Before the discovery of the Qumran
texts, critics scrutinized these words and came to a variety of conclusions, of
which we cannot deal with here owing to space considerations. In this reading
the 1QIsaa scribe misread the wāws for yôds (צי לצי צי
לצי, meaning either “ship”, “desert animal”, or “demon” (see HALOT, 1020),
makes no sense in the context. Kutscher provides another possible explanation for
1QIsaa’s צי לצי צי לצי: “The exegesis צו from צואה (‘command’) has
been suggested; does צי then = צאי (Qere צואה) in Syr.?” MT’s reading is
correct, perhaps basing צו on √צוה, i.e., “to command.” LXX apparently misread צו
for צר (θλιψιν επι θλιψιν); LXX also misinterpreted
קַ֥ו לָקָ֖ו and read ελπιδα επ’ ελπιδι via √קוה (“hope”).
(Donald W. Parry, Exploring the Isaiah Scrolls and Their Textual Variants [Supplements
to the Textual History of the Bible 3; Leiden: Brill, 2020], 197)
