Today’s lectionary reading is one of the places in Isaiah where there is an explicit identification of the servant, as in the servant of the “Servant Songs.”  Nothing new here for academics, but it throws a bit of a wrench in for those who grew up accustomed to thinking about many of the “Servant Songs” (primarily the one in Is. 52 & 53) as prophecies foretelling the death of Jesus hundreds of years beforehand.

And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” (Is 49.3)

The identification of the servant is notoriously difficult as almost all proposals do not work well for every one of the servant passages in Isaiah.  Proposals range from Moses, to Israel, to the prophet Isaiah, …

Isaiah Posts

Nah, just kidding; however, there is some feminine imagery for God in Isaiah 49:15 as well as in other place in Second Isaiah.  Isaiah 49:15 is part of the lectionary reading for today.  I could have just pasted the verses in and made a few comments, but I’m still experimenting a bit with adding more video to my blog.  And, I used this as an excuse.

“Eat or be eaten” that’s what the prophet tells Israel their choice is in today’s lectionary reading from Isaiah 1, though I’m not using this idiom in the same way it is often used in English.  It is more of obey or disobey and experience completely opposite results.  This message comes in the form of a word play in verses 19-20; however, the translations obscure the word play somewhat.  Compare the following translations:

If you are willing, and obey, you shall eat the good things of the land; 20 But if you refuse and resist, the sword shall consume you: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken! (Isa 1:19 NAB)

“If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land; 20 “But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isa 1:19 NAU)

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; 20 but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isa 1:19 NRS)

*Translation comparisons on this site are done in BibleWorks 8 using Parallels

There is a parallel between “eating good things” and “being consumed/devoured by the sword.”  This is where I’m pointing out the contrast “eat or be eaten.”  Regardless of the translation, whether “consumed” or “devoured,” the underlying Hebrew word is the same one that is translated “eat” in verse 19.

And here again is one of the trade-offs in deciding how to translate.  Do you translate the word in verse 20 as “be eaten,” so that the word play “eat or be eaten” comes across more clearly, even though that phraseology is a bit awkward?  Or, do you translate the word differently in verse 20 as “consume” or “devour” in order to avoid the awkwardness?

Translation Posts

Today’s Old Testament lectionary reading is a litany of monotheistic-sounding statements spliced together from Isaiah 45.  Or, at least in my seminary training I was taught to think in that manner.  However, Daniel McClellan has a helpful post on why this is likely not the case HERE (If it looks familiar, I’ve linked to it once before).  To bottom-line it, McClellan points out that the phrase “there is no other” and other statements like it are used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible in such a way that they cannot really deny the existence of other entities in question.  Furthermore, he points to instances of divine council language in Isaiah 40 and 45 (Same chapter as today’s reading – see verses 20 and 21.  Verse 21 may actually give a hint to the meaning of the “there is no other” statements, namely “There is no just and saving God but me.”  This is not a complete denial).

Yet without question many who heard or read the lectionary reading this morning will probably take these statements as monotheistic.  And, I think that is somewhat disappointing, though I’m not sure that it will be remedied at the popular level any time soon.  When I have discussed these issues with lay people it normally has given them a helpful awareness of how beliefs have developed over time even at a very core level and an awareness that our beliefs are still developing.  I don’t think that it is that people within my tradition do not already have an awareness of that, but for them I think they typically think of development as dealing with smaller matters of discipline rather than more basic doctrinal matters, such as there being only one God.  I think it gives some hope that even some of the very core elements of faith with which they struggle are open to change, at least to some degree.

Other Posts on Isaiah:

Isaiah 41 – An Interesting Translation Issue

Isaiah 53.11 – An Important Textual Variant

I was reading the lectionary passage this morning from Isaiah 41 and came across an interesting translation issue in verse 14.  The issue revolves around the translation of the word mªtey (sorry couldn’t find a superscript “e” in my special characters). So, I checked out the text in parallel versions.

Isaiah 41.14 in Parallel Versions

Parallel Versions Using BibleWorks 8

You may have been able to pick up on the word in question, just by reading the parallels.  If not, it is the word that is rendered as “maggot” (New American Bible), “men” (New American Standard and New Jewish Publication Society), “insect” (New Revised Standard), and “little” (Today’s New International Version).  That’s a pretty wide range of possibilities.

Translating mªtey in Isaiah 41.14

If I were translating this word, I would most likely translate it as “men,” while placing a footnote that states that the meaning is uncertain.  Other instances of this word as it is found in the Massoretic Text being translated as “men” are Genesis 34.30, Deuteronomy 26.5, Psalm 26.4, and Job 31.31. But, the text itself may be what is uncertain.  The difficulty comes in when scholars examine the parallel between “worm” and “men.”  The parallel is not transparent, and it has not been readily apparent for some time as this word is not uniformly handled in the ancient witnesses.  For a fuller discussion of how scholars have attempted to reconstruct the parallel based on ancient witnesses, I can only refer you HERE (page 59 and following).  Some of the suggestions include a link with the Peshitta and the Akkadian word mutu, which may have the word rendered as something like “lice.”  Most of this is beyond my expertise as I know no Akkadian.  At any rate, in reading the section of the work link to above, one finds that the offerings of modern translations (as in the image above) are only the tip of the iceberg.

I will say one thing though, “men” is a little bit more palatable than “maggot.”

Isaiah 1.14:

Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.

Just kidding.  Not the same New Moon obviously.  But, this may be the first in a long line of “new moon” references from the Bible to be featured on this blog with the movie release upcoming.

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* Just for your troubles in clicking through and since this is a free audio site, get your New Moon audio free (if that’s what you’re into) with a trial of Audible.

The Old Testament lectionary reading for yesterday was Isaiah 53:10-11.  Verse 11 contains an interesting textual variant revolving around whether or not the word “light” is a part of the text.  It is one of those text critical issues where it really is a tough call.  An older manuscript contains the word light; however, the more difficult reading (which is normally to be preferred) does not include the word.   HERE is a link to a post about this issue from a blog entitled Evangelical Textual Criticism.  To whet your appetite to go over and check out the post I’ll cite the comparison of translations.  You should be able to see a major difference.

Translations of Isaiah 53:11

Taken from the blog post linked to above:

ESV: Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

RSV: he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.

NRSV: Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.