Page 2: Introduction to the Septuagint Old Testament
HE Greek
version of the Old Testament commonly known as the Septuagint (...) is a version of
a Hebrew text earlier by about a millennium than the earliest dated Hebrew
manuscript extant (916 AD), a version, in particular, prior to the formal
rabbinical revision of the Hebrew which took place early in the 2nd century AD.
(...) It is, moreover, a pioneering work; there was probably no precedent in the
world's history for a series of translations from one language into another on
so extensive a scale. It was the first attempt to reproduce the Hebrew
Scriptures in another tongue. It is one of the outstanding results of the
breaking-down of international barriers by the conquests of
Alexander the Great
and the dissemination of the Greek language, which were fraught with such vital
consequences for the history of religion. The cosmopolitan city which he founded
in the Delta witnessed the first attempt to bridge the gulf between Jewish and
Greek thought. The Jewish commercial settlers at Alexandria, forced by
circumstances to abandon their language, clung tenaciously to their faith; and
the translation of the Scriptures into their adopted language, produced to meet
their own needs, had the further result of introducing the outside world to a
knowledge of their history and religion. Then came the most momentous event in
its history, the starting-point of a new life; the translation was taken over
from the Jews by the Christian church.
