docphin5
Well-known member
From Quora the Septuagint translation reflects the meaning found in the oldest Jewish texts. So people who claim to follow the truth about God must make a decision, do they follow the “truth” of Rabbis which came later or do they follow the truth found in the possession of the original Jewish-Christians, namely, Essenes? Choices, choices, so many choices, …so many versions of the truth to choose between. It is as if a powerful deception weighs heavy upon the minds of humans and nobody really knows what is true anymore (2 cor. 4:4). Hmmm…It depends on the book, the worst books in the MT are both the Samuels. The LXX versions of Proverbs and Job read differently.
The LXX version of Isaiah is very different to the MT.
Book of Ezra and Nehemiah, originally one book, as missing chapters in the MT and is disordered.
They appear to be two translation styles in the LXX, a literal word by word translation and an interpreted translation.
Septuagint or Masoretic texts
The oldest manuscripts of the Bible we have are from the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), and are over 2000 years old. The Scrolls were in multiple languages, primarily Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Among the Greek scrolls were biblical texts that align perfectly with the text of the Septuagint. The Scrolls as a whole, in all languages they are in, agree with the Septuagint. The Masoretic Text (MT), on the other hand, is speculated to be no older than the 7th century A.D., with its oldest extant copy being from the 9th century A.D., and has major and minor disagreements with the LXX and DSS. The Masoretic Text, evidently, has been edited and suffered from textual corruption over the centuries, straying from the original written traditions.
From the NRSV, which used the Scrolls and LXX as primary OT sources in its meaning-for-meaning translation;
Deuteronomy 32: 8–9; When the Most High apportioned the nations, when he divided humankind, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the gods; the LORD's own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.
From the KJV, which used the Masoretic;
Deuteronomy 32: 8–9; When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
You can see how changes were made, and can understand why; a strictly monotheistic faith would not accept the Septuagint reading over the MT, prioritizing the MT Hebrew over the LXX age…..until it turns out that’s what it seems to originally have read, as the Scrolls have shown. A major difference, completely changing the meaning of the text. The original reading makes sense in the context of the culture and era Deuteronomy was written in, and the myths and legends of the time.
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