It’s Septuagint Day! Should I Care?
Happy International Septuagint Day! If you’re scratching your head over what the Septuagint is, for the sake of simplicity, it’s the Koiné Greek translation of the Old Testament. It’s the Hebrew Old Testament translated into the Greek of the New Testament. International Septuagint Day is designated to raise awareness of this resource’s value. There’s a line attributed to an old German Bible scholar, Ferdinand Hitzig, who told his students, “Gentlemen, have you a Septuagint? If not, sell all you have, and buy one.” While questionable from a long-term financial perspective, was Hitzig onto something? Is the Septuagint important for Christians today? Isn’t it just some dusty old book for the erudite and elite of the lofty scholarly guild? To be sure, scholars use it for lots of scholarly things most of us would never dream of. Few pastors, let alone laypeople, are equipped to tackle the complexities of Old Testament textual criticism, advanced grammatical codebreaking, and sophisticated lexicography — the usual uses of the Septuagint. However, consider these three modest gains the Septuagint does have to offer Christians willing to invest their time and crack one open.
Reading the Septuagint (in Greek or an English translation) can build up your insight into the Scriptures. You see, the Septuagint is a translation of the Bible. It wasn’t a monolithic entity produced by an individual or a committee like our modern translations. Many different translators produced it over the course of several centuries, and different books vary in their translation philosophy. It was the Bible translation used by the Christians of the early church. No translation, or copy for that matter, is inspired—inspiration only extends to the original documents. However, our copies and translations derive the inspiration and resultant authority of the originals so far as they faithfully reflect the original text (McCune, 94-98). All this means there’s no need to exegete and exposit from the Greek translation of the Old Testament (that’s why seminaries teach Hebrew, right?). Since so much of the Septuagint reflects the original documents of Scripture, you are reading God’s Word. Reading God’s Word is always profitable (2 Tim 3:16-17).
Another benefit of the Septuagint is to build up your understanding of the New Testament context. It is undeniable that the Greek Old Testament impacted the Greek New Testament. The Septuagint influences by its vocabulary alone, not to mention when the New Testament actually quotes from the Septuagint. For vocabulary, the Septuagint translators translated Hebrew terms into Greek. Some of these Greek terms became the accepted theological vocabulary that found their way into the New Testament. Words like diathēkē that came to mean covenant and aggelos for angel along with the words for glory, Lord, and even gospel. The New Testament’s use of the Septuagint in quotations is debatable in some cases, but pretty certain in others. Study these three OT/NT pairs for yourself and see what you think: Matt. 15:9 quoting Isa. 29:13, Matt. 21:16 quoting Psa. 8:2, and Matt. 1:23 quoting Isa. 7:14 (McLay, 149). You can read commentaries and lexicons for the data, or you can drink from the source and experience the flavor and context firsthand as you enjoy reading the Old Testament, Septuagint version.
For those who know Greek, using the Septuagint helps build up your Greek skills. What better way to improve your New Testament Greek than by reading more Greek? It is true, there is some different vocabulary and different grammatical constructions to puzzle over, but you’re reading Koiné Greek! Expanding your corpus to include the Old Testament opens up a vast, almost inexhaustible reservoir of Greek material. Have you seen how thick the Septuagint is? If that’s still not enough, you can delve into the non-canonical, non-inspired, and therefore non-authoritative books that make up the Apocrypha. I’m not trying to get you to go all Roman Catholic. Think of it like reading Christian fiction. (You’re okay with Pilgrim’s Progress aren’t you?) Martin Luther, no fan of Roman Catholicism by any measure, called these books “profitable and good to read” (Metzger, 183). So if you’re already staying committed to reading your New Testament Greek (and I would start there), why not improve your Greek further by reading a chapter a day from the Septuagint as well?
So what are you waiting for?
Should you follow Ferdinand Hitzig’s advice and buy a Septuagint? Thankfully, it’s probably more affordable now than ever before so you shouldn’t have to sell all of your belongings to buy one. (There are even options available that will cost you nothing!) If you can’t read Greek, but still have a hankering to access the Septuagint in some way — check out the New English Translation of the Septuagint. You can read it free online, here. For those who can read Greek, the best way to take the plunge is with Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition. (Save the critical editions of Göttingen and Rahlfs for more technical work.) Also, consider reading an introductory work such as Invitation to the Septuagint or The Septuagint. You will only help your Bible study.
Brent Niedergall is youth pastor at Catawba Springs Christian Church near Raleigh, North Carolina. He holds an MDiv from Shepherds Theological Seminary and is pursuing a DMin from Maranatha Baptist Seminary.