As for the Greeke translations of the old Testament, of them all the translation of the Septuagint was of greatest account; who are said to have beene put apart in 72. celles, and to have all agreed in their translation: But S. Hierome holdeth this to be a fable, of the 72. celles, the ruines whereof a long time after were shewed at Alexandria, seeing that neither Aristaeus, who was a chiefe man about King Ptolomie, that set 70. interpreters on worke, nor Josephus maketh any mention thereof. And as touching the interpreters themselves, hee saith, Aliud est vatem agere, aliud interpretem: It is one thing to be a Prophet, another to bee an interpreter. And as for the translation, he saith, Germana illa & antiqua translatse corrupta & violate est: That ancient and true translation of the Septuagint, is corrupted and violated, which, as Hierome saith, was agreeable to the Hebrew: but so is not the Greek copie now extant, which is full of corruptions, and seemeth to be a mixt and confused translation of many: wherefore our adversaries doe labour to justifie the Latine translations: some of their arguments let us see.
Synopsis Papismi, that is, a Generall Viewe of Papistrie, Andrew Willet, London: John Haviland, 1634, pp. 20-21
the fable of the LXX is truly a falsity, but some of our interlocutors would seem to justify the existence of the LXX as "any Greek translation" of the OT. but that is not what the fable proposes - the fable is built upon hyperbolic miraculous endeavors of which no one outside of the land of Israel nor someone not of Jewish prominence could muster up - not a Gentile king in Egypt, it would only get sanctioned if God wanted it sanctioned, and he would have said somewhere that he wanted it sanctioned and wrote it down.
ReplyDeletei will give some space that there were some Greek translations of the OT before Christ, but that in no way means that that is what Christ or his apostles and followers was using and reading. more than likely it was some off the course Jewish splinter groups.
the LXX sits teetering upon a fable, and that is what has been thrust on the Christian community for years.
Thanks, Alex. The promotion favoring the LXX is about as much hodgepodge and the so-called LXX itself.
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