David Baer analyses the labour that resulted in the Greek Isaiah, comparing the Greek text with extant Hebrew texts and with early biblical versions to show that the translator has approached his craft with homiletical interests in mind. He shows that this earliest translator of Isaiah produced a preached text, while modifying his recieved tradition in theological and nationalistic directions which would reach their full flower in Targumic and Rabbinical literature. In basic agreement with recent work on other portions of the Septuagint, the Greek Isaiah emerges as an elegant work of Hellenistic literature whose linguistic fluidity expresses the convictions and longings of a deeply Palestinian soul.
