The: The Septuagint
Exodus 20:1-17
And the Lord spoke all these words, saying: I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage
And the Lord spoke all these words, saying: I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage
- Thou shalt have no other gods beside me
- Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor likeness of anything, whatever things are in heaven above, and whatever are in the earth beneath, and whatever are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation to them that hate me, and bestowing mercy on them that love me to thousands of them, and on them that keep my commandments
- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord thy God will not acquit him that takes his name in vain
- Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt labour, and shalt perfrom all thy work. But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt do no work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy servant nor thy maidservant, thine ox nor thine ass, nor any cattle of thine, nor the stranger that sojourns with thee. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and the sea and all things in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefor the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it
- Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the good land which the Lord thy God gives to thee
- Thou shalt not kill
- Thou shalt not commit adultery
- Thou shalt not steal
- Thou shalt no bear false witness against thy neighbour
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife; thou shalt not covey thy neighbour’s house; nor his field, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, nor whatever belongs to thy neighbour
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Known details
The Greek To English > Sir Lancelot C.L. Brenton
LXX - c. 200
1969
History
The earliest version of the Old Testament Scriptures of which is possessed any certain knowledge is the translation executed at Alexandria in the third century B.C.E. It has been habitually known by the name of SEPTUAGINT. If knowledge of the origin of the Septuagint be meagre, it is at least more extensive than that possessed of other [ancient] translations.The Alexandrian dialect of the Greek brought during Macedonian rule after the conquest of Alexander is the idiom in which the Septuagint Version was made. Because of the number of Jewish inhabitants in Alexandria, the existence of the sacred books of the Jews would easily become known to the Greek population.
Aristobulus, a Jew living at the beginning of the second century B.C. says that the version of the Law into Greek was completed under the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and that Demetrius Phalereus had been employed about it. It appears that Aristobulus was probably a witness that the work of translation had begun under Ptolemy Soter.
A writer named Aristeas says that Ptolemy Philadelphus sent a deputation to Eleazar the high priest to request a copy of the Jewish Law and seventy-two interpreters, six out of each tribe. These men were conducted by Demetrius to an island where the work is stated to have been completed in seventy-two days. They were Jews of Egypt, not of Palestine.
At Alexandria, the Hellenistic Jews used this version. From there it spread among the Jews of the dispersion until it was the common form in which the Old Testament Scriptures had become diffused. In many passages, the Septuagint agrees with Samaritan copies where they differ from the Hebrew. This version was used by the Apostles when they quoted the Old Testament. After the dispersion of Christianity, this translation was used in the new Christian communities.
Noting the differences between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text, Origen set out to correct the former. The result was his great works, the Hexapla and the Tetrapla. After the fourth century, there is no known definite attempt to revise the Septuagint.
On each page of this copy one column is in Greek and one, in English.