Scripture Nerds, #1: Is the Suffering Servant Christ?
These are the sorts of details that interest me; please feel free to skip these posts if you don't share my fondness for the arcane nuances of translation.
Let me give you my own translations of the Hebrew, Septuagint (Greek) and Vulgate (Latin) of Isaiah 49:6b:
Hebrew: I will give you as a light to the nations so that you will be my salvation to the end of the earth.
Greek: Behold, I will give you as a covenant of a people, as a light of the nations, that you will be as salvation to the end of the earth.
Latin: I have given you as a light of the nations, that you may be my salvation even to the end of the earth.
(Drumroll...) Now for my favorite English translation, the Revised Standard:
I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.
Question: Why, when all three early versions clearly make the 'servant of YHWH' to be God's salvation, does the RSV (and every other modern English translation that I have found so far) make the salvation something other than the 'servant' himself? Is this an unconscious discomfort with the traditional identification of the 'servant' with Jesus Christ?
Now for the punch-line, I give you the King James Version, followed by the Douay-Reims:
KJ:I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
DR:Behold, I have given thee to be the light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth.
Moral: Sometimes newer is not improved.
Peace to all who have made it thus far! Remember to visit our website, too.
Postscript: I have consulted Joseph Blenkinsopp's Anchor Bible commentary on this verse and he agrees with all the modern translations, but gives no justification for the servant 'bringing' salvation rather than 'being'. Again, I suspect that this is an unconscious effort to read Christ out of the text by assuming that the servant 'being salvation' must be a colloquialism or metonym for 'bringing salvation'.
5 comments:
Delightful! This is not for "nerds" at all but those that realize the subtlety of interpretation is an art in itself, keep up the good work!
Delightful! This is not for "nerds" at all but those that realize the subtlety of interpretation is an art in itself, keep up the good work!
Come on stay in your enclosure, stop roaming about in the ether and spend your monastic time more usefully. Monks are for praying and not entertaining the masses with intellectual games etc.
Back to your prayers now !!
Um, anonymous, I think the prior of a monastery can be trusted to make decisions about how he spends his time without judgments from outside the community.
It was interesting to read the results of your study. Trying to determine the meaning God intends to communicate to us is a very worthwhile use of time. Remembering that the Holy Spirit is the one who guides us to all truth, of course. Christ was very versed in the scriptures and used them as a defense against our adversary. Is it possible to be too familiar with it?!
Post a Comment