The "Septuagint" Useful in the Past and the Present

Useful Today

The Septuagint remains valuable today and is used to help uncover copyists' errors that might have crept into Hebrew manuscripts copied at a later date. For example, the account at Genesis 4:8 reads:   "After that Cain said to  to Abel his brother:  ['Let us go over into the field.'] So it came about that while they were in the field Cain proceeded to assault Abel his brother and kill him."

The bracketed clause "let us go over into the field" is not found in Hebrew manuscripts dating from the tenth century C.E.   However, it is included in older Septuagint manuscripts and in a few other other early references.  The Hebrew text has the word that usually introduces speech, but no words follow.   What could have happened?  Genesis 4:8 contains two consecutive clauses that end with the expression "in (to) the field."  McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia suggests:  "The Hebrew transcriber's eye was probably misled by the [same]word . . . terminating both the clauses."  Thus the transcriber may have skipped over the earlier instance of the clause  ending with the expression "into the field."   Clearly,the Septuagint, as well as other older extant manuscripts, can be  useful in identifying errors in later copies of the Hebrew text.

On the other hand, copies of the Septuagint are also subject to error, and at times the Hebrew text is referred to in correcting the Greek.  Thus, comparing the Hebrew manuscripts with the Greek and with other language translations results in finding translations errors as well as copyists' mistakes and assures us of an accurate rendering of God's Word.

Next time: Conclusion of Useful Today

Watchtower, 2002