The Septuagint

The Septuagint

A source-witness: the Greek Old Testament

The Septuagint is the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, made for the Greek-speaking Jews of Egypt beginning in the third century before the common era. By tradition the Law was rendered first, by seventy or seventy-two elders, from which the work takes its name; the Prophets and the Writings followed over the next two centuries.

It is the oldest translation of the Scriptures, and for many books it rests on a Hebrew text older than the Masoretic. In places it differs greatly from the later Hebrew — the book of Jeremiah is much shorter, the order of some passages differs, and the books of Samuel and Kings show many variations — and the Dead Sea Scrolls have shown that some of these differences go back to genuine ancient Hebrew forms. The Septuagint also carries the deuterocanonical books, and additions to Daniel and Esther, not found in the Hebrew canon.

Value as a witness

The Septuagint was the Bible of the early Church, and most quotations of the Old Testament in the New follow it. It is therefore a witness of the first importance, both for recovering the ancient Hebrew text and for understanding how the Scriptures were read in the time of Jesus and the apostles.