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The figure of Theodotion occupies a significant place in the history of the Greek versions of the Old Testament. Though often overshadowed by the more rigidly literal Aquila and the freer Symmachus, Theodotion stands at a midway point between them, offering a version that balances fidelity to the Hebrew text with accessibility in Greek. His work belongs to the late second century C.E., within a time of great textual activity and revision, when Jewish and Christian communities alike were grappling with the authority of different textual traditions. To understand his translation, one must carefully examine his origins, his methodology, his relationship to earlier revisions, and the reception of his work within both Jewish and Christian circles.
The Background and Origin of Theodotion
Theodotion came from Ephesus in Asia Minor, a city of profound religious and cultural interchange. He was a convert to Judaism, joining the ranks of other Gentiles who, impressed by the Hebrew Scriptures, embraced the Jewish faith. His work emerged at the close of the second century C.E., during a time when textual rivalries were intensifying. By this period, Jewish communities were distancing themselves from the Septuagint (LXX), once their cherished version, because Christians had widely adopted it and were employing it in Christological interpretation. Consequently, Jews turned toward revisions of the Greek text that brought it into closer alignment with the Hebrew Scriptures, thus reclaiming interpretive authority.
It was within this historical setting that Theodotion produced his translation, a version that was not entirely fresh but one that revised earlier materials in a careful way.
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The Character of Theodotion’s Translation
Theodotion’s work is generally placed midway between Aquila and Symmachus in terms of its literalness. Aquila’s translation was hyper-literal, adhering to Hebrew syntax even when it strained Greek readability, whereas Symmachus leaned toward elegance and idiomatic clarity in Greek. Theodotion’s translation found itself between these extremes: he remained faithful to the Hebrew but allowed Greek readability to have a place.
However, one of his distinctive features was his tendency, in some cases, to leave difficult Hebrew words and constructions untranslated. This practice shows both his caution and his desire not to obscure the meaning of the Hebrew with interpretive liberties. His restraint underscores a commitment to safeguarding the text from excessive paraphrase, though it sometimes rendered his translation less accessible.
Another important observation is that some of Theodotion’s distinctive readings predated his lifetime. These readings appear to have belonged to an earlier revision tradition, suggesting that Theodotion was not starting from scratch. Rather, he was continuing and updating what has been termed the kaige revision, a movement within Greek Old Testament translation that sought to bring the Greek text into closer conformity with the Hebrew consonantal text.
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The Kaige-Theodotion Question
The close relationship between Theodotion and the kaige revision has led many scholars to consider whether Theodotion’s work represents a truly independent translation or whether it is essentially a continuation and standardization of the kaige project. The kaige revision, dating from the late first century C.E., introduced a set of translation techniques to achieve consistent equivalence between certain Hebrew and Greek words, often prioritizing Hebrew fidelity over Greek fluency.
Theodotion’s translation shares much in common with this revision. The overlap has created confusion about how to categorize his work. For this reason, a number of scholars avoid treating it as a distinct translation and instead speak of “Kaige-Theodotion,” a designation that acknowledges the continuity of method between the two. Regardless of the terminology, the fact remains that Theodotion played a key role in shaping a tradition of Greek translation that emphasized adherence to the Hebrew base text.
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The Reception of Theodotion’s Translation
Theodotion’s work gained remarkable influence, especially in Christian circles. Whereas the Jews of his day gravitated toward Aquila for its scrupulous fidelity to Hebrew, Christians found Theodotion useful because it preserved Hebrew accuracy while remaining more readable than Aquila.
One of the most famous instances of Theodotion’s influence was in the Book of Daniel. The Greek version of Daniel found in the Septuagint was considered unsatisfactory by early Christian communities, who instead adopted Theodotion’s translation as their standard text of Daniel. This replacement was so successful that in virtually all surviving manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament, Theodotion’s Daniel supplanted the original Septuagint version. Theodotion’s rendering of Daniel thus became the text transmitted in the Christian tradition.
This adoption underscores how Theodotion’s translation bridged the gap between fidelity to the Hebrew and usability in Christian contexts. It was reliable enough to serve as a textual authority yet fluid enough to be read aloud in the congregational setting of Greek-speaking Christians.
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Theodotion’s Place in the Hexapla
Theodotion’s translation was one of the versions included by Origen in his Hexapla, a monumental six-column edition of the Old Testament created in the early third century C.E. The Hexapla placed the Hebrew text and its transliteration into Greek letters alongside multiple Greek versions, including Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotion.
The fact that Origen incorporated Theodotion demonstrates that his work held a recognized and respected position among the available versions. Within the Hexapla, readers could directly compare Theodotion with both stricter and freer Greek renderings, enabling them to discern patterns of translation and textual fidelity.
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Theodotion and Textual Criticism
From a textual criticism standpoint, Theodotion’s translation is valuable because it reflects a Hebrew Vorlage that aligns closely with the consonantal Hebrew text preserved in the Masoretic tradition. Unlike the Septuagint, which often reflects variant Hebrew readings, Theodotion’s text shows remarkable alignment with the Hebrew that later became the standard Masoretic Text.
In this sense, Theodotion’s version offers confirmation of the stability of the Hebrew textual tradition. His work illustrates the ongoing effort of Jewish scribes and translators in the post-70 C.E. era to consolidate textual authority around the proto-Masoretic tradition, distancing themselves from freer interpretive traditions embodied in the Septuagint.
At the same time, Theodotion’s selective use of transliteration for certain Hebrew words underscores how translators wrestled with terms that were theologically or conceptually difficult. These choices provide modern scholars with insight into how ancient translators understood or struggled with particular Hebrew expressions.
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Conclusion: Theodotion’s Enduring Importance
Theodotion represents a crucial stage in the history of Greek Old Testament translation. He was not an innovator in the sense of creating a wholly new work but was instead a careful reviser, standing within the trajectory of the kaige revision. His version struck a balance between fidelity and accessibility, which made it suitable both for Jewish engagement and for widespread Christian adoption, especially in Daniel.
His work testifies to the interplay between textual fidelity, linguistic clarity, and communal needs in the preservation and transmission of Scripture. By occupying the middle ground between Aquila’s literalism and Symmachus’s freedom, Theodotion provided a version that, though often understated, became one of the most influential in shaping the Greek textual tradition of the Old Testament.
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