Introduction to the Series on Greek Isaiah

[Ken M. Penner]

Since I am writing the Brill Septuagint Commentaryvolume on Isaiah, I thought it might be helpful for me to lead a series on Greek Isaiah, working through two chapters per week.

Participants can ask questions that arise as they read the chapter we’re working through, and others and I will respond. I will also post some of my own notes on each chapter.
I hope this will be helpful to participants; it will also be helpful to me to make sure I'm addressing the kinds of questions readers bring to the text.

Topics addressed might include some introductory matters such as:

• Origins of Greek Isaiah
• The translator
• Translation style (technique and tendencies)
• Transmission (including revisions)
• Reception (in the NT, Pseudepigrapha, fathers)
• Bibliographical information on secondary literature

The manuscript basis for my commentary is Sinaiticus, so I could include some notes on

• Physical description
• Scribes
• Correctors
• Text divisions
• Paleography
• Orthography

But the main part of the series will be working through the book chapter by chapter, section by section. I will provide a transcription of the chapter from Sinaiticus, and (perhaps a little later) a translation of that Greek text. We can then make notes on and discuss topics that might include such things as:

• Special vocabulary
• Peculiar translations
• Textual differences among the main editions and manuscripts
• Differences between the Greek and its Hebrew source
• Interpretations of the passage (quotations, allusions) in the NT and Church Fathers
• Bibliography of relevant secondary literature
• or whatever else might be of interest to participants and falls within the mandate of the B-Greek forum.

As mentioned above, I intend to post the text, translation, and some notes at a rate of two chapters per week, but that doesn’t mean you have to follow at that rate. Feel free to enjoy this most influential book at your own pace!

[Ken M. Penner]

The Greek text I post here is a transcription of Codex Sinaiticus. I will post this a chapter at a time, two chapters per week.
I have endeavoured to present the earliest intelligible readings of Sinaiticus. In some cases where the original scribe made an error that resulted in a nonexistent word, or an ungrammatical construction, this policy meant emending the text, but usually it was possible to follow one of the correctors of the manuscript .
I have followed Rahlfs (1979) to standardize the accentuation and orthography. The same applies for the punctuation, but I have modified it to suit the divisions marked in the manuscript.

[Louis L Sorenson]

R.R. Ottley's "The Book of Isaiah according to the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus) - 1904, is one of the best, only, and available commentaries on the LXX of Isaiah. Those who are participating in this B-Greek Isaiah group, in anticipation of Brill's new commentary on Isaiah by Ken Penner, can download Ottley from Internet Archive.org at http://www.archive.org/details/IsaiahAc ... Septuagint Ottley, in volume I, has parallel Hebrew/Greek English translations, with some notes below the text. Volume II has the text of Isaiah from codex Alexandrinus, with some textual variants listed below. Ottley's notes on the text of Isaiah begin on page 105 of volume II. This commentary is over 100 years old, and so needs some updating. Where are the greatest weaknesses of Ottley? What are his strengths?

[Ken M. Penner]

Where are the greatest weaknesses of Ottley?

Ottley has been criticized for treating the differences between the Hebrew and Greek too atomistically, overlooking the function of those differences in the context of the Greek document. I believe his harshest critic was Jean Koenig, L’herméneutique analogique du judaïsme antique d’après les témoins textuels d’Isaïe (Leiden: Brill, 1982). He doesn't include much on the reception of Isaiah in early Christianity (the text as read), but gives most of his attention to the text as produced.

[James Ernest]

This is great. And what you're doing demonstrates the utility of the new Forum format. I don't think you could have done this with the email list.

Tentative suggestion, Ken--is there any reason not to (re-) post the text with each little section of commentary? (for people like me who aren't necessarily going to print the text when you post it and then religiously read each new post, but will dip in as often as possible amid other busy-ness to read the post-of-the-day and see if anything puzzles or inspires).

[Louis L Sorenson]

All posts for this topic should be made in the new "Series of Isaiah sub-Forum" http://www-test.ibiblio.org/bgreek/foru ... m.php?f=51.

[Ken M. Penner]

Here is the schedule I intend to follow for the series on Isaiah:

Code: Select all

Date	Chapter
13-Jul-11	1
15-Jul-11	2
20-Jul-11	3
22-Jul-11	4
27-Jul-11	5
29-Jul-11	6
03-Aug-11	7
05-Aug-11	8
10-Aug-11	9
12-Aug-11	10
17-Aug-11	11
19-Aug-11	12
24-Aug-11	13
26-Aug-11	14
31-Aug-11	15
02-Sep-11	16
07-Sep-11	17
09-Sep-11	18
14-Sep-11	19
16-Sep-11	20
21-Sep-11	21
23-Sep-11	22
28-Sep-11	23
30-Sep-11	24
05-Oct-11	25
07-Oct-11	26
12-Oct-11	27
14-Oct-11	28
19-Oct-11	29
21-Oct-11	30
26-Oct-11	31
28-Oct-11	32
02-Nov-11	33
04-Nov-11	34
09-Nov-11	35
16-Nov-11	36
23-Nov-11	37
25-Nov-11	38
30-Nov-11	39
02-Dec-11	40
07-Dec-11	41
09-Dec-11	42
14-Dec-11	43
16-Dec-11	44
04-Jan-12	45
06-Jan-12	46
11-Jan-12	47
13-Jan-12	48
18-Jan-12	49
20-Jan-12	50
25-Jan-12	51
27-Jan-12	52
01-Feb-12	53
03-Feb-12	54
08-Feb-12	55
10-Feb-12	56
15-Feb-12	57
17-Feb-12	58
22-Feb-12	59
24-Feb-12	60
15-Feb-12	61
17-Feb-12	62
22-Feb-12	63
24-Feb-12	64
15-Feb-12	65
17-Feb-12	66