As I have mentioned (here) I am participating in “Greek Isaiah in a Year” reading group. I’ve fallen a bit behind these last couple weeks, and this week was particularly busy, so my notes are few. These are my notes from this week (14:1-5).
14:1—YHWH will (imperfect, ירחם) show compassion upon “Jacob” and he has chosen (present, ובחר) Israel, again. (The LXX uses future for both: ἐλεήσει and ἐκλέξεται.) It is interesting how a future action is predicated on a present reality, even prior to judgment coming. The land (אדמתם/τῆς γῆς) will be given rest. This is interesting to observe as part of the coming judgment: the land has been overworked. Sojourners (הגר/ὁ γιώρας) will be joined (Nifil: ונלוה and ונספחו ) to “the house of Jacob.” The LXX anticipates the mood of the next v. using a word for “handed over” (προστεθήσεται) to translate both parts of this sentence.
14:2—Israel’s oppressors become the oppressed in this v. The peoples/nations (עמים֮/ἔθνη) bring Israel to their place (אל־מקומם/εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτῶν). Israel makes male slaves and woman slaves of their oppressors (לעבדים ולשׁפחות/εἰς δούλους καὶ δούλας), ruling over them (בנגשׂיהם). The MT states that these nations will be taken as an inheritance (והתנחלום). Both the LXX and MT speak of the people becoming slaves in the land, but the LXX contains a unique clause which states that “and they will be increased upon the land/earth” (καὶ πληθυνθήσονται ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς). While the MT does speak of the captors being taken captive (והיו שׁבים לשׁביהם) the LXX adds to this, saying that those who lorded will be lorded over (αἰχμάλωτοι οἱ αἰχμαλωτεύσαντες αὐτούς, καὶ κυριευθήσονται οἱ κυριεύσαντες αὐτῶν).
14:3—YHWH will give rest (Hifil: הניח) after his people have suffered “pain and agitation” (מעצבך ומרגזך). The slavery of the people was harsh (appositional adjective: העבדה הקשׁה), but that slavery to them will be ending. The LXX maintains the “in that day” theme (ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ) following the MT’s: והיה ביום. The Divine Name is “the God” (ὁ θεὸς) here. The harshness of the slavery is emphasized in the LXX as well with the appositional τῆς σκληρᾶς modifying τῆς δουλείας.
14:4—The people are commanded to take a “proverb” (המשׁל/θρῆνον) to the King of Babel (מלך בבל/βασιλέα Βαβυλῶνος). It begins “How the oppressor has ceased!” The word for cease being: שׁבת. The second part is difficult to translate: “Madhevah has ceased!” What is מדהבה? Apparently it is a word unattested elsewhere. Some suggest that the dalet was confused for a resh, so the word should be marhevah, “onslaught” (see NET fn.), which explains the NET’s “hostility.” Other translations include: “fury” (NASB), “insolent fury” (ESV), “insolence” (NRSV), “raging” (HCSB), and even “golden city” (KJV)! The French is not helpful: «Comment ! L’oppresseur n’est plus là. La dictature a pris fin !» I don’t know German yet. The LXX includes the statement “in that day” (ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ), an important theme. The first part of the proverb appears as such in the LXX: Πῶς ἀναπέπαυται ὁ ἀπαιτῶν καὶ ἀναπέπαυται ὁ ἐπισπουδαστής; “How the one asking has ceased an how the one being a taskmaster has ceased! The LEH LXX Lexicon suggest that this translation presumed that the דהב in madhevah is the Aramaic word for “gold,” so this word would be a neologism for one who is forced to extract gold? It’s hard to tell, but that would explain the KJV translation. Also, it would mean that the LXX translator(s) interpreted this extraction of gold as being forced labor or being driven by a taskmaster.
the archives near Emmaus 
Off topic but interesting: who wrote Hebrews (and American federal papers (well known historical secret), new evidence?
I was recently looking at Isaiah 14 as well, but for a different reason. If you look at the Book of Enoch, chapter 5, the imagery Isaiah uses from verses 12-21 seem inspired by it. It isn’t just a similarity of a verse here and there, but the sequence of his imagery is the same, from the punishment suffered by the king and his children (vs. that of the sons of God and the Nephilim) to the blessings upon the oppressed righteous. There is even references to many rooms in Heaven, also described somewhat by the book of Enoch, and confirmed by Jesus in John 14:2.
I wonder how the LXX translators’ familiarity (or lack thereof) with the Book of Enoch influenced their translation of the book of Isaiah…
Mike, Enoch seems to have many connections to scripture, in addition to this one you’ve mentioned .. Not only [1 Enoch 5] to [Isaiah 14] but also [Isaiah 5].
The cross reference I’m most curious about is [1 Enoch 1:2] where the writer (Enoch?) actually seems to see the Apostle John receiving Revelation 12 (starting at vs 7) about the fall of Satan from The Lord.. It says:
“And Enoch began his story and said: – There was a righteous man whose eyes were opened by the Lord, and he saw a Holy vision in the Heavens, which the Angels showed to me. And I heard everything from them, and I understood what I saw: but not for this generation, but for a distant generation that will come.”
Compare this to [Daniel 12:5-13] were Daniel is also apparently a second witness and testifies to seeing 2 men on the shore (Jesus and the Apostle John). This makes both Daniel and Enoch witnesses to Jesus’ revelation to John but also the fall of Satan making John’s witness true! As far as I call tell this is the only forward instance of OT witnessing to NT prophecy, though the unreasonable skeptic might disagree.
I agree with you, but sense that Isaiah picked some of this through study. Very interesting stuff!
I completely agree. When I wrote on Isaiah 14 on my own website (http://www.geocreationism.com/history/book-of-enoch-chapter5.html), I actually used Isaiah 5 as my transition. Also, I remember how exciting it was when I finally found who the second man was that Daniel saw in his own vision (http://www.geocreationism.com/history/book-of-enoch-chapter1.html). (You can remove the links if you want to). I can only imagine how creeped and awesome it must have been for John to realize that he was the man that Daniel and Enoch both saw… I think it’s why he carefully spells out which things he alone saw (Rev. 22:8).
I agree that Isaiah was well-studied. It’s made me curious to go back and study how much of Isaiah’s writing is from scholarship and how much is from vision, but I have not done that. I am not in school, so my study time is limited to an hour here and there.
Oops, typo… creeped –> “creepy”
Wow. Nice work!
There is one other instance I can think of where you have these cross connected visions – the measuring man of [Eze 40] and [Zec 2:1].
I thought Isaiah preceded I Enoch ?
Anyway, that 14:1 verse is interesting. It seems to me to be indicating the eventual “church/Body of Christ” as it anticipates the Gentiles “being joined to the house of Jacob”.
Andrew T., that’s pretty cool. I never noticed that one!
Patrick, our oldest copies of 1Enoch are not as old as our oldest copies of Isaiah. But, the fact remains, that we’re dealing with copies, so who knows when the first was written? What I do know is that I find the correlations between scripture and 1Enoch easier to interpret if I assume 1Enoch came first. It resolves a lot for me, though probably not everything.
Brian, I apologize if I hi-jacked this! I’m new to your blog (found you through JW Wartick’s excellent blog), and you just happened to hit on something I’ve been studying.
Of the texts within the DSS, the oldest copies include part of the book of Enoch from 350 BCE (Book of Watchers, and Book of Dreams/Visions) , whereas the great Isaiah Scroll is from 202-107 BCE. That these extant copies have Enoch’s construction earlier doesn’t prove the book itself is. However, I believe I’ve read something somewhere about Enoch containing trace elements evidential of Archaic biblical Hebrew (which preceeded classical biblical Hebrew chronologically) suggesting an ancient origin.
Mike, I just contradicted you .. (sorry). I suppose I’ll have to go check my claims now, lest be proven wrong.
No worries. You are correct. I said copies. I was confusing Isaiah’s copies with the believed dates of Isaiah’s composition. My memory for such details is often faulty as I transition from youth to middle age… it’s why I write! So I can remind myself of all the things I forgot!