In Is the Septuagint a superior text for the Genesis genealogies?, we pointed out that Smith used a forged quote from Ephraem the Syrian (AD 306–373), which claims the Jews altered the biblical text by reducing the timespan covered by the chronogenealogies in Genesis 5 and 11. Its message is especially pertinent for our times, when there is widespread confusion and ignorance about the true nature of Christ’s Church and about the right approach to Holy Scripture. Scholars have been discussing this issue for millennia, but one aspect of this debate has garnered considerable attention in our circles recently: the Masoretic (MT) vs. Septuagint (LXX) debate. That the Septuagint is the most authoritative text in the Orthodox Church is something that is confirmed in just about any Orthodox catechetical text you could consult. The septuagint is far more reliable than the Masoretic more often than not. Romans 10:9-11 # ourCOG See More Who are you supposed to be?” ‘ My Godfather, who…, So this is where everyone needs to take a deep breath. The Septuagint text is the text that the Church has preserved. The Masoretic text is a text that has not been preserved by the Church, and so while it is worthy of study and comparison, it is not equally trustworthy. Consider 1 Samuel 17:12 - 31, 41, 50 55 - 58 / 18:1 - 5, 9 - 11, 17 - 19, 30. Which one is older? Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Raephan, the images of them which ye made for yourselves (Sir Lancelot Brenton translation of the Septuagint). In the most ancient copies of the Bible which contain the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, the Book of Daniel is not the original Septuagint version but a copy of Theodotion's translation from the Hebrew which more closely resembles the Masoretic text. Is the Septuagint a Divinely Inspired Translation. And in the above quote, I think there may be a translation problem, though I don't have the Russian text, and my Russian would probably be too limited to tell for sure by myself -- but when it says "some of the citations taken from the Old Testament and found in the New mainly use the Septuagint text," it is awkwardly worded enough for me to guess that Metropolitan Hilarion meant to say that most (not just "some") of the quotes of the Old Testament in the New Testament are based on the Septuagint... because as a matter of fact, that is true. In any case, the Hebrew Text that we now have was preserved outside the Church. … Fr. More. The Masoretic Text is the Hebrew text of the Old Testament used for our modern translations. Sputnik. One could hope. We have the … Could the LXX not be a translation of an older and therefore more authentic text than the Masoretic text. The Septuagint predates the first appearance of the Masoretic text by almost ten centuries. And so we have always held that the Septuagint is the authoritative version of the Old Testament. The response to covid is highly based on a…, Braveheart is fiction. Compare and consider. The Septuagint was based upon earlier more accurate Hebrew texts, for example. ” Katherine Nikolaou says: December 9, 2018 at 2:56 AM. This would make Jesus’ birth too early for him to be the Messiah, according to a certain type of chiliasm.5But the quote cannot be traced to an original so… It should be pointed out that the Hebrew text should not be ignored entirely. This is well after the Septuagint was translated (3rd century before Christ), the Peshitta (1st and 2nd Centuries A.D.), or the Latin Vulgate (4th Century A.D.). ...the basis of the Old Testament text in the Orthodox tradition is the Septuagint, a Greek translation by the "seventy interpreters" made in the third to second centuries BCE for the Alexandrian Hebrews and the Jewish diaspora. Septuagint Vs Masoretic Manuscripts (Understanding Translations): Sabbath class: 6/30/18 ... More. An icon used to represent a menu that can be toggled by interacting with this icon. One often encounters the use of the “prophetic perfect”, where a prophecy of something that has not yet come to pass is in the perfect tense, and so is often translated with the English past tense, e.g. This is inspiring and a wonderful example of evangelism and…, ‘ …one child told him “Hey, I like you’re costume! Galina, you are on to something. They work. The Septuagint vs the Masoretic Text: Which is More Authentic? These are exemplars of the texts later chosen by the Masoretes for their edition.

And yes, nearly all the New Testament quotations of the Old Testament follow the Septuagint. The Septuagint predates the first appearance of the Masoretic text by almost ten centuries. More. Joseph Gleason, "The Septuagint," by Fr. Here you can leave your comment on the present article, not exceeding 4000 characters. I have sincerely searched for anyone who can offer a New Testament quote which favors the Masoretic text. But when you look this quote up in Amos 5:26 in most translations, you will find that the quotation doesn’t match: You also carried Sikkuth your king and Chiun, your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves (NKJV). Taking into account the three factors enumerated above, St. Philaret of Moscow considers it possible to maintain that "in the Orthodox teaching of Holy Scripture it is necessary to attribute a dogmatic merit to the Translation of the Seventy, in some cases placing it on equal level with the original and even elevating it above the Hebrew text, as is generally accepted in the most recent editions (Orthodox Christianity, Volume II: Doctrine and Teaching of the Orthodox Church, (New York: St. Vladimir Seminary Press, 2012) p. 34). In comparison to the textual evidence that we have for the New Testament Greek text, this is a very late manuscript. They used it as an honestly-made version in pretty general use at the time when they wrote. Second, some of the citations taken from the Old Testament and found in the New mainly use the Septuagint text. 10/20/01 1:01 AM : We pick up the chat with the Jewish man's words in blue and mine in black. About; Blog; Projects; Help; Donate. I am in the process of writing a trilogy about what we are facing.…, Michael, your perception of what happened to our young men is a fearsome one. No, one of the things the article actually got right was the chronology. b. Test case for accuracy of LXX vs. Masoretic: Shem as Melchizedek. For example, in Acts 7:43, the Protomartyr Stephen quotes from the book of Amos as follows: Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, figures which ye made to worship them (Acts 7:43 KJV). a. Jews today believe that Shem is Melchizedek because the Masoretic chronology has Shem living down past the birth of Jacob. Daily. The vocalization of proper names in the Septuagint frequently differs from the Masoretic text. And the leaders of…, I’m pretty sure I’ve argued for slavery and segregation in the comments section. The States…, I thought the inverted commas were a giveaway…. For example, if you look at the footnotes for the book of Habbakuk in the NRSV there are 5 places in which it states that the Hebrew text is uncertain, and 3 times in which they state that they are simply translating from the Septuagint, Peshitta, and/or the Vulgate, because the Hebrew text is so unclear. It is extremely helpful to understand the range of meaning of the original Hebrew text (when we clearly have it). Often this argument comes up from those holding to the Septuagint. Septuagint VS Masoretic: Why? The story goes that King Ptolemy II Philadelphos had gathered seventy Jewish sages and gave them all the resources they needed to translate the Hebrew Scriptures into ancient Greek. John Whiteford talks about the These are principle examples of why the Septuagint Old Testament is the ‘official’ Old Testament of the Orthodox Church (that and the fact that the Masoretic text didn’t even exist until 1,000 a.d.). Compare the above with the Latin Vulgate: But you carried a tabernacle for your Moloch, and the image of your idols, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves (Douay-Rheims translation of the Vulgate). Another example of a clearly corrupt reading in the Masoretic text is 1 Sameule 14:41, which reads as follows: Therefore Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, "Give Thummim". There are studies circulating regarding the reasons for the low number of COVID cases in…, Thank you, George for this beautiful story of Father Madai. The Septuagint text is the text that the Church has preserved. Septuagint Or Masoretic Text? Yet, modern Christian translations of the Old Testament rely on the Masoretic Text, not the Septuagint. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for… Acts 4:12 N... either is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That definitely puts me in the fringe…, While sort of on the subject, is the GOA still not a thing anymore? It is an example of the Masoretic recension, which is usually dated to have been shaped between the 6th and 10th centuries A.D. The Septuagint version was discarded in favor of Theodotion's version in the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE. Does anyone stop…, About the Icon “The Siege of Constantinople”, https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Greek-K-Michael-Tsiappoutas/dp/1494779714/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514582313&sr=8-2&keywords=Greek+Bible, On Anonymity, Housekeeping & Other Things. We have written in a previous article (“The Neutralization of the Netherworld”) that the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament represents an ancient and authentic Hebrew tradition. As for Russia’s vaccine, who needs…, “…we cannot go out without fear of being accosted, even literally physically assaulted, by self-appointed mask enforcers. … Saints. About; Blog; Projects; Help; Donate. The Masoretic text simply makes no sense, and obviously at some point a scribe skipped an entire line or two of the text. Truth be told, we have only…, It will be a different kind of “winning” and frankly, China has been winning for years. For decades now, I’ve been fascinated by the Septuagint, the Old Testament as it was written in excellent Attic Greek. The Septuagint (or LXX) had existed for about 1,500 years before the Masoretic text and was one of the primary sources for it. "Is the Septuagint a Divinely Inspired Translation?" And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped. Also, there are several sections of the Hebrew text that are simply unreadable without keeping one eye on the Hebrew text and one eye on the Septuagint. In the Septuagint they are omitted. But she had a compromised…, That is a heart-rending tale, Cheryl, but it seems from what you write that your daughter’s unexpected COVID-19 situation has…, Brendan, My 21 yr old daughter takes almost all of that. The Masoretic text is a text that has not been preserved by the Church, and so while it is worthy of study and comparison, it is not equally trustworthy. That the Septuagint is the most authoritative text in the Orthodox Church is something that is confirmed in just about any Orthodox catechetical text you could consult. Personally, I am disgusted with how Pat. Whatever analysis of the Dead Sea Scrolls you are relying on is skewed due to including some non qumran texts as Dead Sea Scrolls, such as Masada documents and other cave discoveries which are proto-masoretic. The Hebrew Text that has served as the basis for most translations of the Old Testament into English is based almost entirely on the Leningrad Codex, which dates from 1008 A.D. Sign in to report inappropriate content. It depicts the battle of Stirling Bridge without a bridge. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, but the people escaped. The Masoretic Text wasn't complied until ~700AD, while the Septuagint was translated ~250BC (at least, the Torah was, the rest were filled in over the next century or two). The Septuagint text is the text that the Church has preserved. The Masoretic text is about 1000 years NEWER than the Septuagint. Masoretic Text vs Septuagint (Dead Sea Scrolls as well) Fr James. Its New York City or La and the Bay area that keep them in power. They revoked the charter, effectively dissolving…, The soonest the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech experimental vaccines could be considered by FDA for full licensure (in adults only)…, Brendan, thanks for the tip. Andrew Phillips. John Whiteford talks about the "Bible according to the Seventy". Sign in . Church Holy Days. My daily breakfast cereal of Multi-Grain Cheerios has a multivitamin. Oddly our Protestant Bibles actually reflect the Septuagint instead of the Masoretic in some places like Isaiah 7:14, but perhaps consistency calls us to choose one version as the reliable standard. We have the promise that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all Truth (John 16:13), and so can indeed affirm that "Our Church holds the infallible and genuine deposit of the Holy Scriptures" ("Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs" of 1848). The Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Torah first written by Rabbis and later changed dozens of times by numerous people), is claimed by the Gentiles to date back to 275 B.C.E. December 19, 2017. Original Hebrew," by Fr. by Gabe Martini, "Masoretic Text vs. Not even taking into account that the Septuagint is most often quoted in the New Testament, and therefore most often used by St. Paul and the other biblical writers, this article simply states the facts. Protov, no, there are some Dead Sea Scrolls which support the Septuagint, but most belong to what they call the "proto-Masoretic" tradition. They are not to be taken as “Medical Opinions, Diagnoses or Prescriptions”.…, I would not recommend Cheerios as a prophylactic. What’s wrong with: Vitamin C, D3, Zinc, Quercetin, Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine? What more do you need? 2 thoughts on “ Which is More Accurate: The Masoretic Text of the Hebrew Bible or the Septuagint Text? Neither country really has the ability or wherewithal to transport enough troops…, In general I like to wait a while for new drugs and vaccines to be on the market before trying…, Steve, my post above is a satirical response to APS’s post.