LXX.'s rendering seems to emphasize the responsibility of the people
for their own blindness and deafness: “like the deaf adder that stoppeth
her car.” Ps. lviii. 4. 11. Ἔως πότι] Hardly classical Greek, but renders the Hebrew
literally. Cf. Luke ix. 41. We have, however,
 ἕως ὅτε in Xenophon, ἕως ὀψὲ in Thucydides, ἕως οὗ in Herodotus, ἕως τοῦ c. infin. in Demosthenes. In LXX. ἕως is used frequently as a prepos. c. gen.; e.g., Ps. civ. 23
cvi. 48, cviii. 4. παρὰ τὸ μὴ κατοικεῖσθαι] Were we dealing with classical Greek,
this might be explained, ‘up to the point of not being inhabited,’ ‘till
they are not...’ See Liddell and Scott, παρά, C. I. 5. As, however,
the Hebrew has D, of origin or cause, it must be explained as ‘because
they are not....’ Cf. Exod. xiv. 11; Numb. xiv. 16; Jerem. iv. 7
(xl.) 10, 12; Zeph. iii. 6, &c. διὰ is also used, Jerem. vii. καταλειφθήσεται] If this depends on ἕως, it must be accounted for
like ἰάσομαι in ver. IO. The verb ‘be left’ for Heb. ‘be desolated’
suggests that LXX. read ‘ (cf. Shear-jashub, and mm. rendering,
vii. 3) for ABBREV Note, with regard to A.V. margin, that Heb. words for
‘desolate’ and ‘desolation’ differ.