Septuagint Superiority

Behold the various differences in meaning when comparing passages in the Masoretic Text to the Septuagint. Translations used are based on whichever make for the closest comparison. (This page will be expanded continually over time.)

Note that italics indicate words supplied by the translator on the basis of it seeming implied by the context.

Just a couple of verses after Isaiah 7:14, which many modern translations weaken to say “young woman” instead of “virgin” due to the vagueness of the Masoretic Text (whereas the Septuagint rendering unambiguously means “virgin”), there is another prophetic description of Christ which is weakened in the Masoretic Text. The Septuagint faithfully preserves the proclamation of Christ’s perfect innocence.

The list of names given to Christ in this passage is not a list at all in some manuscripts of the Septuagint. This particular case is an interesting example of textual variants in Greek manuscripts.

The parts in green are held in common across LXX manuscripts. This is the full extent of the names given in Codex Vaticanus and the Göttingen critical text. As such, the Vaticanus-derived translations (Thomson, Brenton, & Lexham) and NETS all go greatly against the Masoretic Text.

In Against Heresies Book IV, Chapter 33, Irenaeus loosely quotes a version remarkably similar to the Masoretic, that adds the yellow and blue. His quotations cut off before the orange portion, so it is unclear whether his Isaiah manuscripts contained it. Earlier in Book III, Ch. 19, he alludes to some of the names in the yellow and blue sections, but the orange titles are again unmentioned.

Codex Alexandrinus renders a longer version containing the green, yellow, and orange.

The Complutensian Polyglot (and presumably also) Aldine Text render all of that plus the blue (“God”; θεὸς).

The popularity of the longer version(s) in later manuscripts may be due to Hexaplaric contamination, but at least some of the longer reading seems to date back earlier than expected.

Note also the subtle difference between the Masoretic “Everlasting Father” and the Greek “Father of the Coming Age/Eternity”. The Masoretic presents much tension for Trinitarian doctrine, whereas the Greek seems less difficult. And if rejected due to its absence from some older manuscripts, it presents no problem at all.

Later on in Isaiah, there is another interesting difference:

*”also” supplied by Brenton.

The Septuagint preserves the promise of the Resurrection of the Dead, wherein the children of the Faithful who died young will receive eternal life, and the sinners who lived a long life will be damned.

The callback to the Garden of Eden (and call-forward to Christ, who is the Tree of Life) is also preserved.

This prophecy in the Septuagint was recognized by Cyprian of Carthage (“To Quirinus: Testimonies Against the Jews 2.20”), Lactantius (“Divine Institutes 4.14”), and Rufinus of Aquileia (“Commentary on the Apostles’ Creed 22”). Even Jerome accepted the wood-and-bread portion (“Six Books on Jeremiah 2.110.2–4”) and included it in the Vulgate, which may suggest that its loss in the Masoretic Text was especially late.

In the majority of cases where the New Testament quotes the Old, the meaning will agree with the Septuagint manuscripts against the Masoretic manuscripts.

*alternatively rust (NETS), cankerworm (Thomson, Brenton), or blight (ABP)

Septuagint renderings tend to clarify passages that are confusing in the Masoretic.

In Micah chapter 4 there is a verse with a small but significant difference. But first, let’s see the preceding verses for context (which are mostly the same in meaning across versions):

And at the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it.

And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Sion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And he shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.

And every one shall rest under his vine, and every one under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to alarm them: for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these words.

Micah 4:1-4 (Brenton’s Septuagint Translation)

And now for the difference:

*Brenton adds the word “other” there, assuming it to be implied, but I disagree (and Thomson, ABP, NETS, and Lexham did not consider it necessary).

**Greek δέ (“de”): one of several conjunctions which may be translated as either “and” or “but” depending on the context. (The Hebrew is similar in this regard.) Every existing English translation of the Septuagint (and most translations of the Masoretic Text) render “but” here, presumably because they are following the interpretation that “his god” in the Masoretic Text refers to idols. I believe this is a mistake; disregarding the Masoretic rendering leads to a superior understanding.

The Septuagint declares that, as every man will rest under his fig tree, so also will every nation walk in his way (i.e. its culture and language), yet all will worship the Lord. This calls to mind the multitude of every tongue and tribe in Revelation; the tongues and tribes still exist in eternity. The “we” refers to all the Elect collectively, I think.

*Acts uses a slightly different form of the Greek word for “for” here compared to the LXX Habakkuk.

**The Byzantine/Majority Text of Acts 13:41 lacks this 3rd “work”.

The Acts version is abbreviated and having some implied words at the end made explicit, yet it contains both the LXX “despisers” and the detail of perishing which is absent in the Masoretic Text.

todo: add section for Jesus and Dawn / Rising / Dayspring / Orient in Zechariah 3 and 6. Note the connection to Luke 1:78 and the star in Matthew 2, as well as the connection of the term “Rising” to the Resurrection.

The Masoretic Text compares the house of David directly to God, but the Septuagint says only that it will be like the house of God. This passage refers, I think, to Christ’s earthly lineage coming from the line of David. (Note also the use of the term “angel of the Lord”, which often refers to Christ in the Old Testament.)

Words in italics are assumed/supplied by the English translator.

The part in yellow is only in some Greek manuscripts; they may be interpolated due to influence from Origen’s Hexapla.

Seeing as that John 19:37 says “look on him whom they have pierced” (which doesn’t match any of these exactly), I wonder if perhaps it is not intended to be an exact quote of Zechariah 12:10, but rather a summary of one or more prophecies, including Psalm 22 (LXX 21), which contains “they pierced my hands and my feet. They counted all my bones; and they observed and looked upon me.” After all, there are no quotation marks in the Greek, so the verse could be rendered as “another Scripture says they will look upon him whom they have pierced”.

Variants (pulled from Lambert Bos’ LXX and my own research):

source	Greek	translation	notes
Swete-1930	καὶ ἐπιβλέψονται πρὸς μὲ, ἀνθ᾽ ὧν κατωρχήσαντο καὶ κόψονται ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν	and they will look on me, because they have mocked, and they will mourn over him	The common version.
Codex Alexandrinus, Cyr. (presumably Cyril of Alexandria’s Commentary on the Twelve Prophets)	είς ὃν κατωζχήσαντο	on whom they mocked	Cyril was aware of the difference from the Masoretic rendering. (Also, Cyril quotes John 19:37 in Five Tomes Against Nestorius, Tome IV Chapter 5 (see Greek).)
Codex Barberini (New Testament mss.), Aldine Text	είς ὃν εξεκέντησαν	on whom they pierced	Matches the end of John 19:37; resembles apparent meaning of common Masoretic version of Zechariah 12:10.
Codex Barberini margin, Aquila of Sinope	σύν ᾧ έξεκέντησαν, ϗ̀ κόψονται αὐτόν	with which they pierced, and they will mourn him	Clearly an anti-Christian rendering originating with Aquila.
Theodotion (Θ)	καὶ ἐπιβλέψονται πρὸς μὲ εἰς ὃν ἐξεκέντησαν, καὶ κόψονται αὐτόν	and they will look on me, whom they pierced, and they will mourn him
Symmachus (Σ)	ἔμπροσθεν ἐπεξεκέντησαν, καὶ κόψονται αὐτόν	before, they pierced, and they will strike him	Another terrible rendering from the translation of a judaizer.

todo: the rest of the variant notes

There’s another curious difference in the very next verse:

*”the” supplied by Brenton (and ABP); “a” is probably more correct (and that’s what Thomson, NETS, and Lexham go with).

King Josiah was killed in the plain of Megiddo, but there are no clues as to who Hadad-rimmon might be. As such, the Septuagint rendering is clearer and timeless, tying into the language of trees and fruit throughout Scripture, including the specific mentions of pomegranates in Joel 1 and Haggai 2.

todo: Daniel section

todo: title of Psalm footnote thing

“Vaticanus [h.e. Vat. 754, non πολυθρύλητος ille Vat. 1209, qui error est Brunsii in Kennicotti Dissert. Gen. p. 204: “Commata sublestae fidei Psal. xiv adsunt tantum in margine Codicis Vatic., test Montfauc. in Hexaplis”] in haec verba, quae sunt ad marginem, et non in textu conscripta, haec notat: Οὐδαμοῦ κεῖνται τῶν ψαλμῶν· πόθεν δὲ ὁ ἀπόστολος εἴληφεν αὐτοὺς ζητητέον.”—Montef. Sub obelis leguntur in Psalt. Gall.; Syro-hex. vero, quod mireris, sine nota distinctionis affert.

Hieron. in Praefatione libri XVI Commentariorum in Jesaiam (Opp. T. IV, p. 668): “Denique omnes Graeciae tractatores, qui nobis eruditionis suae in Psalmos commentarios reliquerunt, hos versiculos veru annotant atque praetereunt, liquido confitentes in Hebraico non haberi, sed in editione vulgata, quae Graece κοινὴ dicitur, et in toto orbe diversa est.” Fusius hanc quaestionem tractabit Jo. Theoph. Plüschke in libello cui titulus: De Psalterii Syriaci Mediol. peculiari indole etc. pp. 29–39.

Between Proverbs 22:8 and Proverbs 22:9 is a phrase that is entirely absent from the Masoretic Text:

The underlying Greek: