Beholding the Salvation of God in Greek Isaiah and Luke-Acts

Abstract: This article examines a key element of the theological imagery of Greek Isaiah—the depiction of the salvation of God. Through a close comparison of selected passages of Isaiah in Hebrew and Greek, I seek to clarify the contributions of Greek translation to the creation of a version of Isaiah that would become not only the primary mode of reading the prophet in Greek-speaking diaspora Judaism but also the default linguistic field for much theological reflection in early Christianity. One avenue of the impact of the Greek translator's work is assessed through a survey of the reception history of the distinctly Greek version of Isaiah in Luke-Acts, where the imagery of salvation as a public spectacle becomes a central theme. I argue that sustained attention to the Greek version of Isaiah as a distinctive text in its own right is a necessary prolegomenon for studies of Lucan intertextuality and, indeed, Lucan theology.