Tag: Septuagint

Daily Gleanings: Paul (26 December 2019)

In TC 24, Katja Kujanpää discusses the source of Paul’s quotation in Rom 11:35.

Typically, this is found in Job 41:3. But Kujanpää argues the source is actually a variant form of Isa 40:14.

According to the abstract,

Romans 11:35 is almost unanimously treated as a quotation from Job 41:3. Although it differs significantly from preserved Greek and Hebrew readings of that verse, few have questioned this attribution. In this article, I will argue that Rom 11:35 has nothing to do with Job but is a verbatim quotation from Isaiah. Scholars have mostly ignored the fact that Rom 11:35 agrees word for word with a Greek textual variant, a remarkably well attested plus in Isa 40:14. In the previous verse in Romans, Paul quotes Isa 40:13.

The essay draws attention to the importance of having as full as possible a sense of the Septuagintal textual tradition(s) when working on Paul’s (or the New Testament’s) use of Scripture.

It’s always possible that the source for a given New Testament quotation or allusion is represented in the apparatus rather than in the main text of a modern, critical Septuagint.

There are some cases where this possibility wouldn’t obtain (e.g., if a New Testament text has demonstrably influenced Septuagintal copies). But that doesn’t change the need to be on the look out for this possibility.

For the full essay, see TC 24’s webpage.

Daily Gleanings: Ezekiel (16 October 2019)

According to Tommy Wasserman,

Another portion of the 2nd-3d-century Papyrus 967 (LXX, RA 967), discovered in 1931, that contains parts of Ezekiel, Esther and Daniel has now been digitized and is available on-line.

The newly digitized portion is of Ezekiel. For more information, including links to some of the images of 967, see Wasserman’s original post.

Daily Gleanings: Septuagint (4 September 2019)

Kreuzner, ed., “Introduction to the Septuagint” coverDue out this October from Baylor University Press is Siegfried Kreuzer’s edited Introduction to the Septuagint. The volume weighs in at a hefty 728 pages. According to the publisher,

Siegfried Kreuzer’s Introduction to the Septuagint presents, in English, the most extensive introduction of the Septuagint to date. It offers comprehensive overviews of the individual biblical writings, including the history of research, current findings and problems, and perspectives for future research. Additionally, this survey presents a history of the Septuagint in its Greco-Hellenistic background, theories of its genesis, the history of its revisions, its lore in antiquity, and an overview of the most important manuscripts and witnesses of the convoluted transmission history of the text. The text includes extensive bibliographies that show the ongoing interest in Septuagint studies and provide a reliable basis for future studies.

Most of the volume proceeds book-by-book, including the apocryphal texts commonly included with Septuagint editions. Other chapters include two discussing the origins, transmission, and textual witnesses for the Septuagint and two discussing the significance of the Septuagint for understanding early Christianity.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (20 August 2019)

William Ross interviews Peter Gentry about his new volume on Ecclesiastes in the Göttingen series. A couple interesting points from the interview are that

The Greek Translation [of Ecclesiastes] has only a dozen places where it differs from MT, and most of these are not serious issues. The differences between MT and LXX were exaggerated by the editor of the BHQ volume on Ecclesiastes.

…

My edition differs from Rahlfs’ Text in about 70 places, but these are not major. This is also the first Göttingen edition to collate and incorporate the Old Georgian Version.

For the full interview, see William’s original post.

Peter Gurry continues his earlier discussion of Erasmus, the Johannine comma, and Codex Montfortianus.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (6 August 2019)

John Meade previews Peter Gentry’s Ecclesiastes volume for the Göttingen Septuagint. John reports,

Peter Gentry tells me that there are seventy-two differences in all between his and Rahlfs’ text, and he plans to publish these in his forthcoming English Introduction to the Edition.

John then works through two of the examples (1:17b and 2:15f) and mentions that “the second apparatus presents a complete update to Field’s work for the hexaplaric materials of Ecclesiastes.”

For more, see John’s original post.

Peter Gurry discusses the “Johannine comma,” particularly in light of the evidence that tells a different story of how the comma came to be included in Erasmus’s Greek New Testament. Included in the post is a letter from Henk J. de Jonge that discusses the comments from Erasmus that have possibly lead to the development of the common story line.

Daily Gleanings: Textual Criticism (29 July 2019)

The Göttingen Septuagint volume on Ecclesiastes is now available from V&R.

The Göttingen series is a fabulous resource, and it’s wonderful to see some further gradual progress toward its completion.

HT: John Meade

Tommy Wasserman discusses a couple potential new 1 Corinthians fragments. The updates at the bottom of the post, as well as the comments following bear reading and helpfully point up a couple important prior posts by Brent Nongbri as well.