It is the purpose of this study to examine the semantic variations adhering to the word tsedeq in Isaiah 40-55 (Deutero Isaiah). It is our thesis that the word tsedeg does not contain an essential meaning which can be ascertained apart from its contextual referents. The word tsedeq is not invested by the author of chs. 40-55 with a semantic distinctiveness that is primarily oriented to an explicit theological reality. We do not believe, for example, that tsedeq attains “the status of the key to the understanding of the whole diving work of salvation.” The bestowal of such a “status” seems to us an attempt to inject the word with the values of post-biblical theology.

In Luke-Acts, Luke intentionally describes the early Jewish-Christian community in accordance with Isaiah’s prophecy for an ethical restoration of social justice in Israel. This thesis accomplishes this argument in three chapters. First, it explores Isaiah’s program of restoration and argues that it includes social justice through the Davidic Messiah and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, an argument is made that Luke’s presentation of Jesus accords with the Isaianic picture of a socially just Davidic king empowered by the Spirit, who works to bring social justice through his reign. Lastly, the events of Pentecost and Acts 2:42–47 with insight gathered from Acts 4:32–37, are considered. Here the argument is presented that Luke draws Isaianic themes together from his gospel to demonstrate that, in Acts, Jesus’ exaltation and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit result in Isaiah’s vision of a Jewish community restored to fruitfulness as a socially just society.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An allusion in the source text poses a serious problem for a translator. A relevance-theoretic approach would define an “allusion” as the re-use of language from a prior text such that, by calling the prior text to mind, an implied reader is aided in his/her attempt to plausibly reconstruct the alluding author’s meaning. For this to happen, the reader’s “context” in the relevance-theoretic sense must include the source of the borrowed language. To explicate the connection for the reader, however, can thwart the pragmatic effects of an allusion, since these often require maintaining some “openness” in the text; hence the translator’s dilemma. Isaiah 40-55 (Deutero-Isaiah or DtI), a richly allusive text, furnishes an ideal test case for a descriptive translation study (DTS) focused on this source-text feature. This investigation of eleven Portuguese versions will attempt to determine whether and how the translators’ decisions with regard to DtI’s allusions might be accounted for. Source-oriented approaches to translating often tend toward lexical concordance; therefore, these approaches—in theory—should tend to preserve instances of vocabulary that is shared between an alluding- and an alluded-to text. Target-oriented approaches (e.g. “functional equivalence”) are more interested in contextual clarity than lexical concordance; these could then be expected to produce target texts that are less allusive. Increased sophistication in translation theory should result in more sophisticated approaches to allusion in translating. Collaborative and coordinated translation projects should produce more allusive target texts than those whose procedures are more piecemeal. The investigation reveals less correlation than expected between general source-orientedness and allusiveness in the target text. Target-oriented approaches—e.g., classical functional equivalence—do tend to produce less allusive target texts. In addition, there is a correlation between a translation project’s organization and the perspicuity of allusion in the target text, but it is mostly negative. That is, projects that do their work piecemeal produce unallusive versions, but more collaborative and coordinated projects still leave many inter-textual resonances inaudible. It appears that translations will preserve this source-text feature in a way that tends toward randomness unless the perspicuity of inter-textual allusions is articulated as a conscious value in translating. Above all, “allusion-friendly” translating will require target cultures that want more allusive Bibles. Translators, as “model readers” themselves, will need to recognize the presence and function of allusions in the source text and make the attempt to represent these in translation a priority. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sinspeling in ’n bronteks kan aansienlike probleem skep vir vertaler. Relevansie-teoretiese benadering definieer “sinspeling” as die hergebruik van taal uit vroeëre teks tot so mate dat veronderstelde leser, deur die vroeëre teks voor die gees te roep, in sy/haar poging om die sinspelende outeur se bedoeling te rekonstrueer, gesteun word. Om dit te bewerkstellig, moet die leser se “konteks,” in die relevansie-teoretiese sin van die woord, die bron van die ontleende taaluiting insluit. Om die verband aan die leser te verklaar kan egter die pragmatiese effekte van sinspeling teenwerk, aangesien sinspeling as sulks dikwels die handhawing van mate van “openheid” in die teks vereis; vandaar die vertaler se dilemma. Jesaja 40-55 (Deutero-Jesaja of DtJ), teks met baie gevalle van sinspeling, bied die ideale geleentheid vir beskrywende vertalingstudie (BVS) wat op hierdie brontekskenmerk fokus. Hierdie ondersoek van elf Portugese vertalings sal poog om te bepaal of en hoe die vertalers se vertaalkeuses met betrekking tot DtJ se sinspelings verklaar kan word. Bron-georiënteerde benaderings tot vertaling neig dikwels tot leksikale konkordansie; daarom behoort hierdie benaderings – in teorie – te neig om die gevalle van woordeskat wat tussen sinspelende en opgesinspeelde teks gedeel word, weer te gee. Teiken-georiënteerde benaderings (bv. “funksioneel-ekwivalente benaderings”) stel meer in die verstaanbaarheid van uitdrukkings in die konteks waarin dit gebruik word as in leksikale konkordansie belang; van hierdie vertalings sou dan verwag kon word om teikentekste op te lewer wat minder sinspelend is. Toenemende sofistikasie in vertalingsteorie behoort tot meer gesofistikeerde benaderings tot sinspeling in vertaling te lei. Gesamentlike en gekoördineerde vertalingsprojekte behoort meer sinspelende teikentekste voort te bring as die waarvan dit nie die geval is nie. Die ondersoek openbaar minder korrelasie as wat verwag is tussen algemene brongeoriënteerdheid en sinspeling in die teikenteks. Teiken-georiënteerde benaderings neig wel om minder sinspelende teikentekste te produseer. Daar is boonop korrelasie tussen vertalingsprojek se organisasie en die duidelikheid van sinspeling in die teikenteks, maar die korrelasie is meestal negatief. Dit wil sê, projekte wat hul werk stuksgewys doen, produseer niesinspelende weergawes, maar meer gesamentlike en gekoördineerde projekte laat steeds baie intertekstuele resonansies nie tot hulle reg kom nie. Dit blyk dat hierdie brontekskenmerk slegs op ‘n lukrake wyse in ’n vertaling tot sy reg sal laat kom, tensy die duidelikheid van intertekstuele sinspelings as bewuste waarde in die vertaling uitgespel word. Bowendien, “sinspelingsvriendelike” vertaling sal teikenkulture vereis wat meer sinspelende Bybels wil hê. Vertalers, as “modellesers” hulself, sal die teenwoordigheid en funksie van sinspelings in die bronteks moet herken en die poging om hierdie in vertaling te verteenwoordig prioriteit maak.

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This project explores John’s portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John and argues that John presents Jesus as the Servant of the Lord from Isaiah primarily through his allusions to the Servant passages. The Servant is not the predominant Christological title in John, but it is an important aspect of Johannine Christology. Chapter 1 surveys various works on John’s use of the Old Testament in general, and John’s use of Isaiah specifically. While Isaiah is a major emphasis in John, there have only been two other monographs on John’s use of Isaiah. Furthermore, other works have noted a few allusions to the Isaianic Servant, but no other works have systematically studied the Isaianic Servant in the Gospel of John. Chapter 2 proposes several criteria necessary to identitying allusions to the Isaianic Servant, with allusions classified as clear, probable, and possible. Chapter 3 contains an exegetical discussion of the relevant Servant passages in Isaiah, along with a discussion of the literary context of each Servant song. There is an excursus on the Second Temple Literature, which indicates there is no evidence of a Suffering Messiah in that period. Chapter 4 analyzes two quotations to Isaiah and other clear allusions to the Servant songs in Isaiah. This chapter, along with subsequent chapters, explores the meaning and significance of each allusion for the literary context of John. Chapter 5 identifies probable allusions to the Servant, including the Greeks coming to see Jesus, light and darkness, and Jesus obeying the will of God. Chapter 6 analyzes possible allusions, which have some overlap with the Servant songs, but lack the criterion of uniqueness that would assist an interpreter in connecting John to Isaiah. Chapter 7 discusses the theme of the Isaianic New Exodus and the Servant’s role in initiating this new exodus. John’s description of Jesus utilizes the same characteristics of the Servant to portray Jesus as the Servant in Isaiah. Chapter 8 summarizes the previous chapters and analyzes the implications of the study along with areas for further research.

There is no consensus regarding the interpretation of the "Spirit like a dove" comparison in Jesus' baptism (Mk 1:10). Although scholars have proposed at least fifty different interpretations of the dove comparison, no study appears to have considered Isaiah's three dove texts as the background for the Markan dove (cf. Is 38:14; 59:11; 60:8). This neglect is surprising considering the abundance of Isaianic allusions in Mark's Prologue (Mk 1:1-15), and the growing awareness that Isaiah is the hermeneutical key for both the Markan Prologue and Jesus' baptism within it. Indeed, Mark connects the dove image inseparably to the Spirit's "descent" from heaven, which alludes to Yahweh's descent in a New Exodus deliverance in Isaiah 63:19 [MT]. Furthermore, each Isaianic dove text uses the same simile, "like a dove" or "like doves," which appears in Mark 1:10, and shares the theme of lament and restoration which fits the context of Mark's baptism account. This study therefore argues that the dove image in Mark 1:10 is a symbol which evokes metonymically Isaiah's three dove texts. So the Spirit is "like a dove" not because any quality of the Spirit resembles that of a dove, but because the dove recalls the Isaianic theme of lament and restoration associated with doves in this Scriptural tradition. After discussing the Markan dove in terms of simile, symbol, and metonymy, the study examines the Isaianic dove texts in the MT and LXX and argues that they form a single motif. Next, later Jewish references to the Isaianic dove texts are considered, while an Appendix examines further dove references in Jewish and Greco-Roman literature. Finally, the study argues that the Markan dove coheres in function with the Isaianic dove motif and symbolizes the Spirit's effect upon and through Jesus by evoking metonymically the Isaianic dove texts.