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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] MT for all OT Translations?

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  • From: Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>
  • To: Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>
  • Cc: b-hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] MT for all OT Translations?
  • Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2004 04:55:34 -0700

On 21/06/2004 23:25, Yigal Levin wrote:

From: "Philip Engmann" <phil-eng AT ighmail.com>

What possible basis could there be for a translation, i.e. the
Septuagint, to be regarded as the authoritative text?

Philip



As far as the Eastern Christian tradition, their preference for the LXX is
probably based on the fact that this was the version quoted by the authors
of the NT; if that's what the Apostles preferred, it must be the right
version. ...


I suspect that the original reason why the Eastern church used the LXX was because that church was (mostly) Greek-speaking, and the LXX was the only available translation into Greek (although in fact it circulated for some time in various recensions). Since then, when the Eastern church has expanded into other countries in eastern Europe and the Middle East there has been a preference to translate from the Greek, because that was familiar at a time when Hebrew was not well known among Christians, and because of the power of tradition. I don't think the LXX has ever been officially declared authoritative, just de facto in some places.

Compare the situation in the Western church, in which the Latin Vulgate was the basis of almost all translations for 1500 years and officially declared as authoritative, although no claims were ever made that it was the original or that Jesus spoke Latin (despite Mel Gibson putting Latin words on his lips - far more likely that he spoke with Pilate in Greek).

The Russian Synodal Bible, by the way, is not based on the LXX but on an eclectic and sometimes confusing mixture of MT and LXX.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/





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