Subject: tc-list Is. 3:10 & the Nazarene Text

From: James Trimm <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 06 Jun 1998 18:11:48 -0500

All,

        According to Eusebius Eccl. Hist. 2:23 the Nazarenes saw the death
of Ya'akov HaTzadik (James the Just) as having been foretold of in the
following passage from Isaiah:

        Let us take away the just, because he is offensive to us;
        wherefore they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
        (Is. 3:10)

The Nazarene version seems to have read:

        Let us take away the just, because he is offensive to us;
        for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
        (Is. 3:10)

Now the Masoretic text has:

        Say to the just that [it shall be] well [with them],
        for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

The Peshitta agrees with that reading.

The LXX has:

        Woe to their soul, for they have devised an evil counsel
                against themselves,
        saying against themselves, Let us bind the just, for he is
                burdensome to us
        therefore shall they eat the fruits of their works.

MT: say                 alef- mem -resh-vav

LXX: bind               alef-samek-vav-resh

Nazarene: take away     chet-samek-vav-resh

        This proves that the Nazarenes used a text of Isaiah which (at
least here) followed the LXX more closely than the MT, but which this
variant proves was actually a HEBREW text which agreed with the LXX.

        Any thoughts on which readings are most original in this verse?

James Trimm
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