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.
Because in v. 13 the Lord stations the people for judgment, and yet those arraigned are the rulers, the stationing of the people is but a prelude to the rulers’ arraignment 25, meaning that the people fill the role of victims rather than malfeasants. It is, then, towards the abusive rulers that the questions of v. 15 are directed.
In continuing the charges against those who have mistreated the people, the translator represented w)kdt by a)dikei=te, the lone occurrence of this equivalence in the LXX. While )kd ("crush") was probably unfamiliar to him 26, his choice of a)dikei=n for w)kdt is likely more than arbitrary, since (as Seeligmann observed) for LXX-Isa a)dikei=n is a "special wellnigh (sic) technical term, to express, without any direct sanction from the Hebrew text, the violence from which Israel was made to suffer by other peoples" 27. Even if those taken to task here are native rulers, this use of a)dikei=n fits the pattern Seeligmann noted, insofar as this is a case of violence against Israel 28.
The other noteworthy element is the translation of wnx+t by kataisxu/nete. In 47,2 G renders xmq ynx+w with a!leson a!leuron ("grind meal"), comporting with equivalents for Nx+ elsewhere in the LXX 29. Ziegler justifiably concludes that the translator chose kataisxu/nein (as well as a)dikei=n) because "die Bilder sind wohl...dem griech. Übersetzer zu real und derb vorgekommen" 30.