Featured Book
The Septuagint: What It Is and Why It Matters
An accessible introduction to the Greek translation of the Old Testament, tracing its origins, its transmission, and why it matters for both Old and New Testament study.
View at CrosswayThe Greek Old Testament
The Septuagint
The ancient Greek translation that shaped how early Christians read the Hebrew Scriptures.
The Septuagint, often abbreviated LXX, is the earliest known Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. Produced in stages beginning in the third century BC, it became the Bible most widely read and quoted by Greek-speaking Jews and, later, by the writers of the New Testament.
Language · Greek
Begun · c. 3rd century BC
Tradition · Alexandria, Egypt
Origins
According to a tradition recorded in the ancient Letter of Aristeas, the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) was translated into Greek in Alexandria under the patronage of King Ptolemy II, reportedly by seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars. That tradition is where the name “Septuagint” comes from, Latin for “seventy.” The remaining books of the Hebrew Bible were translated over the following two centuries by different translators, so style and translation technique vary from book to book.
The Earliest Surviving Copies
No original manuscript of the Septuagint survives, and the oldest copies we do have are not complete Bibles but scattered fragments. Papyrus Rylands 458, a fragment preserving portions of Deuteronomy, has been dated to around the middle of the second century BC, making it one of the earliest physical witnesses to any Greek biblical text known today. Discoveries like this, found among the sands of Egypt, confirm that the translation was already circulating in written form well before the time of Jesus.
Why It Matters
By the first century AD, the Septuagint was the Bible most familiar to Greek-speaking Jewish communities across the Mediterranean world. When New Testament writers quote the Old Testament, they frequently quote the Septuagint's wording rather than translating directly from Hebrew. Understanding the Septuagint helps explain how the New Testament authors read and used Scripture.
A Window Into an Older Text
In some passages, the Hebrew text underlying the Septuagint appears to differ from the Masoretic Text, the standard medieval Hebrew text tradition. Because the Septuagint was translated centuries before the Masoretic Text was finalized, textual critics sometimes use it, alongside manuscripts like the Dead Sea Scrolls, as evidence for earlier stages of the Hebrew text.
Connected Evidence
The Dead Sea Scrolls include Hebrew texts that, in places, agree with the Septuagint against the Masoretic Text. That's evidence that more than one Hebrew textual tradition existed in the Second Temple period.
Preserved in the Great Codices
Because early papyrus fragments preserve only small portions of text, much of what scholars know about the Septuagint comes from later, far more complete manuscripts. Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, two of the oldest nearly complete Christian Bibles, were copied in the fourth century AD and preserve the Septuagint alongside the New Testament in Greek. Together with other early manuscripts, they form the backbone of modern critical editions of the Septuagint text.
More Than One Translation
“Septuagint” is sometimes used loosely for the whole body of ancient Greek Old Testament translations, which include later revisions produced by translators such as Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, seeking a closer match to the Hebrew. Modern critical editions distinguish between these different layers of translation.
Learn From a Scholar
Go Deeper with Dr. Greg Lanier
Dr. Lanier teaches the Septuagint, writes about it, and hosts short daily lessons for readers of the Greek Old Testament.
Dr. Gregory R. Lanier
Reformed Theological Seminary · Orlando
Greg Lanier (PhD, University of Cambridge) is a New Testament scholar at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, where he teaches Greek, the Septuagint, and textual criticism. His research focuses on the Septuagint, the use of the Old Testament in the New, and early Christology.
Study the Greek Old Testament with him
Keep Exploring
Related Resources
Continue exploring the manuscripts behind the Bible.
Manuscripts 101
Start with the basics of biblical manuscripts.
ExploreManuscript Glossary
Learn the terminology used by manuscript scholars.
ExploreDigital Manuscript Library
Explore individual biblical manuscripts.
ExploreTextual Criticism
Learn how scholars compare manuscript evidence.
ExploreThe Dead Sea Scrolls
Explore the manuscripts discovered in the Judean Desert.
Explore