An Introduction to the Septuagint

The Septuagint is the Koine Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible that was widely used during the New Testament era. It is believed to have been completed in Alexandria, North Africa, in several stages between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The Septuagint is generally recognized by both Jewish and Christian believers. In addition to the books of the Old Testament commonly used today, it also includes the Apocrypha and other documents related to Jewish life.

 According to Jewish tradition, when Ptolemy II of Egypt was building the Library of Alexandria, he invited the high priest of the Jews to provide books and translate the Jewish Law into Greek to enrich the library’s collection. Each of the twelve tribes of Israel sent six people, for a total of seventy-two translators (some say seventy, but seventy-two is the more traditional view, as the Letter of Aristeas lists the translators by name, with six from each of the twelve tribes). After the translation was completed, this Greek version of the Pentateuch became the biblical text for the Egyptian royal court and the Jewish community.

The term “Septuagint” originally referred only to the Pentateuch but later came to refer to the entire Old Testament. The order of the books in the Septuagint is different from the original Hebrew manuscripts. Many of the Old Testament passages quoted in the New Testament are from this translation, which was later translated into various other languages. The original Septuagint has been lost, and the existing copies are from the 4th and 5th centuries AD.