Isaiah Chapter 40

This is a B-Greek reading Group for the LXX Isaiah. This reading group is going through two chapters of the LXX Isaiah per week. Ken Penner, the B-Greek moderator for the "Septuagint and Pseudepigrapha Forum" is writing a commentary on the LXX Isaiah and is sharing his notes with those who wish to read the Isaiah LXX. Dive in, if you dare!
Ken M. Penner
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Isaiah Chapter 40 Translation

Post by Ken M. Penner »

246. Comfort Jerusalem! (40:1-2)
40.1 Comfort, comfort my people, says God. 2 Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, because her humiliation has been satisfied, for her sin has been forgiven, because she has received double for her sins from the hand of the Lord.

247. Prepare Lord’s way! (40:3-5)
3 A voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths of our God straight! 4 Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be levelled, and all the crooked ways shall be made straight and the rough place into plains. 5 And the glory of Lord will be seen and every body will see the salvation of God, for Lord has spoken.

248. Every body withers like grass (40:6-8)
6 A voice of one saying, "Cry out!" And I said, "What shall I cry out?" “Every body is grass, and every glory of humanity is like a flower of grass. 7 The grass has been withered, and the flower has fallen off, 8 but the word of our God remains forever.

249. Lord comes to tend his flock (40:9-11)
9 Climb on a high mountain, o messenger of good news to Sion; lift up your voice with your strength, o messenger of good tidings to Jerusalem. Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Iouda, Look! Look, your God. 10 Look, Lord comes with might, and his arm is with a lady; look, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd, and he will gather the lambs in his arm, and he will comfort those who are pregnant.

250. Who has ever instructed Lord? (40:12-17)
12 Who measured the water with his hand and the sky with his span and all the land with a measure? Who has put the mountains in a balance and the valleys on a scale? 13 Who has known the mind of Lord, and who has become his counsellor? Who might instruct him? 14 With whom has he consulted and who has instructed him? Who has shown him a decision? Who has shown him a way of understanding? Or who has given him before and paid him back? 15 If all the nations were reckoned as a drop from the bucket and as a tipping of the balance, they shall also be considered like spittle. 16 And Lebanon will not enough for burning, and all the four-footed animals will not be enough for a whole burnt offering, 17 and all the nations are like nothing, and they are reckoned as nothing.

251. To whom will you compare the Lord? (40:18-24)
18 To whom will you compare Lord, and to what likeness will you compare him? 19 Has a craftsman made his image, or a goldsmith smelted gold and gilded it, or constructed him into alikeness? 20 For a craftsman selects a hard piece of wood and he will consider wisely how to set it up as an image also so that it does not shake.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard? Was it not been announced to you from the beginning? Have you not known the foundations of the land? 22 He is the one who holds the circle of the land, and those who dwell in it are like locusts. He is the one who set up heaven like a canopy and stretched it out like a tent for living in. 23 He is the one who sets rulers to rule for nothing; he made earth like nothing. 24 For they will certainly not sow or they plant, nor will their root take root in the land; he blew upon them and they withered, and a squall will take them like a dry stick.

252. The holy one is incomparable (40:25-26)
25 Now then, compare me to someone, and I will be exalted, says the holy one. 26 Lift your eyes up to the height and see! Who has discovered all these things? The one who brings forth their world by number will call them all by name.
253. Do not say God has removed my judgement (40:26-28)
Nothing has escaped you from all glory and by the might of power. 27 For, Iakob, do not say, and what have you said, Israel: My way has been hidden from God, and God has taken away and removed my judgement?
254. Those who wait upon God will not grow weary (40:28-31)
28 And now do you not know? If you had not heard, eternal God, the God who made the corners of the land will not get hungry or thirsty or weary (and there is no discovering his insight), 29 he who gives strength to the hungry and pain to those who are not distressed 30 For young men will be hungry and youths will grow weary and choice men will be weak, 31 but those who wait upon God will exchange strength, they will grow feathers like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be hungry.
Ken M. Penner
Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, St. Francis Xavier University
Co-Editor, Digital Biblical Studies
General Editor, Lexham English Septuagint
Co-Editor, Online Critical Pseudepigrapha pseudepigrapha.org
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