Septuagint

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The Septuagint (or juist LXX) is the name gien tae the pre-Christian translate o the Jewish screepturs frae Ebrue intil Koine Greek. It is threapit bi mony buikmen & weemen that The Septuagint wis the version o The Auld Testament uised bi at least some o the writers o the Christian New Testament.

The translate taks its name frae the Greek wird fer "sieventy", syne gaun by auld-threapins wis translate bi seiventy-twa Jewish beukmen (weemen no alloued). Auld-threap hauds that the beukmen wrocht apairt frae ilk ither, ilkane wirkin at pittin the hail corpus o Jewish screepturs intil the Greek. Whan at the end o their darg they compeart their translates they fund that they haed aw written the exact same thing, an sae they kent that their darg wis tiftit bi God. Sieventy wis waled ower seieventy-twa syne it is a roond nummer an multiples o sieven is hauden tae be haly in Jewish thocht (c.f. the makkin o the yird in sieven days, sieven year o fouth an sieven o scant an want amang mony ither exemplars). The Septuagint is aften cried LXX in beukmens' (& weemen's) cutty jottins syne this is sieventy in Roman Nummers.

Gaun by auld-threapins setten oot in The Letter o Aristeas, Ptolmey II Philadelphus o Egypt (285-246 BC) brocht ower the sieventy-twa beukmen tae his kinrick for tae wirk on pittin ower the Pentateuch - the first five beuks o The Auld Testament. Mair likely, accordin tae modren beukmen & weemen, it wis pitten ower atween the third an first centuruies BC, an that there wisna ony ae translate that accoonts for slicht chynges frae the Ebrue texts as weel as slicht deeferences in early quotations frae LXX.

The Septuagint haes aw the thirty-nine beuks o whit we nou ken as The Auld Testament an twa-three apocryphal beuks forby thon. Accordin tae ae wabsteid anent LXX:

"The term "Apocrypha" wis cleckit bi the fift-century Biblical beukman, Jerome, an for ordinar refers tae the curn o auncient Jewish writins wrat doun durin the time atween the last beuk in the Jewish screepturs, Malachi, an the kythin o Jesus Christ."

Thir Apocryphal beuks includes the histories o the wars atween the Maccabees an the Greek Seleucid Empire in the beuks o the Maccabees, eikins tae the beuks o Esther an Daniel an a tait ithers. Orthodox Jews an Protestant Christians haes niver hauden the Apocryphal beuks tae be canonical (i.e. tifted bi God), but the Papist Kirk an Orthodox Kirk includes some o the beuks o the Apocrypha in their canons.

• A guid wabsteid anent LXX Archived 2007-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
• A mair beuklairsome wabsteid
• Papist Kirk Encyclopaedia page anent LXX Archived 2007-09-05 at the Wayback Machine