The Old Testament: The Septuagint Or LXX
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Rob VandeWeghe
Apr 25, 2013, 5:50:27 AM4/25/13
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Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Rob VandeWeghe
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Article Title: The Old Testament: The Septuagint Or LXX
Author: Rob VandeWeghe
Word Count: 566
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=191826&ca=Religion
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=191826
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=191826
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
After the Northern Kingdom (Israel) was captured by the Assyrians (722 BC) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) was destroyed by the Babylonians (586 BC) the Jewish population was deported. Many returned to their homeland upon their release, but others spread throughout the world. Far removed from Judea, many Jews lost their Hebrew mastery as Greek became their main language. This created a growing need for a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Alexandria, Egypt, held the largest Jewish community of that era and was also a great center of Greek learning. On request of the Alexandrian Jews � according to tradition (supported by the legend of Ptolemy and other scholars) � some 70 Hebrew scribes traveled to Alexandria in 285-270 BC where they produced a translation now known as the Septuagint. That name derives from the Greek word for 70 and is also designated as LXX (the Latin numeral for 70).
Overall the translation was executed with great care given the means of those days and the challenges that faced translators. Still, when comparing the LXX and the Hebrew (Masoretic) texts a number of small differences between the texts can be noted. Through the Dead Sea Scrolls, many of these differences are now identified as being caused by the fact that translators likely followed a different Hebrew text belonging to what now is called the Proto-Septuagint family.
In addition to the 24 books of the Hebrew Old Testament, the LXX contains additional books as well as add-ons to books circulated in the Greek-speaking world, but were not included in the Hebrew texts. These books are now known as the Apocrypha of the Old Testament.
The LXX was held with great respect in ancient times; Philo and Josephus ascribed divine inspiration to its authors. It formed the basis of the Old Latin versions and is still used intact within the Eastern Orthodox Church. Besides the Old Latin versions, the LXX is also the basis for Gothic, Slavonic, old Syriac, old Armenian, and Coptic versions of the Old Testament.
Significant to all Christians and Bible scholars is the fact that the LXX was quoted both by the writers of the New Testament and by the leaders of the early church. Christians naturally used the LXX since it was the only Greek version available to the earliest Christians, who, as a group, had rapidly become overwhelmingly Gentile and, therefore, unfamiliar with Hebrew. While Jews have not used the LXX in worship or religious study since the second century AD, recent scholarship has brought renewed interest towards it in Judaic Studies. The oldest surviving LXX codices date to the fourth century AD.
The importance of the LXX as evidence for the reliability of the texts of the Old Testament is two-fold:
1) Confirmation of the Masoretic texts: Although there are textual differences between the LXX and the Masoretic texts, generally these differences are small.
2) Confirmation of early texts: The LXX was translated from the Hebrew Scriptures in the years 285-250 BC. It includes all 24 books of the Hebrew Old Testament. Therefore the existence of the LXX proves that the OT was widely available in written form before this time. Therefore the prophecies in the book of Daniel about the Greek and Roman empires as well the extensive prophecies about the Messiah in Daniel, Isaiah and especially Psalm 22 were written well before the actual events happened.
About The Author: Rob VandeWeghe is a sceptic turned Christian by studying the foundations for Christianity. Rob�s book �Prepared to Answer� and more evidences for Christianity are available at http://www.windmillministries.org. Read more about the Old Testament at http://www.windmillministries.org/CH9.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=191826
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
Message delivered directly to members of the group:
publish-the...@googlegroups.com
*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Rob VandeWeghe
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=191826
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=191826
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: The Old Testament: The Septuagint Or LXX
Author: Rob VandeWeghe
Word Count: 566
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=191826&ca=Religion
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=191826
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=191826
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
After the Northern Kingdom (Israel) was captured by the Assyrians (722 BC) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah) was destroyed by the Babylonians (586 BC) the Jewish population was deported. Many returned to their homeland upon their release, but others spread throughout the world. Far removed from Judea, many Jews lost their Hebrew mastery as Greek became their main language. This created a growing need for a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Alexandria, Egypt, held the largest Jewish community of that era and was also a great center of Greek learning. On request of the Alexandrian Jews � according to tradition (supported by the legend of Ptolemy and other scholars) � some 70 Hebrew scribes traveled to Alexandria in 285-270 BC where they produced a translation now known as the Septuagint. That name derives from the Greek word for 70 and is also designated as LXX (the Latin numeral for 70).
Overall the translation was executed with great care given the means of those days and the challenges that faced translators. Still, when comparing the LXX and the Hebrew (Masoretic) texts a number of small differences between the texts can be noted. Through the Dead Sea Scrolls, many of these differences are now identified as being caused by the fact that translators likely followed a different Hebrew text belonging to what now is called the Proto-Septuagint family.
In addition to the 24 books of the Hebrew Old Testament, the LXX contains additional books as well as add-ons to books circulated in the Greek-speaking world, but were not included in the Hebrew texts. These books are now known as the Apocrypha of the Old Testament.
The LXX was held with great respect in ancient times; Philo and Josephus ascribed divine inspiration to its authors. It formed the basis of the Old Latin versions and is still used intact within the Eastern Orthodox Church. Besides the Old Latin versions, the LXX is also the basis for Gothic, Slavonic, old Syriac, old Armenian, and Coptic versions of the Old Testament.
Significant to all Christians and Bible scholars is the fact that the LXX was quoted both by the writers of the New Testament and by the leaders of the early church. Christians naturally used the LXX since it was the only Greek version available to the earliest Christians, who, as a group, had rapidly become overwhelmingly Gentile and, therefore, unfamiliar with Hebrew. While Jews have not used the LXX in worship or religious study since the second century AD, recent scholarship has brought renewed interest towards it in Judaic Studies. The oldest surviving LXX codices date to the fourth century AD.
The importance of the LXX as evidence for the reliability of the texts of the Old Testament is two-fold:
1) Confirmation of the Masoretic texts: Although there are textual differences between the LXX and the Masoretic texts, generally these differences are small.
2) Confirmation of early texts: The LXX was translated from the Hebrew Scriptures in the years 285-250 BC. It includes all 24 books of the Hebrew Old Testament. Therefore the existence of the LXX proves that the OT was widely available in written form before this time. Therefore the prophecies in the book of Daniel about the Greek and Roman empires as well the extensive prophecies about the Messiah in Daniel, Isaiah and especially Psalm 22 were written well before the actual events happened.
About The Author: Rob VandeWeghe is a sceptic turned Christian by studying the foundations for Christianity. Rob�s book �Prepared to Answer� and more evidences for Christianity are available at http://www.windmillministries.org. Read more about the Old Testament at http://www.windmillministries.org/CH9.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=191826
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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