The Septuagint and Bible Translations

Bible translations is not really a subject I’ve delved too much into. Don’t get me wrong, I know why this is such a contentious issue, and I know modern translations are flawed (and that is putting it lightly) but generally speaking, for most individuals, the reading of and interpretation of Holy Scripture takes precedence over which specific Bible one reads. I personally use the Orthodox Study Bible for my daily readings, as well as a King James for cross referencing. Most Orthodox will recommend a KJV even though it has certain flaws in translation and is missing the Old Testament deuterocanonical books. I have heard good and bad things about Catholic translations, but again they are missing certain books and the Vatican has, at time, altered scripture to align with its dogmas (like the addition of the word “penance” in Matthew 4:17 in their Vulgate). For protestants, Bible version and translation is more of a concern and for some, is even a matter of salvation. Most mainline protestants accept a plenitude of Bible versions, but there are those who will only accept specific versions, mainly the King James Version. Such people hold that the KJV is the only legitimate Bible in existence. They say that because God promised to protect His word, and that His word will always be accessible, that all non-KJV Bibles contain errors or have been deliberately manipulated so as to cause those who read such Bibles to adopt damnable beliefs. I will grant that yes, there are modern Bible translations that have certain in-built interpretations or edits to propagate certain doctrines. One of the more notably examples of this is John Nelson Darby’s Bible translation, which popularized Dispensationalism (part of Christian Zionism) and the concept of a “rapture”, which is very popular with Evangelicals today. Darby is an example of a man who forced his interpretations into the Bible, instead of using the Bible as it was to develop his theology (and one could argue that Luther did the same thing). Darby’s Bible would be the precursor of the Scofield Reference Bible, which would merge many of Darby’s interpretations with the King James translation. It is ironic that many of those who believe in Dispensationalism or the rapture would never dream to use a Bible other than the KJV, whereas the founder and propagator of those doctrines did not hold to such a view and in fact created his own Bible.

Although I never held to a “KJV only” mindset, I did hold the KJV in high regard. As a protestant, it was the main Bible I would use, and today on my site it is the default Bible I use when I quote Holy Scripture. However, I never held that the KJV was uniquely sacred or special. I think it is one of the best English translations of the Bible, and for a time I thought it was the best, however with recent revelations I am compelled to question that view. I was watching a livestream by Rooshv and at one point in the podcast, he referenced a passage from Proverbs. This passage read “when a righteous man dies, he leaves regret, but the destruction of the ungodly is immediate and brings joy,” (Proverbs 11: 3). Naturally, the intensity of this quote necessitated that I seek it out. I searched online for the passage and when I came upon Proverbs 11:3 I found that it read; “the integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them”. This was a surprise to me. I knew that Roosh uses the Orthodox Study Bible, so I got my copy and low and behold I found the Proverbs passage he quoted. Naturally I was concerned. I had some misgivings about the OSB. In Numbers, whenever it refers to the Hebrews worshipping, the editors of the OSB inserted the word “liturgically”. In my KJV, it read that they “worshipped”. Although I do not wholeheartedly support such additions, I understand why the editors did so. The OSB is designed to be accessible to coverts, and to show the continuity between Hebrew custom and practice and the Church. However, the rendering of Proverbs was not a minor edit, it was a completely different passage with a different meaning altogether. I grabbed my Catholic Bible (Imprimatur) and my Tanakh (from the Jewish Publication Society) and both were in agreement with the King James rendition.

The Septuagint is rejected by protestants, as they see it as the product of non-Jewish (i.e. not the people of God) translators and the product of the Catholic Church. The protestants base their Bibles on the “original languages”, which is to say the Masoretic Text. Ironically, for all their bashing of Catholics, Rome too even employs and bases the majority of their contemporary Bibles on the Masoretic Text, as pope Pius XII permitted the use of them in 1943 with the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu. This is why all the non-Orthodox Bibles I referenced corresponded with the Tanakh, as they are all based on the same (Jewish) text, whereas the Orthodox continue to exclusively use the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament; however, it was not a translation made by gentiles. The Septuagint was created at the request of King Ptolemy some 300 years before the birth of Christ. The king assembled 72 Hebrew Elders and instructed them to translate their scriptures into Greek so they could be preserved in the Library of Alexandria. The Elders produced their translations while being isolated from each other in separate sealed rooms. All of these translations are said to have been exactly the same, thus showing that the Holy Spirit has directed the Elders in their work. The Septuagint would be used by Hebrews who adopted elements of Hellenic culture and spoke Greek. Christ was one such Hebrew, as Nazareth was a heavily Hellenized region of Judea, so much so that Greek was the first language of most Hebrews and the lingua franca in most regions of the Roman Empire. Most Hebrews outside of Jerusalem would have seldom heard Hebrew. Hebrew was largely as a liturgical language, and for many would only be heard once a year when on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover. The Pharisees rejected the Septuagint completely, and really anything not of themselves. They claimed it was corrupted yet it still found liturgical use in synagogues within Hellanized regions such as Nazareth. Jesus was maligned by the Pharisees because they did not see Him as a proper Jew, due to Him being a Nazarene. Yet Christ (although He used both the Septuagint and the Hebrew text) engaged with them utilizing the Hebrew scriptures, thus demonstrating that He was not someone who could be dismissed based on not being Jewish in their interpretation of what that meant. Christ was just as “Jewish” as they were, and Christ proved that by using their scriptures. As such, when the Pharisees had Jesus killed, they did so (although not knowing He was God) knowing that He was of them and for them.

The Hebrew language in the time of Christ is similar to what Latin became in the Catholic Church. The use of Hebrew in liturgy became a tradition employed for its own sake, as if the language held some innate holiness within itself. For most of the Hebrew people living in the Roman Empire, Hebrew was a dead language and because they did not know Hebrew, the Pharisees rejected them and saw them as gentile traitors. Christ explicitly came for those Hellanized Hebrews that the Pharisees rejected, because it was those Hebrews that would become the foundation of the Church, who would bring the Gospel to the Hellenic world and from there eventually the whole world. Christ and the apostles utilized the Septuagint, which is why the early Church used it and the Orthodox Church still uses it today. The Septuagint is nowadays accused of being a poor translation as it is removed from the original languages, yet the incarnation and ministry of Christ is a repudiation of languages being significant in such a way. The Masoretic Text, which most non-Orthodox Bibles are translated from, may be written in the original language, but their compilation and propagation is that of the 7^th century A.D. at the earliest, centuries after the creation of the Septuagint and the earthly life of Christ. Although the language of the Masoretic texts may be original, as a translation of scripture they are not as these texts originate after the propagation of the Septuagint. Although scraps of ancient Hebrew texts have been discovered dating back to before the creation of the Septuagint (mainly the Dead Sea Scrolls), the Masoretic Text is a product of Talmudic Judaism, which was founded after and as a repudiation of Christianity. It is ironic that Martin Luther would write against the Jews with “On the Jews and Their Lies” while then running to the Rabbis to base Biblical translation and cannon of books.

As a product of a rejection of Christianity, the Masoretic Text has been selectively edited to remove messianic passages that demonstrate Jesus being the Messiah. Isaiah 7:14 in the Tanakh states that “Assuredly, my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel,”. The Orthodox Study Bible and the KJV state that “the virgin shall conceive and bear a S/son”. It would seem that the Jewish text omits the virgin birth deliberately so as to deny the Christian narrative and Jesus being the Messiah. All of the Christian Bibles I examined proclaim the virgin birth, so this would seem to imply that even though the Septuagint is largely rejected now in Western Christianity, elements from it have been preserved and maintained. The KJV, like the Tanakh, also does not capitalize “son” or any of the pronouns relating to Christ. It also does not capitalize “himself” when referring to the Lord (God the Father in that passage), so this is curious and seems to be quark of the KJV translation and not some Jewish manipulation (although it would be interesting to see how KJV onliests would interpret that). The Masoretic Text is what the Jews of today use as their holy scripture. It was made in and for the world of Talmudic Jews. As Christians, we should not be going to the Jews (who reject and hate us just as the Pharisees hated and rejected hellanized Hebrews) for our scriptures, or as an example to follow. We are not to become “Jews” or Judaiers but are, as Christians, the fulfillment of the Law and continuation of Hebrew custom and worship contextualized through the New Testament and the Church.

The Septuagint we have today was preserved by the Church, by Christians. The Masoretic “Bibles” were created from a genuine desire to seek out Truth, but came from a corrupted source, from people with ill intentions towards us. The Septuagint is a pre-Christian and pre-Talmudic work, and the genuine expression of the Old Testament Hebrew people preserving and propagating their faith so that it would survive and could be accessible to all. The Masoretic Text, in contrast, was meant to keep the faith insular, exclusively, and only for the Jew. This is not to say that the Masoretic Text is without value, only that in places where it conflicts with the Septuagint, I think we should defer to the latter. The Septuagint has been preserved by Christians and it has been preserved intact by the Church. When we find ancient scraps of the Septuagint today, “Bible scholars” decry how it differs from modern Bibles thus proving, in their view, its defectiveness. Yet, we do not put our faith in unsourceable scraps of texts, but rather in the Word of God and His Church, which has preserved said Word. We do not need to look to archaeology to defend our Scripture, as its continued existence and preservation from antiquity is evidence enough of its authenticity. Just as Holy Tradition has been preserved from the time of the Apostles and lives on today through the successors of those Apostles in the Church, so too does Holy Scripture, from the time before Christ to the eternal present, continues to be preserved and unchanged according to the will of God through His Church.

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