Volume I: Introduction and Translation with a Parallel Version from the Hebrew Volume II: Texts and Notes

Originally published in 1906, this book forms the second part of a two-volume edition of the Book of Isaiah. It contains the Greek version of the text, together with extensive notes. An introduction, list of manuscripts and indices are also included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in biblical studies and the Book of Isaiah.

This study analyzes the Septuagint version of Isaiah's Servant Poems (Isaiah 42:1-8; 49:1-9; 50:4-11; 52:13-53:12) as a translation and unique interpretation of the Hebrew text. The Septuagint version of the Servant Poems is of interest not only because it represents one of the earliest (if not the first) interpretations of the Hebrew text and thus an important stage in the history of exegesis of these poems, but also because this translation operates a transition from Hebrew modes of thinking and expression into a Greek language and context. The Septuagint version of the Servant Poems was cited by New Testament writers, read and commented on as Sacred Scripture by the early Church Fathers and continues to be used by the Eastern Church. This study is a helpful resource to Old Testament, New Testament and Patristic scholars and theologians alike. The introduction offers a methodology for classifying Septuagint differences to determine the specific exegesis and underlying theology of a given Septuagint text. Differences with the Hebrew text are categorized according to linguistic explanations (style, the translator's difficulty determining Greek semantic equivalents for obscure Hebrew vocabulary, errors or omissions, etc.) Hebrew Vorlagen, non-linguistic explanations like contextual and intertextual exegesis and combinations of linguistic and non-linguistic factors. The author identifies over 270 differences with the Masoretic Text in a presentation of the Septuagint text of each poem side-by-side with the Masoretic Text. Qumran variants are compared with the Masoretic Text and Septuagint to help classify Septuagint differences to determine which may be signs of the Septuagint's unique exegesis and theology. The Septuagint's numerous differences are bold-faced in the English translation of each poem before the author presents a detailed verse-by-verse literary analysis of the Septuagint in the wider context of Isaiah 1-66 and the Greek Pentateuch. The author argues that the vast majority of Septuagint differences with the Masoretic Text in Isaiah's Servant Poems reflect contextual and intertextual exegesis. The Septuagint version expresses theological perspectives that are at times similar and often distinct from the Masoretic Text. In a final chapter the author draws on the exegesis of each poem in preceding chapters to present the theology visible in the Septuagint version of Isaiah's Servant Poems, concluding with an appendix that catalogues textual differences between the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text and a biblical index.

A concise study of a large number of examples of pluses and minus providing insight into translation from Hebrew to Greek Van der Vorm-Croughs focuses this translation study on the processes leading to pluses and minuses including linguistic and stylistic aspects (i.e., cases in which elements have been added or omitted for the sake of a proper use of the Greek language), literary aspects (additions and omissions meant to embellish the Greek text), translation technical aspects (e.g., the avoidance of redundancy), and contextual and intertextual exegesis and harmonization. This work also covers the relation between the Greek Isaiah and its possible Hebrew Vorlage to try to determine which pluses and minuses may have been the result of the translator’s use of a different Hebrew text. Features: Eleven categories for the pluses and minuses of the Greek Isaiah Examination of translation techniques and translator errors Use of Joseph Ziegler’s critical edition

Abi T. Ngunga explores the theme of messianism in the entire corpus of the Old Greek of Isaiah (LXX-Isaiah). This is done through the lens of an intertextual hermeneutic employed by the Isaiah translator as a mode of reading this text.Its introductory chapter looks at the need in scholarship to investigate the topic of messianism in the Greek Bible in general, and in the whole of the LXX-Isaiah in particular. After dealing with a few issues related to the LXX-Isaiah as a translation, Ngunga also surveys thoroughly the topic of intertextuality from its inception to its use in biblical studies including LXX research. Particular attention is given to its application in research done, to date, on the Greek text of Isaiah.Chapter two re-examines a few arguments pertinent to the scholarly opinion that messianic hopes were not prominent among the Alexandrian Jews in comparison to their co-religionists in Palestine. It also explores the relationships between the non-Jewish citizens of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the Alexandrian Jews, with the aim to ascertain the legitimacy of investigating the theme of messianism in a piece of Jewish literature such as the LXX-Isaiah authored in the Hellenistic period. Chapter three analyses in-depth nine selected messianic passages within the LXX-Isaiah (7:10–17; 9:1–7(8:23–9:6); 11:1–10; 16:1–5; 19:16–25; 31:9b–32:8; 42:1–4; 52:13–53:12; and 61:1–3a). The study concludes by highlighting the detected particular messianic imprints left on the LXX-Isaiah. Given the results, the study dismisses any doubt concerning the contention that there is a dynamic messianic thought running through the whole of the Greek Isaiah. It also sheds some light on the understanding of some of the messianic beliefs later echoed in early Christianity.

This volume brings together a lively set of papers from the first session of the Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature program unit of the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in 2016. Together with a few later contributions, these essays explore a number of thematic and textual issues as they trace the reception history of the Book of Isaiah in Deuterocanonical and cognate literature.

Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Cambridge.

The studies in this volume investigate Isaiah's use of early sacred tradition, the editing and contextualization of oracles within the Isaianic tradition itself, and the interpretation of the book of Isaiah in later traditions (as in the various versions and interpretations of the text).