Sunday, October 8, 2023

Note on the plural "sins" in Mosiah 14:12 vs. the MT and KJV use of singular "sin" in Isaiah 53:12

  

Mosiah 14:12

Isa 53:12 (KJV)

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death; and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

 

The LXX reads the plural τας αμαρτιας (lit. "the sins") and, from the Dead Sea Scrolls,

 

Three Qumran scrolls (1QIsa, 1QIsab, and 4QIsad) plus several versions attest the pl. הטאי (“sins of”) where the MT has the sg. חֵטְא. Flint points out that the pl. הטאי complements the pl. וְלַפֹּשְׁעִים in the second half of the bicolon . . .” (Donald W. Parry, Exploring the Isaiah Scrolls and Their Textual Variants [Supplements to the Textual History of the Bible 3; Leiden: Brill, 2020], 375)

 

Though to be fair, Parry does note that “the correct reading is difficult to determine” vis-à-vis the singular vs. plural. However, there is textual witnesses supporting the plural sins in Isa 53:12, matching the plural in Mosiah 14:12.