Isaiah 2:6b and the Bible of Justin Martyr

Abstract

It has long been recognized that the syntactically incorrect phrase in the MT of Isa 2:6b (כִּי מָלְאוּ מִקֶּדֶם וְעֹנְנִים כַּפְּלִשְׁתִּים “for they are full from the east and soothsayers like the Philistines”) suffers from a textual error involving the omission of a word. According to the commonly accepted conjecture, a derivative of the root קסם must be reconstructed, which, being graphically similar to מִקֶּדֶם, may have been dropped out due to haplography. Contrary to previous research that viewed Justin’s version of the verse (ὅτι ἐπλήσθη ἡ χώρα αὐτῶν, ὡς τὸ ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς, µαντειῶν καὶ κληδονισµῶν, Dial. 135.6.5) as a reflection of inner-Greek development, I argue that it may provide support for the emendation, being the only surviving witness to the original Hebrew text of Isa 2:6b.