this ancient witness for one that is more valuable--the version of the O.T. known as the

Septuagint, often indicated by the letters 70:

The Septuagint.--Most readers are acquainted with the traditional origin of the

Septuagint, and the story of the seventy-two translators and their miraculous agreement.

For our present purpose it will be sufficient to say that the LXX version was made in

Egypt by Alexandrian Jews, and that it was in use a century before Christ. It became the

Bible of the Greek-speaking Jews, and was used in Palestine as well as in the countries of

the dispersion. At the time of Christ, Greek was the literary language of Palestine,

Aramaic the spoken language, Hebrew being known only to the Rabbis and their

students. A very large proportion of the O.T. quotations that are given in the N.T. are

from the LXX, and particularly is this true of the quotations made by the Lord Jesus

Himself, as reported in the Gospels.

As Christianity spread, the Greek Bible went with it. When, however, the Jews

realized what a powerful instrument the church possessed in the Septuagint version in the

controversy concerning the Messiah, the Jews repudiated it, and another Greek version

was made by a certain Aquila. This version is an exceedingly literal rendering of the

Hebrew, so much so that at times it almost ceases to be intelligible. Its value lies in its

slavish adherence to the Hebrew original. The date of this version is about A.D.150,

and towards the close of the same century another Greek translation of the O.T.

Scriptures was produced by Theodotion, a Christian of Ephesus. This version was a

set-off against the version of Aquila, and though based upon the authorized Hebrew text,

is very free in its rendering. Theodotion's version of Daniel, however, was so much

better than the translation contained in the LXX itself, that it took its place, and only one

copy of the LXX has come down to us containing the original version. About A.D.200

a further version was prepared by Symmachus, who seems to have profited by the work

of Aquila and Theodotion. "The special feature of this translation is the literary skill and

taste with which the Hebrew phrases of the original are rendered into good and idiomatic

Greek" (Kenyon).

The Hexapla of Origen.--It will be seen that by the beginning of the third century,

there were three Greek versions of the O.T. in use, in addition to the Septuagint. This led

the great Alexandrian scholar Origen (A.D.186-253) to produce the monumental work

known as the Hexapla. As the word indicates, this was a "six-fold" version of the O.T.

Scriptures, as follows:--

Origen's object was to bring the LXX into line with the existing Hebrew text, and

while his methods may be disappointing to students of the Greek version, his work is a

valuable contribution to the knowledge of the Hebrew versions.