SPECIAL TOPIC: SEPTUAGINT (LXX)

This is the name given to the Koine Greek Translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. Tradition says that it was written in seventy days by seventy (or 72) Jewish scholars for the library of Alexandria, Egypt. It was supposedly requested by a Jewish leader of King Ptolemy II, living in Alexandria (285-246 B.C.). The Ptolemy rulers of Egypt boasted of the largest library in the world. This tradition comes from "Letters of Aristeas." Most modern scholars assert that parts of the LXX were translated about 250 B.C., but that it was not complete until about 150 B.C.

The LXX provides a differing Hebrew textual tradition from the text of Rabbi Aquiba (MT). Both traditions are represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The problem comes when these two textual traditions do not agree. And, in books like Jeremiah, Daniel, and Hosea, they are radically different. Since the finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls in A.D. 1947, it has become obvious that both the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint have ancient manuscript attestation. Usually the Masoretic Text is accepted as the basic text for the Hebrew Bible and the Septuagint is allowed to supplement it in different passages or corrupted readings. Some of the textual differences in the Hebrew text (see SPECIAL TOPIC: MASORETIC TEXT) can be attributed to oral traditions from different geographical regions. See John H. Walton, and D. Brent Sandy, The Lost World of Scripture: Ancient Literary Culture and Biblical Authority.

The LXX has helped in the understanding of the MT (one example):
1. the LXX of Isa. 52:14, "as many shall be amazed at him"
2. the MT of Isa. 52:14, "just as many were astonished over you"
The DSS have helped in the understanding of the MT (one example):
1. the DSS (IQ Isaiah) of Isa. 21:8 ‒ "then the seer cried, upon a watchtower I stand. . ."
2. the MT of Isa. 21:8 ‒ "and I cried a lion! My Lord, I always stand on the watchtower by day. . ."
Both the LXX and DSS have helped our understanding of Isa. 53:11
1. LXX and DSS ‒ "after the travail of his soul he will see light, he will be satisfied"
2. MT ‒ "he shall see of the travail of his soul. He shall be satisifed" (the MT doubled the VERB, but left out the first OBJECT).

We do not have the autographs or the original manuscripts of any of the original biblical authors, only copies of copies.

The Septuagint translation is significant because

It gives us an ancient text to compare with the Masoretic Hebrew text.
It shows us the state of Jewish theological interpretation in the third and second centuries B.C.
It gives us the Jewish Messianic understanding before the rejection of Jesus by first century Jewish authorities.
It was the translation of the Hebrew Bible used in the Greek speaking synagogues and early churches outside of Palestine.
It helps modern interpreters see how Hebrew translators chose the Greek equivalents to Hebrew words. The writers of the NT (except Luke) were Hebrew thinkers writing in Koine Greek. The place to go to define Greek terms is not Greek literature but the word choices of the Septuagint.
This same insight into the meaning of Koine Greek words is ltheir contempory usage in the Egyptian papyri. See G. Milligan, James H. Moulton, Vocabulary of the Greek Testament (Greek and English edition)

For a good discussion of the relationship of the Hebrew text to the production of the Septuagint, see NIDOTTE, vol. 1, B, pp. 55-66 and G. B. Caird, The Language and Imagery of the Bible, pp. 122-128.