Ronald L. Troxel, «Economic Plunder as a Leitmotif in LXX-Isaiah», Vol. 83 (2002) 375-391
The translator of LXX-Isaiah is known to have perceived in the prophet’s words presages of events in his day and to have expressed those in his translation. Some such themes recur often enough to merit designating them leitmotifs. Such is the case with the description of the people’s plunder through taxation as portrayed in 3,12-15; 5,5.17; 6,13; 9,3-4. Each of these descriptions arises through a unique construal of Hebrew syntax or an assumption of novel semantic ranges for Hebrew lexemes. The appearance of this theme in each of these otherwise unrelated passages merits designating it a leitmotif.
14au)to_j ku/rioj ei)j kri/sin
h$cei meta_ tw=n presbute/rwn tou= laou=
kai_ meta_ tw=n a)rxo/ntwn au)tou=
(Umei=j de_ ti/ e)nepuri/sate to_n a)mpelw=na/ mou
kai_ h( a(rpagh_ tou= ptwxou= e)n toi=j oi!koij u(mw=n;
15ti/ u(mei=j a)dikei=te to_n
lao/n mou
kai_ to_ pro/swpon tw=n ptwxw=n kataisxu/nete;
12
My people, your tax collectors glean you,Especially revealing is the translation of wy#gn by oi( pra/ktorej u(mw=n 3, the sole occurrence of pra/ktwr in the LXX 4. Ziegler notes that in the papyri pra/ktwr designates a civil office 5, while Moulton and Milligan specify that "the pra/ktwr in Ptolemaic times was specially concerned with the exaction of fines or payments" 6.