Wilson de Angelo Cunha, «A Brief Discussion of MT Isaiah 24,14-16», Vol. 90 (2009) 530-544
Recent scholarship interprets Isaiah 24,14-16 in light of a “prophetic disputation pattern” genre, which sees the praise in vv. 14-15 as an assertion and the “I” statement in v. 16b as the counter-assertion, thus, correcting the assertion in vv. 14-15. This article seeks to challenge this interpretation and argue that the “I” statement in v. 16b does not need to function as a “counter-assertion” to the praise in vv. 14-15 but, rather, as introducing the proclamation of judgment for the unrighteous (v. 16c).
534 Wilson de Angelo Cunha
containing contrasting statements by the people (vv. 14-16a) and the
prophet (vv. 16b-18). Instead, he saw a contrast between the qydxl ybx
in v. 16a, the “Jew faithful to the lawâ€, and the “inhabitant of the earthâ€,
the pagan or the pagan Jew in connection with 24,5.6, in v. 17. For him,
vv. 14-18a can be divided as follows:
vv. 14-16a: La communauté des justes
vv. 14-15: Son attitude: elle glorifie Yahvé
v. 16a: Son sort: honneur au juste»
vv. 16b-18a: L’habitant de la terre
v. 16b: Son attitude: l’infidélité
vv. 17-18a: Son sort: La chute inévitable (18)
In sum, two pictures emerge from the discussion above. In the first
one, the “I†statement in v. 16b was interpreted as a “counter-assertionâ€
to the praise of an unidentified “they†in v. 14a. Contrarily, a second
position views the “I†statement not as a “counter-assertion†to the
“they†of v. 14 but, rather, as an announcement of judgment to a
different group of people, that is, to the “faithless†of vv. 16b-18.
Having briefly discussed the main problems regarding the
interpretation of Isa 24,14-16, the next section will discuss how LXX
Isa dealt with them.
2. LXX Isa 24,14-16
a) The hmh as the ajsebw'n in v. 8
LXX starts v. 14 with the phrase ou|toi fwnh'/ bohsontai “these will
v
cry aloud with the voiceâ€. This phrase is a translation of the Hebrew
μlwq waçy hmh “they will raise their voiceâ€. The divergences between the
Greek and the Hebrew are as follows: first, LXX uses the
demonstrative pronoun ou|toi as a rendition for the Hebrew hmh, which
is usually taken as the personal pronoun “theyâ€. Second, the word
fwnh/' “voice†corresponds to Hebrew μlwq but without the possessive
pronoun “theirâ€. Third, the choice of boavw “to call, shout†as a
rendition of lwq açn is somewhat unusual. The phrases lwq açn “to lift
the voice†and lwq μwr “to raise the voice†appear in Isa 13,2; 37,23;
52,8, where they are rendered by uJyovw “to lift up†(19). As such, the use
of boavw in 24,14 is important and it will be discussed below.
The second clause of LXX v. 14 reads as oiJ de; kataleifqevnte" ejpi;
(18) Cf. VERMEYLEN, “‘Isaïe’â€, 14-16.
Syr: mwr; Vg:
(19) On Isa 24,14, cf. Symmachus: eparousi; Tg. Isa: μwr;
levabunt. Cf. also DAS NEVES, IsaÃas, 226.