Interpreting Isaiah from Isaiah: Intratextual translation in old Greek Isaiah

The translator of Old Greek (OG) Isaiah created many new intratextual links within his text, engaging in “intratextual translation.” Scholars argue that it was a method he used to actualise his text, to solve problems he found in his source text from within Isaiah, or to make his translation appeal to an educated Greek-speaking audience. Some contend intratextual translation has purely Jewish origins, whereas others suggest it derives from Alexandrian methods of textual scholarship. This thesis addresses intratextual translation as a window into the translator’s perception of his source text (Vorlage) and his translation task. I consider two portraits of the translator of OG Isaiah and how they account for intratextual translation: first, that he was a Palestinian Jewish scribe, immersed in the Jewish scriptures, who emigrated to Egypt and there translated Isaiah; and second, that he was an Alexandrian Jew familiar with the work of the grammatikoi (γραμματικοί) of the Museum, influenced especially by the principle developed by Aristarchus to “clarify Homer from Homer” (Ὅμηρον ἐξ Ὁμήρου σαφηνίζειν). These two perspectives are not entirely incompatible although I emphasise the translator’s high level of education in Greek and suggest the Alexandrian background is more plausible. However, I argue that intratextual translation should be seen in light of both Jewish and Greek precedents, namely the phenomenon of rewriting in Jewish literature and the maxim and method of Aristarchus. In the main body of the thesis, I examine intratextual translation in OG Isaiah according to four key themes which the translator amplifies in his edition of Isaiah: glory and salvation, comfort, Mother Zion, and humbling. The recurrence of intratextual translation around these themes in OG Isaiah reveals that the translator considered them essential to the book of Isaiah. Other scholars have emphasised that the translator provided his readers with a frame of reference within which to understand the book by highlighting key themes, and that as a result his version of Isaiah, despite its variation from the source text, remains very much Isaianic in character. My study demonstrates that the message and themes of Isaiah which the translator considered intrinsic to the book and which he intensified in his rendering are primarily developed in the latter half of the book. It also shows that Isaiah 40:1-11 was especially significant in his understanding of the whole book. Through intratextual translation, the translator creates intratextual links across the whole book of Isaiah and makes his version more coherent and consistent than Hebrew Isaiah. Thus, OG Isaiah reflects the message and tone of Second Isaiah and Third Isaiah more than First Isaiah