The famous translational gloss
involving Amos 9:12 demonstrates a similar trajectory of interpretation as that
suggested above for Ezek 36:12. MT Amos 9:12 reads, “In order that they may
possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations which my name is called around
them.” It appears that the LXX translator read “adam” for “Edom,” and
“seek” for “possess” amid the eschatological nature of Israel’s restoration.
Amos 9:12 in the LXX reads οπως εκζητησωσιν οι καταλοιποι
των αωθρωπων και . . . “ Mike Shepherd suggests one
another gloss in the translation of the accusative marker. “Codex Alexandrinus
and Acts 15,17 include τον κυριον (the LORD) as the direct object
of the verb “seek.” This is apparently an interpretation of the market את (the
Aleph and Taw, otherwise known as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end (Isa 41,4; 44,6; Rev 1:8; 22:13]” (Shepherd, “Compositional Analysis of the
Twelve,” 187-88). Notwithstanding the many text-critical questions this passage
raises, it appears at the least, that the LXX demonstrates the manner in which
an early community understood the term “Edom” and “possesses.” It is possible
that the translator of the Septuagint even interpreted Amos 9 in light of
Ezekiel 35-36. (Tracy McKenzie, “Edom’s Desolation and Adam’s Multiplication:
Parallelism in Ezekiel 35:1-36:15,” in Text and Canon: Essays in Honor of
John H. Sailhamer, ed. Robert L. Cole and Paul J. Kissling [Eugene, Oreg.:
Pickwick Publications, 2017], 113)
