite owned anything written, so interaction with the Scriptures “would have been through hearing them read aloud.” And this was in a liturgical context. Highlighting Paul and his use of Scripture in Romans 15, Law shows how Paul was aware of the fuller context of the OT passages he cites, implying a knowledge on Paul’s part that goes beyond just what he heard in public services of worship.

Some Words on Law’s Words on the Word

Overall When God Spoke Greek is engaging and easy to read–yet still stimulating. Law is a master of his material, and that his knowledge and insight goes deeper even that what is contained on these pages is evident.

In chapter 8, Law points out that the Septuagint and its language had a marked influence on the theology of the New Testament writers. I’m glad to see this important point in a book for a more general audience. I can’t quite agree that as a result “the theological outlook of the Hebrew and the Greek versions of many of the books are on different trajectories and thus lead to different conclusions.” What constitutes “many”? Two-thirds? Half? And how “different”? The non-expert could take this to mean that the Septuagint and Hebrew Bible create different theological systems altogether, when taken as a whole.

Law extends his argument to include “not only apocryphal but also pseudepigraphal works” as exerting influence on NT writers. (He shows 1 Enoch’s impact on Jude and the Gospels’ “Son of Man” language.) And it’s true that an NT entirely dependent on a Hebrew text in the tradition of the Masoretic Text would not have had access to 1 Enoch. But in my view the author overstates the case when he says that the Greek vs. the Hebrew texts produce “different trajectories and thus lead to different conclusions” with regard to “theological outlook.” Or at least I would have liked him to specify more just what he meant here. After all, Law notes earlier in the book, part of the reasoning behind the creation of a Septuagint in the first place was that Jews who were living in a Hellenistic world had to ask: “how does an immigrant religious community that has been transplanted from another cultural universe retain its convictions and its distinctiveness?” This driving question–surely present to the minds of the translators–ought to temper the idea that there are different theological trajectories in “many of the books.”

LXX in the NT, “almost exclusively”?

Similarly, I was a little uncomfortable with Law’s claim that the writers of the NT use “almost exclusively” and “almost entirely” the Greek Septuagint. This is sexier rhetoric, but perhaps at the expense of precision–the latter of which doesn’t have to be sacrificed in a work intended for a more general populace.

Moisés Silva, in his “Old Testament in Paul” article in the IVP Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, has a list of 108 instances when Paul cites Hebrew Scriptures. He lists times when Paul’s Greek agrees with the LXX text and the Hebrew we now have, times when Paul’s Greek agrees with one but not the other, and times when Paul’s Greek agrees with neither. Of course, as Silva acknowledges, such a list is subjective and presupposes interpretive decisions. (And I don’t agree with all of Silva’s analysis in his lists.)

Would such a list would have served Law well (as an appendix)? Perhaps. The chapter following these two under consideration is full of examples. But as it is, there are some instances, both in Paul and in the Gospels, where the NT Greek either is closer to the Hebrew we have today (against the OT Greek we have) or diverges from both. In this latter category (“Paul ≠ LXX ≠ MT“), Silva lists 31 instances.

This is all actually very complicated. In chapter 9 (“The Septuagint in the New Testament”) Law will note how John 1:23 uses the Septuagint of Isaiah 40:3 rather than the Hebrew of Isaiah 40:3. He says, “In John 1:23, the evangelist quotes Isaiah 40:3 from a Greek version but makes a small adaptation for his own message” (my italics). So for any of those 31 instances Silva cites, Law might say something similar–that the LXX is followed, but with adaptations. It’s impossible to prove with certainty one approach over the other, but I do want to raise all this since I think saying the NT writers use the Septuagint “almost exclusively” is (a) not quantified as much as I’d have liked and (b) liable to produce a more cut-and-dried take on NT writers’ use of Scripture than actually exists.

R.T. France, in his Jesus and the Old Testament, and Archer and Chirichigno’s Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament have comparable lists. Some might discount the (at least partially) apologetic nature of Archer and Chirichigno (“We must therefore conclude that the New Testament use of the LXX implies nothing against verbal inspiration of Scriptural inerrancy”). But by their count there are 33 citations “in which the New Testament adheres more closely to the MT than the LXX does, indicating that the apostolic author may have consulted his Hebrew Bible directly in the preparation of his own account or letter.” (If he had a Hebrew Bible!) So, too, France says:

Summarizing the results so far, we may now say that of the sixty-four Old Testament quotations in the sayings of Jesus which may be regarded as certain or virtually so, twenty are to some degree independent of the LXX, and of these twenty, twelve are closer to the MT at this point. The addition of a further ten cases of likely or possible allusions to the MT against the LXX further strengthens the impression that it is wrong to speak of the Old Testament quotations in the sayings of Jesus as basically LXX form.

"St. Paul Writing His Epistles," by Valentin de Boulogne (17th Cent.) — “St. Paul Writing His Epistles,” by Valentin de Boulogne (17th Cent.)

These statistics are just starting points, and highly open to debate. (One man’s “agrees with the MT against the LXX” is another woman’s “disagrees with both.” See also the top of the third page of Karen Jobes’s 2006 article with the same title as Law’s book.) But I would have loved to see Law engage the conversation on this level of detail. Indeed, if there was the textual fluidity (i.e., pluriform accepted texts) in the NT writers’ times that Law says there was (and I have a hard time arguing with him here)… what does it really mean to say that the NT writers use the LXX “almost exclusively”? Perhaps this work is not the place for him to engage further detail about the “dizzying variety of textual forms” present to scripture readers in the first century. But his presentation of the NT writers’ use of the LXX left me (even reading as a non-specialist) wanting more.

So I hope Law writes more on this subject. And I hope he keeps writing for a popular audience. No doubt some in the academy will critique that he did not write for a specifically academic audience. (He has elsewhere.) I hope his future popular writings (if there are any) don’t shy away from the greater level of nuance and elaboration I mention above.

Law used to have on his blog, “I shall not rest until there is a Septuagint in the hand of every woman, man, girl and boy.” Writing this book is a concrete step in that direction.

——————————————————

Thanks to Brian LePort at Near Emmaus for hosting the blog tour, and thanks to Oxford University Press for the review copy. Here are the other posts in the tour thus far.

BRIAN LePORT: Introducing the blog tour

JOEL WATTS: chapters 1 (“Why This Book?”) and 2 (“When the World Became Greek”)

ANDREW KING: chapters 3 (“Was There a Bible before the Bible?”) and 4 (“The First Bible Translators”)

KRISTA DALTON: chapters 5 (“Gog and his Not-so-Merry Grasshoppers”) and 6 (“Bird Droppings, Stone Elephants, and Exploding Dragons”)

Still to come are:

JESSICA PARKS (Monday, July 29): chapters 9 (“The Septuagint in the New Testament”) and 10 (“The New Old Testament”)

AMANDA MacINNIS (Wednesday, July 31): chapters 11 (“God’s Word for the Church”) and 12 (“The Man of Steel and the Man who Worshipped the Sun”)

JAMES McGRATH (Friday, August 2): chapters 13 (“The Man with the Burning Hand vs. the Man with the Honeyed Sword”) and 14 (“A Postscript”)

Why You Need the Septuagint

It’s not uncommon for people to ask: why the Septuagint? (That comes right after: What is it?) Why bother with the Greek Septuagint when we have the Old Testament in Hebrew, in which it was first written? English translations of the Bible in most churches use the Hebrew text as a base, anyway.

Before giving my top 10 reasons why, here are a couple ways to access the Septuagint (often abbreviated LXX after the tradition of the 70(+2) who were said to have translated it). This site has the whole Septuagint in Greek with an English translation. And here‘s a good, up-to-date English translation of the whole thing. (For hard copies, the standard complete Greek text is the Rahlfs Septuagint, and a recent English translation is the NETS.)

Here are 10 good reasons to pay attention to the Septuagint:

10. It helps us read Scripture in new, fresh ways.

9. You get to use fun words like Septuagint, intertextuality, collate, tradent, and urtext. Though I cannot bring myself to use the academy-preferred pronunciation of SEP-twa-jent. Sep-TOO-a-jent, thank you.

8. The New Testament writers often used and quoted a version of Scripture that aligns with the Septuagint. (See here for more about this.)

7. For students of Greek, the LXX is a good way to challenge oneself in Greek beyond the New Testament. There is a fuller and deeper vocabulary in the Septuagint that helps Greek students grow in their knowledge of the language.

6. The Septuagint was translated from a set of Hebrew texts that are centuries earlier than the Hebrew text underlying most English Old Testaments. This helps us get closer to the “original” text.

5. There are books that, while additional to the Protestant canon, still shed light on life. (I’m looking at you, Wisdom of Solomon!)

4. The Odes. This is a collection of texts appended to the end of the Psalms. It compiles some beautiful prayers found in the Old Testament (and apocryphal books). A few of these are in the Book of Common Prayer’s Morning Prayer canticles.

3. It connects us to the broad sweep of history in the Church. This was not only the Bible of the New Testament writers (in many though not all instances); it was the Bible of the Greek-speaking early church.

2. Books like 1 Maccabees, especially, fill out the intertestamental gap between Malachi and Matthew. Reading Maccabees can help us better understand a Jewish expectation of a conquering Messiah who would expel oppressive Roman rule.

1. Jesus used it.*

*Note: this is perhaps an oversimplification. Jesus spoke Aramaic and knew and used the Hebrew Bible. But we can at least say that the Gospel writers sometimes quote Jesus (in Greek) using a Septuagint text that differs from the Hebrew/proto-Masoretic Text. Some say this means just the Gospel writers themselves–not Jesus–used the Septuagint in such cases. But there are at least a few cases where it seems clear that Jesus is using a text closer to the Septuagint than to the Hebrew Bible.

Stanley Porter defends (here) the idea that Jesus taught (at least at times) in Greek.

Saturday I’ll be posting my part of a book blog tour of Timothy Michael Law‘s When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible.

The above is adapted from (and more nuanced than) a post I wrote last summer.

A Review of Mine, Published in Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies

I’ve just received the new Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies (JSCS) in the mail today. This issue publishes my review of a Greek Septuagint lexicon. I find lexicons (more or less, dictionaries) significantly more challenging to review than books or even commentaries. (But enjoyable.) I’m glad this one has been published.

See the full contents of this year’s journal here. Photos below.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 33 and 34 (Isa 41:1-42:21)

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 41:1-42:21. Here are the readings for each day:

07/15/13 Isa 41:1–5
07/16/13 Isa 41:6–10
07/17/13 Isa 41:11–15
07/18/13 Isa 41:16–20
07/19/13 Isa 41:21–24

07/22/13 Isa 41:25–29
07/23/13 Isa 42:1–4
07/24/13 Isa 42:5–9
07/25/13 Isa 42:10–17
07/26/13 Isa 42:18–21

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

41 1 Ἐγκαινίζεσθε πρὸς μέ, νῆσοι, οἱ γὰρ ἄρχοντες ἀλλάξουσιν ἰσχύν· ἐγγισάτωσαν καὶ λαλησάτωσαν ἅμα, τότε κρίσεις ἀναγγειλάτωσαν. 2 τίς ἐξήγειρεν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν δικαιοσύνην, ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὴν κατὰ πόδας αὐτοῦ, πορεύσεται· δώσει ἐναντίον ἐθνῶν, καὶ βασιλεῖς ἐκστήσει· καὶ δώσει εἰς γῆν τὰς μαχαίρας αὐτῶν, καὶ ὡς φρύγανα ἐξωσμένα τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν· 3 καὶ διώξεται αὐτούς, καὶ διελεύσεται ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἡ ὁδὸς τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ. 4 τίς ἐνήργησεν καὶ ἐποίησεν ταῦτα; ἐκάλεσεν αὐτὴν ὁ καλῶν αὐτὴν ἀπὸ γενεῶν ἀρχῆς· ἐγὼ θεὸς πρῶτος, καὶ εἰς τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐγώ εἰμι. 5 εἴδοσαν ἔθνη καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν, τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς ἤγγισαν καὶ ἤλθοσαν ἅμα, 6 κρίνων ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ βοηθῆσαι, καὶ ἐρεῖ 7 Ἴσχυσεν ἀνὴρ τέκτων, καὶ χαλκεὺς τύπτων σφύρῃ, ἅμα ἐλαύνων· τότε μὲν ἐρεῖ Σύμβλημα καλόν ἐστιν, ἰσχύρωσαν αὐτὰ ἐν ἥλοις· θήσουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ οὐ κινηθήσονται. 8 Σὺ δέ, Ἰσραήλ, παῖς μου Ἰακὼβ ὃν ἐξελεξάμην, σπέρμα Ἀβραὰμ ὃν ἠγάπησα· 9 οὗ ἀντελαβόμην ἀπʼ ἄκρων τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐκ τῶν σκοπιῶν αὐτῆς ἐκάλεσά σε καὶ εἶπά σοι Παῖς μου εἶ, ἐξελεξάμην σε καὶ οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπόν σε. 10 μὴ φοβοῦ, μετὰ σοῦ γάρ εἰμι· μὴ πλανῶ, ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ θεός σου ὁ ἐνισχύσας σε, καὶ ἐβοήθησά σοι καὶ ἠσφαλισάμην σε τῇ δεξιᾷ τῇ δικαίᾳ μου. 11 ἰδοὺ αἰσχυνθήσονται καὶ ἐντραπήσονται πάντες οἱ ἀντικείμενοί σοι, ἔσονται γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ὄντες, καὶ ἀπολοῦνται πάντες οἱ ἀντίδικοί σου. 12 ζητήσεις αὐτούς, καὶ οὐ μὴ εὕρῃς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους οἱ παροινήσουσιν εἰς σέ· ἔσονται γὰρ ὡς οὐκ ὄντες, καὶ οὐκ ἔσονται οἱ ἀντιπολεμοῦντές σε. 13 ὅτι ἐγὼ ὁ θεὸς ὁ κρατῶν τῆς δεξιᾶς σου, ὁ λέγων σοι Μὴ φοβοῦ, 14 Ἰακώβ, ὀλιγοστὸς Ἰσραήλ· ἐγὼ ἐβοήθησά σοι, λέγει ὁ θεὸς ὁ λυτρούμενός σε Ἰσραήλ. 15 ἰδοὺ ἐποίησά σε ὡς τροχοὺς ἁμάξης ἀλοῶντας καινοὺς πριστοειδεῖς, καὶ ἀλοήσεις ὄρη, καὶ λεπτυνεῖς βουνούς, καὶ ὡς χοῦν θήσεις, 16 καὶ λικμήσεις, καὶ ἄνεμος λήμψεται αὐτούς, καὶ καταιγὶς διασπερεῖ αὐτούς. σὺ δὲ εὐφρανθήσῃ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις Ἰσραήλ, 17 καὶ ἀγαλλιάσονται οἱ πτωχοὶ καὶ οἱ ἐνδεεῖς. ζητήσουσιν γὰρ ὕδωρ καὶ οὐκ ἔσται, ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν ἀπὸ τῆς δίψης ἐξηράνθη· ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεός, ἐγὼ ἐπακούσομαι ὁ θεὸς Ἰσραήλ, καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψω αὐτούς, 18 ἀλλὰ ἀνοίξω ἐπὶ τῶν ὀρέων ποταμοὺς καὶ ἐν μέσῳ πεδίων πηγάς, ποιήσω τὴν ἔρημον εἰς ἕλη, καὶ τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν ἐν ὑδραγωγοῖς, 19 θήσω εἰς τὴν ἄνυδρον γῆν κέδρον καὶ πύξον, καὶ μυρσίνην καὶ κυπάρισσον καὶ λεύκην· 20 ἵνα ἴδωσιν καὶ γνῶσιν καὶ ἐννοηθῶσιν καὶ ἐπιστῶνται ἅμα ὅτι χεὶρ Κυρίου ἐποίησεν ταῦτα πάντα, καὶ ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ κατέδειξεν. 21 Ἐγγίζει ἡ κρίσις ὑμῶν, λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεός· ἤγγισαν αἱ βουλαὶ ὑμῶν, λέγει ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἰακώβ. 22 ἐγγισάτωσαν καὶ ἀναγγειλάτωσαν ὑμῖν ἃ συμβήσεται, ἢ τὰ πρότερα τίνα ἦν εἴπατε, καὶ ἐπιστήσομεν τὸν νοῦν, καὶ γνωσόμεθα τί τὰ ἔσχατα, καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα εἴπατε ἡμῖν. 23 ἀναγγείλατε τὰ ἐπερχόμενα ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου, καὶ γνωσόμεθα ὅτι θεοί ἐστε. εὖ ποιήσατε καὶ κακώσατε, καὶ θαυμασόμεθα, 24 ὅτι πόθεν ἐστὲ ὑμεῖς, καὶ πόθεν ἡ ἐργασία ὑμῶν; ἐκ γῆς· βδέλυγμα ἐξελέξαντο ὑμᾶς. 25 ἐγὼ ἤγειρα τὸν ἀπὸ βορρᾶ καὶ τὸν ἀπʼ ἡλίου ἀνατολῶν, κληθήσονται τῷ ὀνόματί μου· ἐρχέσθωσαν ἄρχοντες, καὶ ὡς πηλὸς κεραμέως, καὶ ὡς κεραμεὺς καταπατῶν τὸν πηλόν, οὕτως καταπατηθήσεσθε. 26 τίς γὰρ ἀναγγελεῖ τὰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἵνα γνῶμεν, καὶ τὰ ἔμπροσθεν, καὶ ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ἀληθῆ ἐστιν; οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ προλέγων, οὐδʼ ἀκούων τοὺς λόγους ὑμῶν. 27 ἀρχὴν Σιὼν δώσω, καὶ Ἰερουσαλὴμ παρακαλέσω ἐν ὁδῷ. 28 ἀπὸ γὰρ τῶν ἐθνῶν ἰδοὺ οὐθείς, ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων αὐτῶν οὐκ ἦν ὁ ἀναγγέλλων· καὶ ἐὰν ἐρωτήσω αὐτοὺς πόθεν ἐστέ, οὐ μὴ ἀποκριθῶσίν μοι. 29 εἰσὶν γὰρ οἱ ποιοῦντες ὑμᾶς, καὶ μάτην οἱ πλανῶντες ὑμᾶς.

42 1 Ἰακὼβ ὁ παῖς μου, ἀντιλήμψομαι αὐτοῦ· Ἰσραὴλ ὁ ἐκλεκτός μου, προσεδέξατο αὐτὸν ἡ ψυχή μου· ἔδωκα τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπʼ αὐτόν, κρίσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐξοίσει· 2 οὐ κράξεται οὐδὲ ἀνήσει, οὐδὲ ἀκουσθήσεται ἔξω ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ. 3 κάλαμον συντεθλασμένον οὐ συντρίψει, καὶ λίνον καπνιζόμενον οὐ σβέσει, ἀλλὰ εἰς ἀλήθειαν ἐξοίσει κρίσιν. 4 ἀναλάμψει καὶ οὐ θραυσθήσεται, ἕως ἂν θῇ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κρίσιν· καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν. 5 οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ πήξας αὐτόν, ὁ στερεώσας τὴν γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ δοὺς πνοὴν τῷ λαῷ τῷ ἐπʼ αὐτῆς καὶ πνεῦμα τοῖς πατοῦσιν αὐτήν. 6 ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐκάλεσά σε ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ, καὶ κρατήσω τῆς χειρός σου καὶ ἐνισχύσω σε, καὶ ἔδωκά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους, εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν, 7 ἀνοῖξαι ὀφθαλμοὺς τυφλῶν, ἐξαγαγεῖν ἐκ δεσμῶν δεδεμένους καὶ ἐξ οἴκου φυλακῆς καθημένους ἐν σκότει. 8 ἐγὼ Κύριος ὁ θεός, τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ ὄνομα, τὴν δόξαν μου ἑτέρῳ οὐ δώσω, οὐδὲ τὰς ἀρετάς μου τοῖς γλυπτοῖς. 9 τὰ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἰδοὺ ἥκασιν, καὶ καινὰ ἐγὼ ἀναγγελῶ, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ ἀνατεῖλαι ἐδηλώθη ὑμῖν. 10 Ὑμνήσατε τῷ κυρίῳ ὕμνον καινόν· ἡ ἀρχὴ αὐτοῦ, δοξάζετε τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐπʼ ἄκρου τῆς γῆς, οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πλέοντες αὐτήν, αἱ νῆσοι καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες αὐτάς. 11 εὐφράνθητι, ἔρημος καὶ αἱ κῶμαι αὐτῆς, ἐπαύλεις καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Κηδάρ. εὐφρανθήσονται οἱ κατοικοῦντες πέτραν, ἐπʼ ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων 12 δώσουσιν τῷ θεῷ δόξαν, τὰς ἀρετὰς αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς νήσοις ἀναγγελοῦσιν. 13 Κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν δυνάμεων ἐξελεύσεται καὶ συντρίψει πόλεμον, ἐπεγερεῖ ζῆλον καὶ βοήσεται ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐχθροὺς αὐτοῦ μετὰ ἰσχύος. 14 ἐσιώπησα, μὴ καὶ ἀεὶ σιωπήσομαι καὶ ἀνέξομαι; ἐκαρτέρησα ὡς ἡ τίκτουσα, ἐκστήσω καὶ ξηρανῶ ἅμα. 15 καὶ θήσω ποταμοὺς εἰς νήσους, καὶ ἕλη ξηρανῶ. 16 καὶ ἄξω τυφλοὺς ἐν ὁδῷ ᾗ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν, καὶ τρίβους οὓς οὐκ ᾔδεισαν πατῆσαι ποιήσω αὐτούς· ποιήσω αὐτοῖς τὸ σκότος εἰς φῶς, καὶ τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν. ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα ἃ ποιήσω, καὶ οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψω αὐτούς· 17 αὐτοὶ δὲ ἀπεστράφησαν εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω. αἰσχύνθητε αἰσχύνην, οἱ πεποιθότες ἐπὶ τοῖς γλυπτοῖς, οἱ λέγοντες τοῖς χωνευτοῖς Ὑμεῖς ἐστε θεοὶ ἡμῶν. 18 Οἱ κωφοί, ἀκούσατε, καὶ οἱ τυφλοί, ἀναβλέψατε ἰδεῖν. 19 καὶ τίς τυφλὸς ἀλλʼ ἢ οἱ παῖδές μου, καὶ κωφοὶ ἀλλʼ ἢ οἱ κυριεύοντες αὐτῶν; καὶ ἐτυφλώθησαν οἱ δοῦλοι τοῦ θεοῦ. 20 ἴδετε πλεονάκις, καὶ οὐκ ἐφυλάξασθε· ἠνοιγμένα τὰ ὦτα, καὶ οὐκ ἠκούσατε. 21 Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐβουλεύσατο ἵνα δικαιωθῇ καὶ μεγαλύνῃ αἴνεσιν.

41 1 Be made new toward me, ye islands: for the rulers shall renew their strength: let them draw near, and let them speak together, then let them proclaim judgments.

2 Who roused up righteousness from the rising of the sun, called it to his feet, it shall go forth? he shall set it before nations, and shall astonish kings; and he shall lay their swords upon the earth, and their bows as brushwood that is cast forth.

3 And he shall pursue them, and the way of his feet shall pass over in peace.

4 Who hath wrought and done these things? he called it, that called it from the beginning of generations; I, even God, am the first, and unto the times to come, I am.

5 The nations saw, and were afraid, the ends of the earth drew near, and came together,

6 Deciding everyone to help his neighbour and his brother, and he shall say,

7 The craftsman is strong, and the smith smiting with a hammer, beating withal; then will he say, The joining is good, they have made them strong with nails; they will set them in place, and they shall not be moved.

8 But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham whom I loved:

9 On whom I took hold from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the watch towers thereof, and said to thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not forsaken thee.

10 Fear not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God that strengtheneth thee; and I have helped thee, and have saved thee from falling by my just right hand.

11 Behold, all they that resist thee shall be ashamed and turned backward; for they shall be as though they were not, and all thy adversaries shall perish.

12 Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find the men who shall evil intreat thee; for they shall be as though they were not, and they that war against thee shall cease to be.

13 For I am God, that hold fast thy right hand, that say to thee, Fear not,

14 O Jacob, thou little Israel; I have helped thee, saith the God that ransometh thee, Israel.

15 Behold, I make thee as wheels of a cart, that thresh out; new, with teeth like a saw; and thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat small the hills, and shalt make them as dust.

16 And thou shalt winnow them, and a wind shall take them, and a tempest shall scatter them. But thou shalt rejoice among the holy things of Israel.

17 And the poor and the needy shall triumph. For they shall seek water, and there shall be none; their tongue is dried up with thirst. I the Lord God, I the God of Israel will hear, and will not forsake them.

18 But I will open rivers upon the mountains, and fountains in the midst of the plains; I will make the wilderness into pools, and the thirsty land into watercourses.

19 I will plant in the waterless land cedar and box, and myrtle and cypress, and white poplar;

20 That they may see, and learn, and understand, and know together that the hand of the Lord hath done all this, and the Holy One of Israel hath shown it forth.

21 Your judgment draweth near, saith the Lord God; your counsels have drawn near, saith the King of Jacob.

22 Let them draw near, and declare unto you what shall come to pass; or tell ye of the former things, what they were, and we will apply our thoughts, and perceive what the last things be: and tell us the things that are coming.

23 Declare the things that are coming at the last, and we shall perceive that ye are gods: do good, and do evil, and we will wonder.

24 For whence are ye, and whence is your working? from the earth. As an abomination have they chosen you.

25 I have raised up him from the north, and him from the rising of the sun; they shall be called by my name; let rulers come, and like clay of a potter, and like a potter treading clay, so shall ye be trodden down.

26 For who shall proclaim the things from the beginning, that we may learn them? or the former things, and we shall say that they are true? there is none that foretelleth, nor any that heareth your words.

27 I will give rule to Zion, and will comfort Jerusalem in the way.

28 For from the nations, behold, no man; and from among their idols there was none that declared aught, and if I ask of them, Whence are ye? they will not answer me.

29 For they are those that make you, and vain are they that lead you astray.

42 1 Jacob is my servant, on him will I take hold; Israel is my chosen, my soul hath received him; I have put my spirit upon him, he shall bring forth judgment for the nations.

2 He shall not cry out, nor send forth his voice, nor shall his voice be heard without.

3 A bruised reed shall he not crush, and smoking flax shall he not quench, but shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

4 He shall shine out, and shall not be shattered, until he have set judgment upon the earth; and in his name shall nations hope.

5 Thus saith the Lord, the God who made the heaven and fixed it, who established the earth and the things therein, and gave breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them that tread thereon,

6 I the Lord God have called thee in righteousness, and will hold fast thine hand, and will strengthen thee, and have given thee for a covenant of a race, for a light of nations.

7 To open blind men’s eyes, to lead out from bonds them that are bound, and men that sit in darkness out of a prison house.

8 I am the Lord God: this is my name; my glory will I not give to another, nor my excellences to the graven images.

9 The things from of old, behold, they are come; and new things do I proclaim, and before they sprang up they were made plain to you.

10 Sing unto the Lord a new song; it is his dominion; glorify his name at the end of the earth, ye that go down unto the sea and sail upon it: the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

11 Be glad, O wilderness and the villages thereof; ye lodges, and the inhabitants of Kedar. They that dwell in a rock shall be glad, upon the tops of the mountains.

12 They shall give glory to God, they shall proclaim his excellences in the isles.

13 The Lord, the God of powers, shall come forth, and shall break war in pieces: he shall stir up jealousy, and shall shout against his enemies with might.

14 I have been silent: shall I be silent even for ever, and hold my peace? I endured, as she that travaileth; I will amaze, and I will dry up together.

15 And I will turn rivers into islands, and will dry up pools.

16 And I will lead blind men by a way that they had not learnt, and will make them to tread paths which they knew not; I will make their darkness into light, and the crooked things into a straight path; these are the things which I will do, and will not forsake them.

17 But they turned away backward. Be utterly ashamed, ye hat trust in the graven images; that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

18 Hear, ye deaf; and look up, ye blind, and see.

19 And who is blind, but my servants? and deaf, but they that are lords over them? and the slaves of God are blinded.

20 Full oft have ye seen, and taken not heed; your ears are opened, and ye heard not.

21 The Lord God took counsel, that he might be justified, and might magnify praise.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Weeks 31 and 32 (through 40 chapters)

This week and next week in Greek Isaiah in a Year will cover Isaiah 38:12-40:31 (that’s through 40 chapters!). Here are the readings for each day:

07/01/13 Isa 38:12–16
07/02/13 Isa 38:17–22
07/03/13 Isa 39:1–4
07/04/13 Isa 39:5–8
07/05/13 Isa 40:1–5

07/08/13 Isa 40:6–8
07/09/13 Isa 40:9–14
07/10/13 Isa 40:15–20
07/11/13 Isa 40:21–25
07/12/13 Isa 40:26–31

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

38 12 ἐκ τῆς συγγενείας μου κατέλιπον τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς ζωῆς μου, ἐξῆλθεν καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἀπʼ ἐμοῦ ὥσπερ ὁ καταλύων σκηνὴν πήξας· τὸ πνεῦμά μου παρʼ ἐμοὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἱστὸς ἐρίθου ἐγγιζούσης ἐκτεμεῖν. 13 ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ παρεδόθην ἕως πρωὶ ὡς λέοντι, οὕτως τὰ ὀστᾶ μου συνέτριψεν· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς νυκτὸς παρεδόθην. 14 ὡς χελιδών, οὕτως φωνήσω, καὶ ὡς περιστερά, οὕτως μελετήσω· ἐξέλιπον γάρ μου οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ βλέπειν εἰς τὸ ὕψος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πρὸς τὸν κύριον, ὃς ἐξείλατό με καὶ ἀφείλατό μου τὴν ὀδύνην τῆς ψυχῆς. 16 Κύριε, περὶ αὐτῆς γὰρ ἀνηγγέλη σοι, καὶ ἐξήγειράς μου τὴν πνοήν, καὶ παρακληθεὶς ἔζησα. 17 εἵλου γάρ μου τὴν ψυχὴν ἵνα μὴ ἀπόληται, καὶ ἀπέριψας ὀπίσω μου πάσας τὰς ἁμαρτίας μου. 18 οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἐν ᾅδου αἰνέσουσίν σε, οὐδὲ οἱ ἀποθανόντες εὐλογήσουσίν σε, οὐδὲ ἐλπιοῦσιν οἱ ἐν ᾅδου τὴν ἐλεημοσύνην σου. 19 οἱ ζῶντες εὐλογήσουσίν σε ὃν τρόπον κἀγώ· ἀπὸ γὰρ τῆς σήμερον παιδία ποιήσω, ἃ ἀναγγελοῦσιν τὴν δικαιοσύνην σου, 20 Κύριε τῆς σωτηρίας μου· καὶ οὐ παύσομαι εὐλογῶν σε μετὰ ψαλτηρίου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς μου κατέναντι τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ.

21 Καὶ εἶπεν Ἠσαίας πρὸς Ἑζεκίαν Λάβε παλάθην ἐκ σύκων καὶ τρίψον καὶ κατάπλασαι, καὶ ὑγιὴς ἔσῃ. 22 καὶ εἶπεν Ἑζεκίας Τοῦτο τὸ σημεῖον ὅτι ἀναβήσομαι εἰς τὸν οἶκον Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ.

39 1 Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἀπέστειλεν Μαρωδὰχ υἱὸς τοῦ Λααδὰν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῆς Βαβυλωνίας ἐπιστολὰς καὶ πρέσβεις καὶ δῶρα Ἑζεκίᾳ· ἤκουσεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐμαλακίσθη ἕως θανάτου καὶ ἀνέστη. 2 καὶ ἐχάρη ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς Ἑζεκίας χαρὰν μεγάλην, καὶ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ νεχωθὰ καὶ τῆς στακτῆς καὶ τῶν θυμιαμάτων καὶ τοῦ μύρου καὶ τοῦ ἀργυρίου καὶ τοῦ χρυσίου, καὶ πάντας τοὺς οἴκους τῶν σκευῶν τῆς γάζης, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἦν ἐν τοῖς θησαυροῖς αὐτοῦ· καὶ οὐκ ἦν οὐθὲν ὃ οὐκ ἔδειξεν αὐτοῖς Ἑζεκίας ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ. 3 καὶ ἦλθεν Ἠσαίας ὁ προφήτης πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἑζεκίαν καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτόν Τί λέγουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι οὗτοι, καὶ πόθεν ἥκασιν πρὸς σέ; καὶ εἶπεν Ἑζεκίας Ἐκ γῆς πόρρωθεν ἥκασιν πρὸς μέ, ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος. 4 καὶ εἶπεν Ἠσαίας Τί ἴδον ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου; καὶ εἶπεν Ἑζεκίας Πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου ἴδοσαν, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ μου ὃ οὐκ εἴδοσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐν τοῖς θησαυροῖς μου. 5 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἠσαίας Ἄκουσον τὸν λόγον Κύριου σαβαώθ. 6 Ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει Κύριος, καὶ λήμψονται πάντα τὰ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ σου, καὶ ὅσα συνήγαγον οἱ πατέρες σου ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ταύτης εἰς Βαβυλῶνα ἥξει, καὶ οὐ μὴ καταλίπωσιν οὐδέν· εἶπεν δὲ ὁ θεὸς 7 ὅτι Καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν τέκνων σου ὧν ἐγέννησας λήμψονται, καὶ ποιήσουσιν σπάδοντας ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν Βαβυλωνίων. 8 καὶ εἶπεν Ἑζεκίας πρὸς Ἠσαίαν Ἀγαθὸς ὁ λόγος Κυρίου ὃν ἐλάλησεν· γενέσθω δὴ εἰρήνη καὶ δικαιοσύνη ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις μου.

40 1 Παρακαλεῖτε, παρακαλεῖτε τὸν λαόν μου, λέγει Κύριος. 2 ἱερεῖς, λαλήσατε εἰς τὴν καρδίαν Ἰερουσαλήμ, παρακαλέσατε αὐτήν, ὅτι ἐπλήσθη ἡ ταπείνωσις αὐτῆς, λέλυται αὐτῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία, ὅτι ἐδέξατο ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου διπλᾶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα αὐτῆς. 3 Φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου, εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν. 4 πᾶσα φάραγξ πληρωθήσεται, καὶ πᾶν ὄρος καὶ βουνὸς ταπεινωθήσεται· καὶ ἔσται τὰ σκολιὰ εἰς εὐθεῖαν, καὶ ἡ τραχεῖα εἰς ὁδοὺς λείας, 5 καὶ ὀφθήσεται ἡ δόξα Κυρίου, καὶ ὄψεται πᾶσα σὰρξ τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν. 6 φωνὴ λέγοντος Βόησον. καὶ εἶπα Τί βοήσω; Πᾶσα σὰρξ χόρτος, καὶ πᾶσα δόξα ἀνθρώπου ὡς ἄνθος χόρτου· 8 ἐξηράνθη ὁ χόρτος καὶ τὸ ἄνθος ἐξέπεσεν, τὸ δὲ ῥῆμα τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν μένει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. 9 Ἐπʼ ὄρος ὑψηλὸν ἀνάβηθι, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Σιών· ὕψωσον τῇ ἰσχύι τὴν φωνήν σου, ὁ εὐαγγελιζόμενος Ἰερουσαλήμ· ὑψώσατε, μὴ φοβεῖσθε· εἰπὸν ταῖς πόλεσιν Ἰούδα Ἰδοὺ ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν. 10 Ἰδοὺ Κύριος μετὰ ἰσχύος ἔρχεται, καὶ ὁ βραχίων αὐτοῦ μετὰ κυρίας· ἰδοὺ ὁ μισθὸς αὐτοῦ μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὸ ἔργον ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ. 11 ὡς ποιμὴν ποιμανεῖ τὸ ποίμνιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ τῷ βραχίονι αὐτοῦ συνάξει ἄρνας, καὶ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσας παρακαλέσει. 12 Τίς ἐμέτρησεν τῇ χειρὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸν οὐρανὸν σπιθαμῇ, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν δρακί; τίς ἔστησεν τὰ ὄρη σταθμῷ καὶ τὰς νάπας ζυγῷ; 13 τίς ἔγνω νοῦν Κυρίου, καὶ τίς σύμβουλος αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο, ὃς συμβιβάσει αὐτόν; 14 ἢ πρὸς τίνα συνεβουλεύσατο καὶ συνεβίβασεν αὐτόν; ἢ τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ κρίσιν; ἢ ὁδὸν συνέσεως τίς ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ; ἢ τίς προέδωκεν αὐτῷ, καὶ ἀνταποδοθήσεται αὐτῷ; 15 εἰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς σταγὼν ἀπὸ κάδου καὶ ὡς ῥοπὴ ζυγοῦ ἐλογίσθησαν, καὶ ὡς σίελον λογισθήσονται; 16 ὁ δὲ Λίβανος οὐχ ἱκανὸς εἰς καῦσιν, καὶ πάντα τὰ τετράποδα οὐχ ἱκανὰ εἰς ὁλοκάρπωσιν, 17 καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ὡς οὐδέν εἰσιν, καὶ εἰς οὐθὲν ἐλογίσθησαν 18 Τίνι ὡμοιώσατε Κύριον, καὶ τίνι ὁμοιώματι ὡμοιώσατε αὐτόν.; 19 μὴ εἰκόνα ἐποίησεν τέκτων, ἢ χρυσοχόος χωνεύσας χρυσίον περιεχρύσωσεν αὐτόν; ὁμοίωμα κατεσκεύασεν αὐτόν; 20 ξύλον γὰρ ἄσηπτον ἐκλέγεται τέκτων, καὶ σοφῶς ζητεῖ πῶς στήσει αὐτοῦ εἰκόνα, καὶ ἵνα μὴ σαλεύηται. 21 οὐ γνώσεσθε; οὐκ ἀκούσεσθε; οὐκ ἀνηγγέλη ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑμῖν; οὐκ ἔγνωτε τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς; 22 ὁ κατέχων τὸν γῦρον τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἐνοικοῦντες ἐν αὐτῇ ὡς ἀκρίδες, ὁ στήσας ὡς καμάραν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ διατείνας ὡς σκηνὴν κατοικεῖν, 23 ὁ διδοὺς ἄρχοντας εἰς οὐδὲν ἄρχειν, τὴν δὲ γῆν ὡς οὐδὲν ἐποίησεν. 24 οὐ γὰρ μὴ σπείρωσιν οὐδὲ μὴ φυτεύσουσιν, οὐδὲ μὴ ῥιζωθῇ εἰς τὴν γῆν ἡ ῥίζα αὐτῶν· ἔπνευσεν ἐπʼ αὐτούς, καὶ ἐξηράνθησαν, καὶ καταιγὶς ὡς φρύγανα ἀναλήμψεται αὐτούς. 25 νῦν οὖν τίνι με ὡμοιώσατε, καὶ ὑψωθήσομαι; εἶπεν ὁ ἅγιος. 26 ἀναβλέψατε εἰς τὸ ὕψος τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ὑμῶν καὶ ἴδετε· τίς κατέδειξεν πάντα ταῦτα; ὁ ἐκφέρων κατὰ ἀριθμὸν τὸν κόσμον αὐτοῦ, πάντα ἐπʼ ὀνόματι καλέσει ἀπὸ τῆς πολλῆς δόξης, καὶ ἐν κράτει ἰσχύος οὐδέν σε ἔλαθεν. 27 Μὴ γὰρ εἴπῃς, Ἰακώβ, καὶ τί ἐλάλησας, Ἰσραήλ Ἀπεκρύβη ἡ ὁδός μου ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ θεός μου τὴν κρίσιν ἀφεῖλεν, καὶ ἀπέστη; 28 καὶ νῦν οὐκ ἔγνως; εἰ μὴ ἤκουσας; θεὸς αἰώνιος, θεὸς ὁ κατασκευάσας τὰ ἄκρα τῆς γῆς, οὐ πεινάσει οὐδὲ κοπιάσει, οὐδὲ ἔστιν ἐξεύρεσις τῆς φρονήσεως αὐτοῦ, 29 διδοὺς τοῖς πεινῶσιν ἰσχύν, καὶ τοῖς μὴ ὀδυνωμένοις λύπην. 30 πεινάσουσιν γὰρ νεώτεροι, καὶ κοπιάσουσιν νεανίσκοι, καὶ ἐκλεκτοὶ ἀνίσχυες ἔσονται· 31 οἱ δὲ ὑπομένοντες τὸν θεὸν ἀλλάξουσιν ἰσχύν, πτεροφυήσουσιν ὡς ἀετοί, δραμοῦνται καὶ οὐ κοπιάσουσιν, βαδιοῦνται καὶ οὐ πεινάσουσιν.

38 12 From among my kindred; I have left behind the residue of my life; it is gone forth and departed from me, like him that looseth his tent which he hath pitched; my spirit in me became as a web, when she that weaveth draweth near to cut it off.

13 In that day was I given over until morning, as to a lion; so hath he crushed all my bones; for from the day until night was I given over.

14 As a swallow, so will I cry, and as a dove, so will I rehearse it; for mine eyes have failed from looking up to the height of heaven to the Lord, who rescued me, and took away the anguish of my soul.

16 O Lord; yea, it was told thee concerning it, and thou didst rouse up my breath, and I was comforted, and came to life.

17 For thou hast delivered my soul that it should not perish, and hast cast away all my sins behind me.

18 For they that are in hell shall not praise thee, nor shall the dead bless thee, nor they in hell hope for thy mercy.

19 The living shall bless thee, as I also do; for from today will I beget children which shall declare thy righteousness,

20 O Lord of my salvation; and I will not cease blessing thee upon the psaltery, all the days of my life, in front of the house of God.

21 And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Take a cake of figs, and bruise it, and apply it as a plaister, and thou shalt be whole.

22 And Hezekiah said, This is the sign, that I shall go up into the house of the Lord God.

39 1 At that time Merodach, the son of Baladan, king of Babylonia, sent a letter and envoys and presents to Hezekiah; for he heard that he had fallen sick unto death, and had arisen again.

2 And Hezekiah rejoiced with great joy over them, and showed them the house of the treasury, and of the balsam, and the incense, and the myrrh, and the silver, and the gold, and all the houses of the vessels of the treasure, and all that was among his treasures; and there was nothing which Hezekiah showed them not in his house.

3 And Isaiah the prophet came to the king Hezekiah, and said to him, What say these men, and from whence are they come to thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a land (from) afar unto me, from Babylon.

4 And Isaiah said, What saw they in thine house? And Hezekiah said, They saw all that is in my house, and there is nothing in my house which they saw not, but (they saw) even that which is among my treasures:

5 And Isaiah said unto him, Hear the word of the Lord of Hosts;

6 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, and they shall take all that is in thine house, and all that thy fathers gathered together unto this day shall come to Babylon, and they shall leave nothing behind; and God said,

7 They shall take also of thy children, which thou shalt beget, and shall make them eunuchs in the house of the king of the Babylonians.

8 And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, Good is the Lord’s word which he hath spoken: let there be now peace and righteousness in my days.

40 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith the Lord.

2 Ye priests, speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, comfort her, for her humbling is fulfilled, her sin is atoned for, for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double of her sins.

3 A voice, of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God.

4 Every valley shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked places shall become a straight (path), and the rough land smooth ways.

5 And the glory of the Lord shall be seen, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord hath spoken.

6 A voice of one saying, Cry! And I said, What shall I cry? All flesh(is) grass, and all glory of man (is) as the flower of grass.

8 The grass is withered, and the flower is fallen; but the word of our God abideth for ever.

9 Go up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to Zion; lift up thy voice with thy strength, thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem: lift ye up (your voice), fear not; say thou to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.

10 Behold, the Lord cometh with strength, and his arm with power: behold, his reward (is) with him, and his work before him.

11 As a shepherd shall he tend his flock, and with his arm shall he gather lambs, and shall comfort those with young.

12 Who measured the water with his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth with an handful? Who hath weighed the mountains with a scale, and the valleys with a balance?

13 Who hath understood the mind of the Lord, and who was his fellow-counsellor, that shall teach him?

14 Or with whom shared he his counsel, and he taught him? or who showed him judgment? or who showed him the way of understanding? or who gave to him at the first, and it shall be rendered him again?

15 If all the nations had been reckoned as a drop from a jar, or as the turn of a scale, shall they be reckoned even as spittle?

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient for burning, and all the (four footed)beasts are not sufficient for a (whole) burnt offering.

17 And all the nations are as nothing, and are reckoned for nothing.

18 To whom have ye likened the Lord, and with what likeness have ye likened him?

19 Hath the craftsman made an image, or a goldsmith cast gold, and gilded it over? hath he prepared it as a likeness?

20 For a craftsman chooseth out a tree which doth not rot, and seeketh cunningly how to set up an image there: and that it may not be moved.

21 Will ye not learn? will ye not hear? was it not proclaimed to you from the beginning? have ye not learnt the foundations of the earth?

22 (It is) he that holdeth the circle of the earth, and they that dwell in it are as locusts; he that setteth up the heaven as a canopy, and stretcheth it out as a tent to dwell in,

23 He that giveth rulers to rule as nothing, and he made the earth as nothing.

24 For they shall not sow, nor plant, neither shall their root be rooted in the earth; he breatheth upon them, and they are withered, and a tempest shall seize upon them as brushwood.

25 Now therefore to whom liken ye me, and I shall be exalted? saith the Holy One.

26 Look up on high with your eyes, and see; who hath shown forth all these things? he, that bringeth forth his array by number, will call them all by name from the abundance of his glory, and in the might of strength nothing faileth thee.

27 For say not, Jacob, and why sayest thou, Israel, My way is hid from God, and my God hath taken away my judgment, and hath stood aloof!

28 And now, hast thou not learnt? hast thou not heard? the everlasting God, God who hath framed the ends of the earth, will not hunger, nor grow weary,—nor is there any finding out of his understanding—,

29 Giving strength to the hungry, and pain to them that suffer not.

30 For youths shall hunger, and young men shall be weary, and chosen men shall be without strength:

31 But they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall put forth wings as eagles; they shall run, and shall not be weary; they shall walk, and shall not hunger.

Greek Isaiah in a Year, Week 30=Isaiah 37:26-38:11

This week in Greek Isaiah in a Year covers (covered!) Isaiah 37:26-38:11. Here are the readings for each day:

26 οὐ ταῦτα ἤκουσας πάλαι ἃ ἐγὼ ἐποίησα; ἐξ ἀρχαίων ἡμερῶν συνέταξα, νῦν δὲ ἐπέδειξα ἐξερημῶσαι ἔθνη ἐν ὀχυροῖς καὶ ἐνοικοῦντας ἐν πόλεσιν ὀχυραῖς· 27 ἀνῆκα τὰς χεῖρας, καὶ ἐξηράνθησαν, καὶ ἐγένοντο ὡς χόρτος χλωρὸς ἐπὶ δωμάτων καὶ ὡς ἄγρωστις. 28 νῦν δὲ τὴν ἀνάπαυσίν σου καὶ τὴν ἔξοδόν σου καὶ τὴν εἴσοδόν σου ἐγὼ ἐπίσταμαι· 29 ὁ δὲ θυμός σου ὃν ἐθυμώθης καὶ ἡ πικρία σου ἀνέβη πρὸς μέ, καὶ ἐμβαλῶ φιμὸν εἰς τὴν ῥῖνά σου καὶ χαλινὸν εἰς τὰ χείλη σου, καὶ ἀποστρέψω σε τῇ ὁδῷ ᾗ ἦλθες ἐν αὐτῇ. 30 τοῦτο δέ σοι τὸ σημεῖον· φάγε τοῦτον τὸν ἐνιαυτὸν ἃ ἔσπαρκας, καὶ τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ τῷ δευτέρῳ τὸ κατάλειμμα, τῷ δὲ τρίτῳ σπείραντες ἀμήσατε καὶ φυτεύσατε ἀμπελῶνας, καὶ φάγεσθε τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῶν. 31 καὶ ἔσονται οἱ καταλελειμμένοι ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, φυήσουσιν ῥίζαν κάτω καὶ ποιήσουσιν σπέρμα ἄνω. 32 ὅτι ἐξ Ἰερουσαλὴμ ἐξελεύσονται οἱ καταλελειμμένοι, καὶ οἱ σωζόμενοι ἐπʼ ὄρους Σιών· ὁ ζῆλος Κυρίου σαβαὼθ ποιήσει ταῦτα. 33 διὰ τοῦτο οὕτως λέγει Κύριος ἐπὶ βασιλέα Ἀσσυρίων Οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθῃ εἰς τὴν πόλιν ταύτην, οὐδὲ μὴ βάλῃ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν βέλος, οὐδὲ μὴ βάλῃ ἐπʼ αὐτὴν θυρεόν, οὐδʼ οὐ μὴ κυκλώσει ἐπʼ αὐτὴν χάρακα· 34 ἀλλὰ τῇ ὁδῷ ᾗ ἦλθεν, ἐν αὐτῇ ἀποστραφήσεται. τάδε λέγει Κύριος 35 Ὑπερασπιῶ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης τοῦ σῶσαι αὐτὴν διʼ ἐμὲ καὶ διὰ Δαυεὶδ τὸν παῖδά μου. 36 Καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἄγγελος Κυρίου καὶ ἀνεῖλεν ἐκ τῆς παρεμβολῆς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἑκατὸν καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα πέντε χιλιάδας· καὶ ἐξαναστάντες τὸ πρωὶ εὗρον πάντα τὰ σώματα νεκρά. 37 καὶ ἀποστραφεὶς ἀπῆλθεν βασιλεὺς Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ ᾤκησεν ἐν Νινευή. 38 καὶ ἐν τῷ αὐτὸν προσκυνεῖν ἐν οἰκῷ Ἀσαρὰχ τὸν πάτραρχον αὐτοῦ, Ἀδραμέλεχ καὶ Σαράσαρ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπάταξαν αὐτὸν μαχαίραις· αὐτοὶ δὲ διεσώθησαν εἰς Ἀρμενίαν· καὶ ἐβασίλευσεν Ἀσορδὰν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ ἀντʼ αὐτοῦ.

38 1 Ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ ἐμαλακίσθη Ἑζεκίας ἕως θανάτου· καὶ ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἠσαίας υἱὸς Ἀμὼς ὁ προφήτης καὶ εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτὸν Τάδε λέγει Κύριος Τάξαι περὶ τοῦ οἴκου σου, ὅτι ἀποθνήσκεις σὺ καὶ οὐ ζήσῃ. 2 καὶ ἀπέστρεψεν Ἑζεκίας τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν τοῖχον, καὶ προσηύξατο πρὸς Κύριον 3 λέγων Μνήσθητι, Κύριε, ὡς ἐπορεύθην ἐνώπιόν σου μετὰ ἀληθείας ἐν καρδίᾳ ἀληθινῇ, καὶ τὰ ἀρεστὰ ἐνώπιόν σου ἐποίησα· καὶ ἔκλαυσεν Ἑζεκίας κλαυθμῷ μεγάλῳ. 4 καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ἠσαίαν λέγων 5 Πορεύου καὶ εἰπὸν πρὸς Ἑζεκίαν Τάδε λέγει Κύριος ὁ θεὸς Δαυεὶδ τοῦ πατρός σου Ἤκουσα τῆς φωνῆς τῆς προσευχῆς σου καὶ ἴδον τὰ δάκρυά σου· ἰδοὺ προστίθημι πρὸς τὸν χρόνον σου ἔτη δέκα πέντε· 6 καὶ ἐκ χειρὸς βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίων σώσω σε καὶ ὑπὲρ τῆς πόλεως ταύτης ὑπερασπιῶ. 7 τοῦτο δέ σοι τὸ σημεῖον παρὰ Κυρίου ὅτι ὁ θεὸς ποιήσει τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο. 8 ἰδοὺ στρέφω τὴν σκιὰν τῶν ἀναβαθμῶν οὓς κατέβη ὁ ἥλιος, τοὺς δέκα ἀναβαθμοὺς τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, ἀποστρέψω τὸν ἥλιον τοὺς δέκα ἀναβαθμούς. καὶ ἀνέβη ὁ ἥλιος τοὺς δέκα ἀναβαθμοὺς οὓς κατέβη ἡ σκιά. 9 (Ὠιδή.) Προσευχὴ Ἑζεκίου βασιλέως τῆς Ἰουδαίας ἡνίκα ἐμαλακίσθη καὶ ἀνέστη ἐκ τῆς μαλακίας αὐτοῦ.

10 Ἐγὼ εἶπα Ἐν τῷ ὕψει τῶν ἡμερῶν μου ἐν πύλαις ᾅδου καταλείψω τὰ ἔτη τὰ ἐπίλοιπα. 11 εἶπα Οὐκέτι οὐ μὴ ἴδω τὸ σωτήριον τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, οὐκέτι οὐ μὴ ἴδω ἄνθρωπον.

26 Hast thou not heard long since of these things that I have done? from ancient days have I ordained it, and now have I shown it forth, to make nations in strong places desolate, and them that dwell in strong cities.

27 I slackened their hands, and they were withered up, and became as green grass upon house-tops, and as wild couch-grass.

28 But now I know thy resting place, and thy going out, and thy coming in.

29 But thy rage with which thou ragest, and thy bitterness, have come up toward me, and I will put a muzzle on thy nose, and a bit in thy lips, and will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.

30 And this is the sign to thee; eat, for this year, what thou hast sown, and in the second year that which is left; and in the third year sow and reap ye, and plant vineyards, and ye shall eat the fruit thereof.

31 And there shall be they that are left in Judah, they shall strike root downward, and bear seed upward.

32 For they that are left shall go forth from Jerusalem, and they that are saved upon mount Zion; the jealousy of the Lord of Hosts will do this.

33 Therefore thus saith the Lord against the king of the Assyrians, He shall not come into this city, nor cast a spear against it, nor bring up a shield against it, nor compass it with a trench,

34 But by the way that he came, by it shall he return. Thus saith the Lord,

35 I will hold a shield before this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for David my servant’s sake.

36 And there went forth an angel of the Lord, and destroyed out of the camp of the Assyrians an hundred and fourscore and five thousand; and men arising early found all the dead bodies.

37 And Sennacherib king of the Assyrians turned, and departed, and dwelt at Nineveh.

38 And as he was worshipping the god of his fathers in the house of Nisroch, Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with swords; but they made good their escape into Armenia; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.

38 1 And it came to pass at that time, Hezekiah fell sick unto death; and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Give orders concerning thine house; for thou diest, and shalt not live.

2 And Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord,

3 Saying, Remember, O Lord, how I have walked before thee with truth, with a true heart, and have done that which is pleasing in thy sight; and Hezekiah wept with great weeping.

4 And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, and tell Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard the voice of thy prayer, and have seen thy tears; behold, I add unto thy time fifteen years:

6 And I will save thee out of the hand of the king of the Assyrians, and I will hold a shield before this city.

7 And this is the sign to thee from the Lord, that God will accomplish this word.

8 Behold, I turn the shadow of the steps, down which the sun has gone, the ten steps of the house of thy father; I will turn the sun back the ten steps. And the sun went up (again) the ten steps, down which the shadow had gone.

9 A song. Prayer of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had fallen sick, and arisen from his sickness.

10 I said, At the height of my days, in the gates of hell I shall leave the residue of my years.

11 I said, I shall no more see the salvation of God in the land, I shall no more see man.

See here for more resources and links to texts for Greek Isaiah.

When God Spoke Greek (Upcoming Book Blog Tour)

In July I’ll be joining a group of bloggers in reviewing Timothy Michael Law‘s forthcoming When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible.

Brian LePort at Near Emmaus is hosting. Here is the schedule for the tour:

BRIAN LePORT (Friday, July 19th)
Introducing the blog tour

JOEL WATTS (Sunday, July 21st, http://unsettledchristianity.com/)
1 Why this Book?
2 When the World Became Greek

ANDREW KING (Tuesday, July 23rd, http://blogofthetwelve.wordpress.com/)
3 Was There a Bible before the Bible?
4 The First Bible Translators

KRISTA DALTON (Thursday, July 25th, http://kristadalton.com/blog/)
5 Gog and his Not-so-Merry Grasshoppers
6 Bird Droppings, Stoned Elephants, and Exploding Dragons

ABRAM K-J (Saturday, July 27th, https://abramkj.com/)
7 E Pluribus Unum
8 The Septuagint behind the New Testament

JESSICA PARKS (Monday, July 29th, http://facingthejabberwock.wordpress.com/)
9 The Septuagint in the New Testament
10 The New Old Testament

AMANDA MacINNIS (Wednesday, July 31st, http://cheesewearingtheology.com/)
11 God’s Word for the Church
12 The Man of Steel and the Man who Worshipped the Sun

JAMES McGRATH (Friday, August 2nd, http://www.patheos.com/blogs/exploringourmatrix/)
13 The Man with the Burning Hand vs. the Man with the Honeyed Sword
14 A Postscript

There still (shocking!) aren’t that many books about the Septuagint, so I’m sure this will be a welcome addition. Law writes on his blog, “I shall not rest until there is a Septuagint in the hand of every woman, man, girl and boy.”

I think he’s kidding (but not sure about this), but TML loves his LXX. I’m looking forward to being part of the review. More to follow here.

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Septuagint Studies Soirée

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Chapter 7, “E Pluribus Unum”

Chapter 8, “The Septuagint Behind the New Testament”

Some Words on Law’s Words on the Word

LXX in the NT, “almost exclusively”?

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