Definition and Scope

The Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures produced during the centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, beginning with the Pentateuch in the early third century B.C.E. in Alexandria and continuing over the next two centuries as other books of the Hebrew Bible were translated. The term “Septuagint,” often abbreviated “LXX,” is a Latin word meaning “seventy,” traditionally linked to a story that seventy (or seventy-two) Jewish translators rendered the Law of Moses into Greek. In modern usage, “Septuagint” is a convenient umbrella for Greek translations of the Old Testament books, though strictly speaking, it refers first to the Greek Pentateuch and only secondarily, by extension, to the rest of the Greek Old Testament corpus that accumulated by the first century B.C.E.

The Septuagint is not a single, uniform translation produced at one time by a single committee. It is a collection of translations carried out by different hands in different periods, reflecting differing translation philosophies. The Pentateuch tends to be more literal, while other books such as Proverbs or Job sometimes display freer renderings. The result is a library of Greek translations rather than a standardized version. When later writers and editors copied and circulated these books, some recensions and revisions arose, and by the time of the codices from the fourth and fifth centuries C.E., textual streams are visible. In other words, “the Septuagint” is a historical label for a family of Greek Old Testament texts whose base is Jewish translation activity prior to the first century C.E., not a monolithic, ecclesiastical creation.

The language of the Septuagint is Koine Greek, the common Greek of the Hellenistic and early Roman eras. Its vocabulary and syntax bear a pronounced Hebrew and Aramaic imprint. Translators often retained Hebrew word order, idioms, and Semitic patterns, creating a distinctive register sometimes called “translation Greek.” This is not a defect. It is the natural result of faithful translators prioritizing the Hebrew wording. Because the translators worked from Hebrew exemplars older than the medieval Masoretic manuscripts, the Septuagint sometimes preserves readings that assist in reconstructing the earliest attainable text of the Old Testament. This value, however, does not overturn the properly privileged place of the Masoretic tradition. Rather, it complements it when converging evidence justifies a retroversion.

Scope also includes the presence of Greek compositions that are not part of the Hebrew canon but that circulated in Greek Jewish communities, later copied by Christians in biblical codices. These works appear in many later “Septuagint” manuscripts and printed LXX editions. They include, among others, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Judith, Tobit, Baruch with the Letter of Jeremiah, additions to Daniel (Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon), additions to Esther, Psalm 151, the Odes, and 3–4 Maccabees in some traditions. They should be distinguished from the Jewish-Greek translations of the Hebrew canon. A book like Wisdom of Solomon is a Greek composition; a book like Genesis is a Greek translation of a Hebrew original. When one speaks carefully, the Septuagint in the narrow sense is the Greek translation of the Hebrew canon; the broader “LXX” in many later manuscripts and editions includes those additional Greek books that were read in certain Jewish and Christian circles.

The major surviving witnesses to the Septuagint are codices from late antiquity: Codex Vaticanus (B, fourth century C.E.), Codex Sinaiticus (א, fourth century C.E.), and Codex Alexandrinus (A, fifth century C.E.), along with a wide array of papyrus fragments and later minuscules. These witnesses do not present an identical text. They reflect the organic history of transmission, with traces of earlier Jewish revisions and Christian editorial activity. Recensional currents such as the Hexaplaric (connected with Origen’s Hexapla), the Lucianic, and other localized revisions are visible in differing books. Even within a single book, an “Old Greek” translation may coexist with later corrections toward the Hebrew or toward a different Greek recension. The Book of Daniel in many Christian copies, for example, is represented not by the Old Greek but by the revision of Theodotion, a second-century C.E. Jewish translator. The Book of Jeremiah in Greek is shorter and rearranged relative to the Masoretic Text. Esther in Greek contains sizable expansions not found in the Hebrew. None of this undermines the value of the Septuagint. It simply means that a responsible use of the LXX respects its historical layers and evaluates each book on its own textual merits.

The canonical books of the Hebrew Bible appear in Greek with different titles and, sometimes, a different order. Samuel and Kings are labeled First through Fourth Kingdoms. Chronicles is Paralipomenon (“Things Omitted”), Ezra–Nehemiah is transmitted as Esdras (with the complex history of 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras), and the Twelve Minor Prophets are bound together as “The Twelve.” These variations reflect Greek book-naming and organizational habits, not a different canon. When the Greek tradition includes additional books, the presence of those texts in biblical codices is a matter of manuscript content, not a redefinition of the Hebrew canon revealed through Moses and the Prophets. The canon’s boundaries remain those recognized in Israel and later confirmed in the first century C.E. Jewish community, which used a twenty-two or twenty-four book count corresponding to the same content as the thirty-nine books commonly listed in English Bibles.

A careful definition must therefore do four things at once. It identifies the Septuagint as the ancient Greek translation(s) of the Hebrew Scriptures produced by Jewish translators prior to the first century C.E. It distinguishes the original translations (“Old Greek”) from later revisions by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. It separates translations of Hebrew canonical books from Greek books that never had Hebrew originals but were included in certain Greek collections. And it recognizes that in modern discourse “the Septuagint” sometimes refers to printed editions that present all of the above in a single volume. Precision in discussion prevents confusion in interpretation and theology.

The presence and treatment of the Divine Name in early Greek biblical manuscripts deserve attention within the definition and scope. Earliest Greek copies often preserved the Tetragrammaton by writing the Hebrew letters within the Greek text or by employing a special transliteration, before later scribal practice increasingly wrote κύριος (“Lord”) as a surrogate. This scribal history matters for understanding New Testament quotations of the Old Testament and the rendering of Old Testament passages where the Hebrew text contains the Name. When translating or citing Old Testament verses in which the Tetragrammaton appears, it is appropriate to use “Jehovah,” as in Exodus 3:15, “Jehovah, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial from generation to generation.” Recognizing the historical practice in manuscripts keeps us alert to how Greek readers encountered references to God’s Name and how this affected the vocabulary of early Christian Scripture reading.

Finally, scope involves chronology. The early stages of the Septuagint arise in the aftermath of Alexander’s conquests (336–323 B.C.E.) and the consolidation of Koine Greek as the language of administration, commerce, and culture throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The Pentateuch’s translation in Alexandria is best situated in the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 B.C.E.). Subsequent books followed across the second century B.C.E., so that by the lifetime of Jesus Christ (4 B.C.E.–33 C.E.) Greek translations of the Law and many of the Prophets and Writings were in circulation among Greek-speaking Jews. This timeline explains both the early Jewish esteem for Greek Scripture and the later, post-70 C.E. re-centering of Jewish Scripture on the Hebrew text in response to the Christian appropriation of the LXX.

Why It Matters

The Septuagint matters because it gives the modern Bible student direct access to how the Hebrew Scriptures were read, understood, and translated by Jews in the centuries before Jesus Christ. It stands as the oldest complete witness to the Old Testament in any language. When used with care, it confirms the stability of the Hebrew text, illuminates obscure Hebrew idioms, and occasionally preserves a reading that helps restore the earliest attainable form of the text. Pastors and seminary students who engage the LXX gain a second angle of vision on familiar passages, making exegesis more precise rather than less certain.

The Septuagint is indispensable for understanding the vocabulary and theological language of the New Testament. The writers of the New Testament wrote in Koine Greek and inherited their religious vocabulary from the Greek Old Testament. Words like διαθήκη (covenant), ἁμαρτία (sin), δικαιοσύνη (righteousness), χάρις (grace), σωτηρία (salvation), and ἐκκλησία (assembly) are not invented afresh by the apostles; they have an Old Testament background formed by the Septuagint’s consistent rendering of key Hebrew terms. When Paul uses δικαιοσύνη, he speaks within the semantic contours established by the LXX’s translation of צֶדֶק and צְדָקָה. When the writer to the Hebrews discusses the new covenant, his argument assumes the wording and categories supplied by the LXX’s translation of Jeremiah and the Pentateuch. Without the Septuagint, one must reconstruct that background indirectly; with it, the preacher can trace how a Hebrew concept lives and breathes in Greek Scripture.

The LXX also matters for the study of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament. The evangelists and apostles quote and allude to the Old Testament frequently, and many of these quotations align closely with the Greek translation. In some places, a New Testament citation corresponds word-for-word with the LXX; in other places, the quotation reflects an independent translation from Hebrew or a Spirit-guided formulation that communicates the same meaning. Awareness of the Septuagint enables the teacher to explain why a New Testament verse may read slightly differently from a traditional English rendering of the Old Testament verse. Instead of generating suspicion about Scripture, this knowledge removes needless confusion. It shows that early Christian authors were reading their Bible—the LXX—consistently and that their usage harmonizes in meaning with the Hebrew text.

In the work of textual criticism, the Septuagint functions as a vital comparative witness. The Masoretic Text, represented in complete form by medieval codices such as the Aleppo Codex and Codex Leningrad B 19A, is the starting point for establishing the Old Testament text. Its scribal tradition is precise, stable, and carefully checked. Yet even this tradition contains places where copyists made minor errors or where an earlier Hebrew reading can be recovered. When the Septuagint agrees with other ancient witnesses—such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Syriac Peshitta, or the Vulgate—against a difficult or anomalous Masoretic reading, the combined testimony can justify emending the text or, at minimum, noting a probable earlier reading. This is not speculation. It is the fruit of weighing manuscripts responsibly. The Septuagint’s value, then, is never to supplant the Hebrew but to aid in restoring it where the evidence warrants.

Consider several practical examples that pastors encounter. In Deuteronomy 32:8, the Masoretic Text reads that the Most High fixed the boundaries of the peoples “according to the number of the sons of Israel.” The Greek preserves a reading “according to the number of the angels of God” or “sons of God,” and ancient Hebrew manuscripts from the Judean wilderness align with the Greek sense. The context of Deuteronomy 32 and the broader biblical worldview support the older reading. Using the Septuagint here clarifies an early Hebrew form that later copyists in the Masoretic tradition rendered differently. Another example is Psalm 22:16, where the question is whether the Hebrew says “like a lion my hands and my feet” or “they pierced my hands and my feet.” The Greek’s rendering supports the latter, and comparative evidence makes sense of the consonants in a way that fits both the immediate context and the New Testament’s application. A third example appears in Jeremiah. The Greek text is shorter and orders material differently. This is not a contradiction of the Hebrew Scripture but an indication that Jeremiah circulated in more than one Hebrew edition in antiquity, with the Greek translators using a shorter, differently arranged Hebrew exemplar. These examples show how the Septuagint guides careful judgments rather than injecting uncertainty.

The Septuagint also preserves how Jews of the Hellenistic period explained tricky Hebrew expressions for Greek readers. In many cases, the translators faced words that occur only once in the Hebrew Bible or idioms foreign to Greek thought. Because they could not assume that their readers knew Hebrew, they often clarified meaning within the translation. When a pastor studies a difficult Hebrew verse, comparing the LXX can reveal how ancient Jewish scholars understood the passage. This can inform the exposition even when one does not adopt the exact Greek wording as original. The Septuagint thereby serves as an early commentary embedded in the translation itself.

The LXX is equally important for the vocabulary Christians use to speak about God’s Name. As noted above, early Greek copies often retained the Tetragrammaton visually. Later practice increasingly wrote κύριος. Understanding this transition prevents confusion when reading Old Testament quotations in the New Testament that contain κύριος. It is historically accurate to speak of Jesus and the apostles reading and hearing Old Testament Greek that rendered the Divine Name in ways that Jewish scribes had long recognized and reverenced. When modern readers encounter the Name in translation, they should not assume absence in the Greek tradition; rather, they should recognize the scribal conventions at work and translate or teach accordingly, using “Jehovah” where the Hebrew text bears the Tetragrammaton.

From a pastoral perspective, the Septuagint is a powerful aid to preaching and teaching. It can settle questions that arise from English translations by exposing a consistent rendering pattern. If the LXX translates a particular Hebrew verb the same way in dozens of places, that lexical consistency can guide sermon application. It can also prevent over-reading minor variations in English versions by showing that the underlying Greek translation tradition already recognized a stable sense. When congregations hear that their pastor checks the Greek Old Testament alongside the Hebrew, it builds confidence that Scripture is being handled with diligence and humility.

Finally, the Septuagint matters because it broadens the historical horizon of Bible reading. Jesus, His apostles, and the earliest congregations grew within a world where Greek Scripture was read aloud in synagogues and, later, in Christian assemblies across the Mediterranean. Recognizing this context does not diminish the priority of the Hebrew text. Instead, it situates the church’s Scriptures within the providential reality of God dispersing His Word across languages so that the nations could hear. Pastors and students who learn to consult the Septuagint honor that history and gain clarity for doctrine and life.

Common Myths About the Septuagint

A common myth claims that the Septuagint is a Christian invention fabricated after the first century to justify Christian theology. This assertion collapses under the historical timeline. The translation of the Pentateuch into Greek predates the ministry of Jesus Christ by roughly two and a half centuries. The remaining books followed across the second and first centuries B.C.E. Greek Jewish communities used these translations in synagogue and study long before any Christian congregation existed. Later Christian use of the LXX reflects the reality that many early Christians—especially outside Judea—spoke and read Greek, and they naturally read the Scriptures in the translation already widely available. The origin is Jewish, the use became both Jewish and Christian, and the later copying and editing of the LXX in Christian contexts reflect continuity with that earlier Jewish translation activity.

Another myth states that the Septuagint is identical to the Masoretic Text, merely in a different language. The textual evidence shows otherwise. Different translators worked at different times, and the translators sometimes had Hebrew exemplars that varied in small ways from what later became the Masoretic standard. For example, the Greek Jeremiah is shorter and differently arranged than the Masoretic Jeremiah. Greek Job in some witnesses appears significantly shorter than the Hebrew. The Twelve Minor Prophets exhibit numerous minor differences in order and wording. This does not mean the Septuagint is unreliable or that the Masoretic tradition is unstable. It means that the LXX is a translation of Hebrew textual forms that sometimes differ in minor features from the medieval Masoretic codices. The correct response is not to flatten those differences but to study them, weigh them, and allow them to inform our understanding of the history of transmission.

A further myth assumes that the Septuagint is superior to the Masoretic Text and should replace it as the base for Old Testament exegesis. That overcorrection misunderstands how textual criticism operates. The Masoretic tradition is the primary line of transmission for the Hebrew Scriptures, preserved with extraordinary care by Jewish scribes. The LXX is a translation, not the original-language text. Translation inevitably adds a layer of interpretation. In numerous places, the LXX clarifies and confirms the Hebrew. In some places, it echoes an older Hebrew reading. In other places, it reflects an interpretive paraphrase that should not be retroverted into Hebrew. The discipline is to weigh each case by evidence, not to settle the question by the label “LXX.” The Masoretic Text remains the standard base. The LXX is an essential auxiliary witness, valuable precisely because it is ancient and independent.

The converse myth claims that the Septuagint is so loose and paraphrastic that it is useless for serious textual work. This caricature ignores the high degree of literalness in large portions of the LXX. The Pentateuch, for instance, often reproduces Hebrew syntax and word order in a way that can appear wooden in Greek. Books like Ezekiel, the Twelve, and many Psalms show clear, regular correspondence to the Hebrew. Where the LXX is freer—such as in parts of Proverbs or Job—one can usually discern why the translator adapted the wording, often to communicate sense in Greek idiom. Calling the entire enterprise “loose” obscures the reality that the LXX is both a faithful translation and a reliable witness when handled with the same care we bring to any ancient text.

A related misconception alleges that Jesus and the apostles used the LXX exclusively and ignored the Hebrew. The New Testament shows a more nuanced picture. Many citations correspond closely to the Septuagint; others reflect a rendering aligned with the Hebrew wording; still others are Spirit-guided formulations that convey the Hebrew sense without matching any extant version word-for-word. The apostles ministered in a bilingual environment. In Judea and Galilee, Hebrew and Aramaic remained significant, while the Mediterranean basin operated in Greek. It is therefore entirely expected that the New Testament writers quote Scripture in Greek language patterns familiar to their congregations while maintaining fidelity to the Hebrew meaning. The categories of “exclusively LXX” versus “exclusively Hebrew” are modern polarities; the apostolic practice demonstrates confidence in the Hebrew Scriptures communicated through Greek Scripture.

Another myth asserts that because late antique codices of the Greek Old Testament include additional books, the Septuagint’s canon is larger and thereby resets the Old Testament canon for the church. This claim confuses manuscript content with canon. The presence of Greek books such as Wisdom or Sirach in certain codices tells us what that scribe copied, not how Israel defined the canon. The Hebrew canon—Law, Prophets, and Writings—was recognized among the Jews and reflected in the threefold structure acknowledged by Jesus (Luke 24:44). Greek collections could bind additional literature in the same volume without implying an altered canon. The proper approach is to read those extra books as valuable Second Temple literature while maintaining the canon received from the Hebrew Scriptures.

Some readers are told that the Septuagint obliterates the Divine Name and thereby demonstrates that reverence for Jehovah’s Name disappeared early. This is historically inaccurate. As already noted, early Greek manuscripts frequently preserve the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew letters within the Greek text, and later surrogates such as κύριος represent a scribal convention of reverence, not a denial of the Name. The translation and transmission history show profound respect for the Name. When modern translations use “Jehovah” in Old Testament passages where the Hebrew text features JHVH, they follow the same concern to represent God’s revealed Name properly.

It is also said that because parts of the Septuagint differ from the Masoretic order or length, the LXX proves that the Hebrew text was chaotic and untrustworthy before the Masoretes. This claim misunderstands how ancient texts circulated. A prophet’s words could exist in more than one authorized edition. Collections could be arranged differently while communicating the same divine message. The presence of a shorter Greek Jeremiah aligned with a shorter Hebrew exemplar and a longer Hebrew Jeremiah in the Masoretic tradition shows that both forms were known in antiquity. The Church and synagogue received the Scriptures through a process of careful copying and recognition, not through disorder. The Masoretic tradition later standardized the Hebrew text into a unified format, and the LXX helps us see earlier stages of that providential process.

Finally, there is the myth that using the Septuagint promotes uncertainty in preaching, as though every comparison between Greek and Hebrew leaves the pastor with doubts. The opposite is true. Consultation of the LXX, alongside the Masoretic Text and other ancient witnesses, produces clarity. Differences generally cluster around matters of order, minor lexical choices, or known textual issues. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the LXX confirms the stability and accuracy of the Hebrew Scriptures. Where it diverges, the careful student can explain the options, show why the received Hebrew reading stands or why an earlier Hebrew reading is more likely, and move on to teach the passage with confidence. Pastors who model this transparent handling of evidence equip their congregations to trust the Bible because they see how strongly it is supported across the manuscript tradition.

Definition and Scope Applied: Books in Various Editions

One must close a discussion of definition and scope by mapping how different editions and manuscripts present the contents of the Septuagint. When modern readers pick up a printed LXX, they typically meet a structure inherited from the great codices. The Pentateuch comes first: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Historical books follow with Joshua, Judges, and Ruth—though Ruth sometimes appears after Judges or among the Writings. Samuel and Kings appear as First through Fourth Kingdoms. Chronicles is titled Paralipomenon, and the Greek tradition often places it after Kingdoms. The Ezra–Nehemiah complex appears as Esdras, with some editions printing 1 Esdras (a Greek work assembled from parts of Chronicles–Ezra–Nehemiah plus unique material) and 2 Esdras (the Greek form of Ezra–Nehemiah), while others handle the titles differently. Esther stands with Greek additions interleaved or appended, depending on the edition. Job and Psalms stand as in the Hebrew collection, with Psalm 151 appearing in many Greek manuscripts after Psalm 150. The Odes may appear after Psalms in some manuscripts, consisting of biblical prayers and hymns in Greek sequence. Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs occupy their customary places. Wisdom of Solomon and Sirach appear near them in many Greek witnesses, reflecting their sapiential character though they are not translations of Hebrew canonical books. The Twelve Minor Prophets are transmitted as a single scroll in Greek, as in Hebrew, though variations in internal order occur. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel appear among the Major Prophets, with Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah often accompanying Jeremiah in the Greek tradition. Daniel, as noted, is most frequently present in the Theodotionic form with the Greek additions; the Old Greek form survives in separate manuscript streams and is printed in critical editions for comparison. Some manuscripts and later Christian traditions include 3 Maccabees and 4 Maccabees, with the latter often printed as an appendix.

Students should recognize that a printed LXX represents editorial decisions about what to include, in what order, and in what textual form. An edition aiming to present the “Old Greek” will differ in certain books from an edition that chooses the more widespread later revision, and both will differ from a simple ecclesiastical edition prepared for liturgical use. What the reader holds is a gateway into a complex, well-documented textual history, not a single point-in-time snapshot. This realism prevents confusion when comparing the LXX with the Hebrew Bible or with English translations, and it keeps study grounded. When an English Old Testament notes a “Septuagint” reading, the student trained by this chapter immediately asks which Greek textual form is in view and how it relates to the Hebrew base.

Why It Matters in Practice: Teaching, Preaching, and Study

The Septuagint is not a museum piece. It is a working tool for the life of the church. A pastor preaching from Isaiah benefits from consulting the LXX because it reveals how Jewish translators understood Isaiah’s poetry centuries before Christ and helps explain why the New Testament echoes specific phrases. A seminarian learning Hebrew can check his understanding by observing how ancient translators solved the same grammatical puzzles. A serious churchgoer reading the Bible devotionally can use an English translation that notes LXX variants to see the breadth of evidence supporting the text. The Septuagint functions like a seasoned elder brother to the Masoretic Text: not supplanting it, but standing alongside it, confirming it, and at key moments pointing back to an earlier Hebrew nuance.

Because the Greek Old Testament influenced the New Testament’s vocabulary, it also strengthens theological precision. When a teacher explains righteousness, grace, covenant, and redemption, he can illustrate how those terms arose from the repeated translation choices the LXX made for Hebrew words across the Law, Prophets, and Writings. This stabilizes doctrinal exposition. The pastor is no longer at the mercy of English-only connotations. He can show his congregation that the words of the gospel are anchored in the Scriptures long before the apostles wrote, and he can do so with examples drawn from the LXX that are clear, concrete, and faithful to the Hebrew.

The Septuagint also encourages careful handling of the Divine Name in teaching. Because early Greek tradition sometimes preserved the Tetragrammaton and later copies commonly used κύριος, pastors can instruct congregations on reverence for the Name as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures. When reading Old Testament passages publicly, it is fitting to voice “Jehovah” where the Name appears. This aligns with God’s own declaration in Exodus 3:15 and honors the transmission history that sought to mark the Name in Greek copies with respect. Teaching God’s people how His Name is handled in Scripture strengthens their worship and their confidence that the Bible we hold corresponds to the Bible God gave.

Lastly, the Septuagint keeps the church from isolation. It embeds the reading of Scripture within the providential spread of God’s Word across languages beginning in the Hellenistic age. It shows that translation is not an afterthought but a core element of how God has ensured that His revelation reaches the nations. Pastors and students who learn to consult the LXX are not engaging in academic hobbyism. They are taking up a tool God has already used for centuries to teach His people, from Jewish synagogues of the third century B.C.E. to Christian congregations today.

Common Myths Revisited Through Case Examples

The best way to dismantle persistent myths is to walk through case examples that demonstrate how the Septuagint actually functions for the church.

A frequent claim says, “The Septuagint rewrites messianic texts to make them fit Jesus.” This claim misunderstands the chronology and the evidence. The LXX’s rendering of Isaiah 7:14 with παρθένος, “virgin,” is not a Christian invention after the fact; it is a Jewish translation convention attested before the New Testament era. The translator of Isaiah chose a Greek word that carried the sense in his understanding of the Hebrew. Matthew cites the passage because the Greek he and his readers knew already rendered it that way. Rather than being manipulated by Christians, the LXX provided a providentially prepared wording that the Holy Spirit used to announce fulfillment in Christ.

Another claim says, “Because the Greek Jeremiah is shorter, Christians prefer shorter texts to avoid difficult prophecies.” The real issue, as noted earlier, is that Jeremiah likely existed in more than one Hebrew edition in antiquity. Greek translators used one of them; the Masoretic tradition preserves the other. Christian use of the Greek form reflects manuscript availability, not theological filtering. When the church reads Jeremiah in the order and length preserved in the Masoretic Text, it honors the same prophet’s message. When scholars compare the Greek order to the Hebrew order, they learn about how prophetic books were collected and transmitted. Neither scenario undermines confidence in Scripture’s message. Both shed light on God’s providential care of the text.

A further myth asserts, “Because the LXX sometimes uses different proper names or spellings, it distorts the identity of biblical characters.” In reality, transliteration from Hebrew to Greek naturally produces different spellings. “Joshua” appears as Ἰησοῦς, the regular Greek rendering of יְהוֹשֻׁעַ. “Isaiah” appears as Ἠσαΐας. These are not distortions; they are the predictable forms of names in Greek phonology. Understanding this prevents confusion when reading New Testament references. When Hebrews speaks of “Jesus” in connection with entry into the land, the context and the LXX show that the writer refers to Joshua the son of Nun, using the standard Greek form of his name.

Finally, a myth says, “Because LXX editions include non-canonical books, the Septuagint erases the boundary between Scripture and other writings.” Historical clarity resolves this. Jews and Christians have long copied Scripture alongside other edifying texts without confusing the two. Manuscript content signals what a scribe chose to bind, not automatically what a community recognized as canonical. The church does best when it honors the canon as defined by the Hebrew Scriptures while reading Second Temple Jewish writings profitably as historical and theological background literature.

Why It Matters for Textual Confidence

One of the great benefits of engaging the Septuagint is that it deepens confidence in the reliability of the Old Testament text. The existence of an ancient, independent translation that substantially agrees in content and message with the Masoretic Text provides a cross-check stretching back many centuries before the medieval codices. Agreement between the Hebrew and Greek across the Law, Prophets, and Writings shows that the Scriptures transmitted to us today are the same Scriptures that Jewish communities translated and read in the centuries leading up to Jesus Christ. Where differences occur, they are limited, identifiable, and explainable. The vast convergence of the two streams—Hebrew and Greek—supports the conviction that God has preserved His Word through the ordinary means of careful copying and providential oversight, and that faithful, evidence-based textual criticism can restore the original wording where questions remain.

Pastors and students do not need to master every recensional detail to take advantage of this confidence. They need the right instincts. Start from the Masoretic Text as the base. Consult the Septuagint as the primary ancient versional witness. Compare with the Dead Sea Scrolls and the other versions. Weigh, do not count. When the LXX stands alone against the Hebrew with no corroboration and with a plausible explanation in translation technique, teach the Hebrew. When the LXX aligns with other strong witnesses against an anomalous Masoretic reading, acknowledge the evidence and, when warranted, adopt the earlier form with transparent explanation. This is not a posture of doubt. It is the courageous stewardship of the evidence that the church has inherited.

Why It Matters for Spiritual Clarity

Because Scripture is not merely a historical artifact but the living Word of God, used by the Holy Spirit through the written text, the Septuagint serves the church’s spiritual clarity as well as its textual clarity. When Jesus and His apostles taught, they appealed to Scripture in forms their audiences could understand. In the Hellenistic world, that often meant the Greek Old Testament. Using the LXX today when studying Old Testament passages demonstrates a willingness to enter the world of the early church and to hear the resonance of the Old and New Testaments in the same language. It cultivates sensitivity to the unity of Scripture across languages and centuries.

Using the Septuagint also encourages precision in worship language. When the church confesses that “Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one,” it follows the language of Scripture itself. When the church prays using the Psalms and notes where the Greek clarifies a Hebrew idiom, it grows in understanding without losing reverence. When the church hears the Law read and recognizes the connection between the Greek terms and the New Testament’s proclamation of Christ, it perceives the solidity of divine revelation. The Septuagint helps create a congregation that is historically informed, textually confident, and doctrinally anchored.

Definition and Scope, Summarized Without Reducing the Detail

The Septuagint is the ancient, pre-Christian Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, originating with the Pentateuch in Alexandria during the third century B.C.E. and expanding over the following two centuries. It consists of multiple translations produced by Jewish translators, preserved in major codices and papyri, sometimes revised in later centuries, and transmitted within both Jewish and Christian communities. It includes translations of the Hebrew canonical books and, in many manuscripts, Greek compositions that are not part of the Hebrew canon but were often copied in the same volumes. Its language is Koine Greek shaped by Hebrew. It preserves the Divine Name in early copies while employing reverential surrogates in later tradition. Properly used, it remains one of the most powerful tools available for clarifying the original text of the Old Testament, understanding the vocabulary of the New Testament, and strengthening the church’s confidence that the Scriptures in our hands are the Scriptures God gave.

Why It Matters, Brought to the Pulpit and Classroom

When a pastor stands to preach, the Septuagint enables him to say, “Here is how the earliest Jewish translators understood this clause; here is how the apostles echoed this wording; here is why our English Bibles read as they do.” When a seminary student prepares an exegetical paper, the LXX offers a check against overconfident assertions drawn from a single lexicon entry. When a serious churchgoer reads the Bible daily, the LXX undergirds trust that Scripture’s message is stable across ancient witnesses. In every case, the Septuagint deepens delight in the Word of God and equips the church to handle challenges with gravity and grace. Far from being an obscure scholarly curiosity, it is a faithful servant to the church’s study, proclamation, and worship.

Common Myths, Closed with Pastoral Counsel

If myths persist, it is because they are simple to state and the evidence takes patience to learn. The myth of Christian invention dissolves once the pre-Christian timeline is laid out. The myth of identity with the Masoretic Text fades when the organic, book-by-book nature of the translations is explained. The myth of LXX superiority collapses under the rightful primacy of the Hebrew Scriptures. The myth of LXX worthlessness evaporates before the manifest literalness of large portions of the translation. The myth of canonical redefinition is corrected by distinguishing manuscript contents from the canon recognized in Israel. The myth about the Divine Name is dispelled by examining actual manuscripts. And the myth of pastoral paralysis is replaced with pastoral strength when ministers see how the LXX equips rather than confuses.

Those who shepherd God’s people can therefore embrace the Septuagint with confidence. Teach the Hebrew Bible as the standard. Use the LXX as a faithful, ancient companion. Weigh the evidence. Explain the differences where they matter. Rejoice in the overwhelming agreement that testifies to the stability of Scripture across centuries. And when quoting Old Testament passages where the Tetragrammaton appears, let the congregation hear the Name as Scripture proclaims it: Jehovah.

You May Also Enjoy

Dead Sea Scrolls–Septuagint Alignments Supporting the Masoretic Text in Old Testament Transmission

See more

About the Author