Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il>]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>
> I wonder if there are any substantive differences, besides the many minor 
> ones.
>
> Karl W. Randolph.

That depends on what you mean by "substantive differences", and which Hebrew 
text you're referring to. If you are comparing the LXX as we now know it 
(and ignoring the slight differences between the different textual 
traditions within the LXX) and the MT as we know it, remember that the LXX 
includes whole books that the MT does not - what we call the Apocrypha. Plus 
the "apocryphal" chapters of Daniel, Esther and Psalms. So that "the Old 
Testament" as known to the early Christians (and to eastern Christians to 
this day) is much larger than the Jewish Tanakh.

Now was this the case during the first and second centuries CE, when 
Christianity was taking form? What did the "Greek Bible" of the time 
include? What did the "Hebrew Bible" of the time include? Unfortunately, we 
have only partial information.

Yigal Levin