This is a continuation of a consideration of the differences between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint, a translation of the Hebrew before Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah. The final clause of the first verse under consideration follows:

I had begun to consider other occurrences of forms ἀφαιρέω (Table) in Isaiah to get a feel for any potential relationship between ἀφελεῖν (a form of ἀφαιρέω) and בְּיָד֥וֹ (yāḏ). Since a form of ἀφαιρέω was the translation of a form of סוּר (sûr) in two of the three examples I considered in another essay,¹ I’ve continued with those occurrences in Isaiah.

This seems to be an example of one instance of הֵסִ֥יר (sûr) translated with two instances of ἀφελεῖ (a form of ἀφαιρέω) because of the Hebrew word וְכָרַ֚ת (kāraṯ), translated he shall both cut off (Tanakh, KJV). I won’t spend time here to try to confirm it with other examples.

Here both וּמָחָ֨ה (māḥâ) and יָסִיר֙ (sûr) were translated ἀφεῖλε(ν) and ἀφεῗλεν (a form of ἀφαιρέω) in the Septuagint. According to a note (33) in the NET Paul quoted Isaiah 25:8, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”² The table below compares Paul’s Greek to that of the Septuagint.

Perhaps κατεπόθη ὁ θάνατος εἰς νῖκος (Death has been swallowed up in victory) was a popular saying (λόγος), a summation of the first two clauses of Hosea 13:14 alluding to the καταπίνω imagery (“to drink down, swallow, gulp”) of Isaiah 28:5. As death has swallowed up the living, the living God will swallow up death through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Regardless, the rabbis who translated the Septuagint didn’t understand the first clause of Isaiah 25:8 in the same way that more contemporary translators have translated the Hebrew of the Masoretic text.

Does this mean that the Hebrew text the rabbis translated was different from that in the Masoretic text? It’s hard to say. The NET translation of Hosea 13:14 leads me to believe that even the Hebrew of the Masoretic text is open to interpretation.

This kind of complexity is frustrating to anyone living a timed life. I certainly live a timed life, traveling on airplanes to various cities to record conference sessions that happen in various locations at various times on media that will only hold a fixed amount of data. But I also live an eternal life, knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [He] sent.⁴ I can trust Him—to unfold, to uncover, to reveal the things that frustrate or confuse me—with that continuous supply of his own peace, patience and faithfulness. Jesus said (Matthew 7:7, 8 NET)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

My ten years’ association with the study of Geology, first as a student taking courses then as a teaching assistant helping other students learn field techniques for identifying rocks and minerals, helped me see the sediments deposited by a great flood in the Grand Canyon. Standing on the north rim I could almost feel the uplift of the kaibab plateau and the rapid recession of flood waters that carved out most of the features of the Grand Canyon through relatively unconsolidated sediments. On the drive back down to St. Louis I saw for the first time that grander canyon known as the Mississippi valley. And as I recalled the similarity of sedimentary rock strata on the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa I perceived the grandest canyon of all, called the Atlantic Ocean, though my mind still boggles at the power that created it.

Clearly, I didn’t learn what I was expected to learn. My instructors preferred to deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. Through these things the world existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water.⁵

Peter’s point in this portion of his letter was that by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.⁶ [T]he heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze.⁷ This destruction of the universe (or at least this solar system) makes space for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides.⁸

In answer to a question why this hasn’t happened yet (2 Peter 3:3, 4), Peter replied, The Lord…is being patient toward you because he does not wish (βουλόμενός, a form of βούλομαι) for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.⁹ His wish corresponds to the way Jesus pictured death and Hades (Luke 16:19-31): as the opportunity and space for rich and poor alike to focus their attention on the Bible, something they may have ignored or been completely ignorant of during their lives here.

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death¹⁰—the lake of fire.¹¹ I admit I’ve thought of Death and Hades here as euphemisms for those who have died and those who reside in the place of the dead respectively. Now I’m more willing to consider that it is the very concepts Death and Hades (as the place of the dead) which will be done away with. They become superfluous once every knee has bowed and every tongue confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:5-11).

Paul wrote (Philippians 2:10, 11 NET):

…so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The Greek word translated will bow above was not κάμψουσιν, the future tense indicative form of κάμπτω. It was κάμψῃ in the aorist tense and subjunctive mood. Likewise, the Greek word translated confess was not ἐξομολογήσεται, the future tense indicative form of ἐξομολογέω (Romans 14:11). It was ἐξομολογήσηται in the aorist tense and subjunctive mood. This is part of the intrigue of translating Koine Greek into English.

Ordinarily, the subjunctive mood would be translated something like “every knee may bow” and “every tongue may confess.” That’s what someone who already knows Greek would expect. Of course, someone who already knows Greek probably also knows that “if the subjunctive mood is used in a purpose or result clause, then the action should not be thought of as a possible result, but should be viewed as a definite outcome that will happen as a result of another stated action.”

Here “every knee may bow” and “every tongue may confess” are clearly the result of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:6-8 NET):

who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature [Table]. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!

And (Philippians 2:9, 10a NET):

As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that (ἵνα) at the name of Jesus…

And here, apparently, the translators of the NET wanted even those who do not already know Koine Greek to know how certain Paul was of this outcome (Philippians 2:10b, 11 NET):

every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

The Lord’s wish…for all to come to repentance isn’t given this much credence in the religious circles I inhabit. But there are six other undisputed¹² occurrences of βουλόμενος in the New Testament to consider: Because he wanted (βουλόμενος) to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them.¹³ Because the Roman commander in Jerusalem wanted (βουλόμενος) to know the true reason Paul was being accused by¹⁴ the Jews, he released him¹⁵ and ordered the chief priests and the whole¹⁶ council¹⁷ to assemble.¹⁸ He then brought Paul down and had him stand before them.¹⁹ When he learned of a plot to kill Paul the Roman commander sent him to the Governor Felix with a letter describing his actions (Acts 23:28 NET):

Since²⁰ I wanted (βουλόμενος) to know²¹ what charge they were accusing him of, I brought him²² down to their council.

God wanted (βουλόμενος) to demonstrate more clearly to the heirs of the promise that his purpose was unchangeable…so he intervened with an oath.²³ In each instance quoted above one with power and authority acted to satisfy his βουλόμενος.

When the ship carrying Paul as a prisoner to Rome began to sink (Acts 27:42, 43 NET):

…the soldiers’ plan (βουλὴ) was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would escape²⁴ by swimming away. But the centurion, wanting (βουλόμενος) to save Paul’s life, prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard²⁵ first and get to land.

It was not the relative strengths of the Greek words (βουλὴ vs. βουλόμενος) that carried the day, but the centurion’s authority over his soldiers. Likewise, When…Herod planned (βουλόμενος) to bring [Peter] out for public trial after the Passover,²⁶ there is every reason to believe he would have carried out his βουλόμενος if he had not been thwarted by a higher power with greater authority (Acts 12:6-11).

Knowing this, I can’t stand before the judgment seat of Christ, look Him in the eye and say to his face, “Your wish for all to come to repentance will never happen.” I’m all in, on Him, his power and his authority because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

Tables comparing Isaiah 18:5; 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and comparing the Greek of Isaiah 18:5; 25:8 and Hosea 13:14 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor), and tables comparing 1 Corinthians 15:55; Revelation 20:14; 2 Corinthians 1:17; Acts 22:30; 23:28 and 27:42, 43 in the NET and KJV follow.