After the Torah, other books were translated over the next two to three centuries. The 3rd century BCE is supported for the translation of the Pentateuch by a number of factors, including its Greek being representative of early Koine Greek, citations beginning as early as the 2nd century BCE, and early manuscripts datable to the 2nd century BCE. Instead, he asserts that the real origin of the name "Septuagint" pertains to the fact that the earliest version was forwarded by the authors to the Jewish Sanhedrin at Alexandria for editing and approval. In the preface to his 1844 translation of the Septuagint, Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton acknowledges that the Jews of Alexandria were likely to have been the writers of the Septuagint, but dismisses Aristeas' account as a pious fiction. He stated that Plato and Pythagoras knew the Jewish Law and borrowed from it. Īccording to Aristobulus of Alexandria's fragment 3, portions of the Law were translated from Hebrew into Greek long before the well-known Septuagint version. According to later rabbinic tradition (which considered the Greek translation as a distortion of sacred text and unsuitable for use in the synagogue), the Septuagint was given to Ptolemy two days before the annual Tenth of Tevet fast. Caution is needed here regarding the accuracy of this statement by Philo of Alexandria, as it implies that the twelve tribes were still in existence during King Ptolemy's reign, and that the Ten Lost Tribes of the twelve tribes had not been forcibly resettled by Assyria almost 500 years previously. Philo of Alexandria writes that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did. He entered each one's room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher". He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. It is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud: This narrative is found in the possibly pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, and is repeated by Philo of Alexandria, Josephus (in Antiquities of the Jews), and by later sources (including Augustine of Hippo). Composition Jewish legend Beginning of the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 11th century)Īccording to tradition, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt) sent seventy-two Hebrew translators-six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel-from Jerusalem to Alexandria to translate the Tanakh from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek, for inclusion in his library. The Roman numeral LXX (seventy) is commonly used as an abbreviation, in addition to G or G. It was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures was called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This phrase in turn was derived from the Ancient Greek: Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα, romanized: hē metáphrasis tôn hebdomḗkonta, lit.'The Translation of the Seventy'. The term "Septuagint" is derived from the Latin phrase Vetus Testamentum ex versione Septuaginta Interpretum ("The Old Testament from the version of the Seventy Translators"). The Septuagint therefore satisfied a need in the Jewish community. įew people could speak and even fewer could read in the Hebrew language during the Second Temple period Koine Greek and Aramaic were the most widely spoken languages at that time among the Jewish community. Some targums translating or paraphrasing the Bible into Aramaic were also made during the Second Temple period. The remaining books were presumably translated in the 2nd century BCE. īiblical scholars agree that the first five books of the Hebrew Bible were translated from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek by Jews living in the Ptolemaic Kingdom, probably in the early or middle part of the third century BCE. The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) by seventy-two Hebrew translators-six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. 22 Their casting out of paradise.The Septuagint ( / ˈ s ɛ p tj u ə dʒ ɪ n t/ SEP-tew-ə-jint), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy ( Ancient Greek: Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα, romanized: Hē metáphrasis tôn Hebdomḗkonta), and often abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew. 6 Man's shameful fall, 9 God arraigneth them. Hebrew OT - Transliteration - Holy Name KJV Bereshit / Genesis 3ġ The serpent deceiveth Eve.
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