[B-Greek] LXX Isaiah 43:1

mrt mrt at hisurfer.net
Mon Jan 12 04:02:26 EST 2004


re. Isa 43:1 Don Larsen writes:
Could EMOS EI SU then be understood as a proper name?  Translated something
like, "I have named you: You are Mine."

I'd appreciate your responses.
_________

Yes, like the others that reading did strike me as odd.  Now in looking at
the translations I did find a couple that apparently take it this way,
reading: 'You are Mine' (New King James 1982 and JPS Tanakh 1985) and
periphrastically we could render the phrase:  ~Belonging to Me.

Somewhat similar in effect to the phrase (EMOS EI SU) I find that the
Israelites are inscribing on their hand TOU QEOU EIMI. meaning - I am God's
ie. I belong to God (see Isa 44:5).

Now so that we don't think EMOS EI SU is entirely unable to be a proper
name, we should consider the following from the LXX:

Hos 1:9 KALESON TO ONOMA AUTOU OU-LAOS-MOU (ou-laos-mou is nominative
(nom.))
Hosea 1:6 KALESON TO ONOMA AUTHS OUK-HLEHMENH (Call her name, Unpitied,
ouk-hlehmenh is nom.)
Hosea 2:18 KALESEI ME hO ANHR MOU KAI OU KALESEI ME ETI BAALIM
(that she shall call me, My husband (nom.), and shall no longer call me
Baalim (nom.)

Jeremiah 46:17 call the name of Pharaoh, Neco king of Egypt, SAWN-ESBI-EMWHD
(Noise-maker who let the hour go by! - again nom. case)

And because we're in Isaiah we should esp. look for clues from his book.
Here are the more peculiar names given:

Isaiah 8:3 KALESON TO ONOMA AUTOU TECEWS SKULEUSON OXEWS PRONOMEUSON  (Call
his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily)

Isa 7:14 KALESEIS TO ONOMA AUTOU EMMANOUHL  (a double acc. quoted at Matt
1:23)

Isa 8:8 ...and his camp shall fill the breadth of your land, MEQ' hHMWN hO
QEOS (O God with us)

Isa 57:15 hAGIOS EN hAGIOIS ONOMA AUTWi  (Holy in/among the holies is his
name)

Isaiah 62:12 KAI KALESEI AUTON LAON hAGION LELUTRWMENON hUPO KUPIOU SU DE
KLHQHSHi EPIZHTOUMENH POLIS KAI OUK EGKATALELEIMMENH   (And one shall call
them, The Holy people, the Redeemed of the Lord; and you shall be called,
City Sought Out, and not Forsaken)

re. punctuation  Looking at the Hebrew (lit. I have called [you] by your
name, you belong to me) it has a disjunctive accent (tiphah), hence the
comma.
Now I sought to look all around the OT for peculiar names, and I suppose I
still want more contextual indicators to take 'EMOS EI SU' as a name.  But
I'm not finding evidence that sways me, either from the immediate context,
or from Isaiah, or from the OT. Though I attempted to give evidence for it.
Yes, it is possible, but I think not so probable.

Michael Tarver
Oregon, USA
<'\\><  laus Deo




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