Subject: sing/plural in Isa 53:8 & 9

From: "Dave Washburn" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 12 Jun 97 09:37:47 MDT

One of the more interesting features of Isaiah 53 is the odd combination of
singular and plural in verses 8 and 9.  V.8 ends with LAMO, which is
traditionally understood as a plural.  I'm not so sure, because I have seen
some other examples of it that appear to be singular, so it looks to me at
first blush as though it can be either one.  At the same time, LXX and some
other witnesses read LMWT, "to death."  The note in BHS says to read this
way.  I'm wondering what other TC-ers think of this text: which reading do
you think is original and why, is it possible that LAMO is a singular in
this context, etc. etc.

V.9 includes the plural BMTYW, "in his deaths."  1QIsa(a) reads BWMTW,
while LXX reads a singular.  BHS proposes BMTW, "in his tomb."  I can see
how both the MT and the Qumran readings could arise by metathesis from an
original BMWTW (=LXX), but I may be a little prejudiced toward the singular
readings in both cases.  I would be interested to know what others think of
these texts and their variants.

Thanks,
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur/
[email-masked]