The Old Testament in Greek

AN INTRODUCTION TO

THE OLD TESTAMENT IN

GREEK BY

HENRY BARCLAY SWETE HON.

D.I. ITT.

OXFORD

D.D.,

HON. L1TT.D. DUBLIN

HON.

F.B.A. D.I).

GLASGOW

FELLOW OF GONVILLE AND CAIUS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE RLG1U3 PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY

REVISED BY

RICHARD RUSDEN OTTLEY,

M.A.

SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF TRINITY COLLEGE

WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING THE LETTER OF APIS TE AS EDITED BY H.

St

J.

THACKERAY,

M.A.

SOMETIME SCHOLAR OF KING'S COLLEGE

CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1914

elerepco ta tekna coy, £eiGON, eVi ta tekna

twn 'EaAhnoon.

IN PIAM

MEMORIAM

EBERHARDI NESTLE Ph.

VIRT, SI

et Th.D.

QVIS ALIVS, DE HIS STUDIIS

OPTIME MERITI HVIVS OPERIS ADIVTOR1S HVMANISSIM1

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2011 with funding from University of Toronto

http://www.archive.org/details/introductiontooOOswet

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.

WHEN some

two years ago

became

it

clear that

a reprint of this Introduction would shortly be required, the Syndics of the Press at revision,

which

I

was unable

to

my

request put the

undertake, into the

hands of a scholar already known to students of the Greek Old Testament by his Book of Isaiah according Septuagint.

to the

Mr

Ottley, while leaving intact the

form and even the pagination of the Introduction, has

made every endeavour

to bring the contents

by a

up

to the

This has been done partly

present state of knowledge.

and the occasional by writing new footnotes and a large number of valuable additional notes, and by expanding the bibliographical lists that follow each careful

revision of the text

rewriting of a paragraph, partly

chapter, which after the lapse of so

many

years were

necessarily defective. I

my gratitude to Mr Ottley unremitting labour which he has expended on my

cannot sufficiently express

for the

book, and

my

I

am

confident that future readers will share

sense of obligation.

revised, the Introduction

be of service to those

I

venture to hope that, thus

may

who

continue for some years to

are entering on the study of

the Greek Old Testament.

H. B. Cambridge,

May

ii,

191 4.

S.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

THIS

book

lias

been

is

The

Testament.

an endeavour to supply a want which

felt

by many readers of the Greek Old

is enormous, compendiously treated in Biblical Dictionaries and similar publications. But hitherto no manual has placed within the student's reach all the information which he requires in the way of general introduction to the Greek versions. A first attempt is necessarily beset with uncertainties. Experience only can shew whether the help here provided is precisely such as the student needs, and whether the right proportion has been preserved in

and

its

literature of the subject

chief points have been

dealing with the successive divisions of the subject.

hoped that the present work may at least meet who use The Old Testament in Greek, and serve as a forerunner to larger and more adequate treatises upon the same subject. Such as it is, this volume owes more than I can say But

it is

the immediate wants of those

to the kindness of friends,

among whom may

especially

be mentioned Principal Bebb, of St David's College,

Lampeter, and Grinfield Lecturer at Oxford; Mr Brooke and Mr McLean, editors of the Larger Cambridge Septuagint Mr Forbes Robinson, and Dr W. E. Barnes. But my acknowledgements are principally due to Professor Eberhard Nestle, of Maulbronn, who has added ;

to the obligations

me by

under which he had previously

reading the whole of this Introduction

laid

in proof,

and suggesting many corrections and additions. While Dr Nestle is not to be held responsible for the final form in which the book appears, the reader will owe to him in great measure such freedom from error or fulness in the minuter details as it may possess. Mr Thackeray's work in the Appendix speaks for itself. Both the prolegomena to Aristeas and the text of the letter are wholly due to his generous labours, and they will form a welcome gift to students of the Septuagint and of Hellenistic Greek. Free use has been made of all published works dealing with the various branches of learning which fall within the range of the subject. While direct quotations have been acknowledged where they occur, it has not been thought desirable to load the margin with references to all the sources from which information has been obtained. But the student will generally be able to discover these for himself from the bibliography which is appended to almost every chapter. In dismissing my work I desire to tender my sincere thanks to the readers and workmen of the Cambridge University Press, whose unremitting attention has

brought the production of the

book to a successful

end.

H. Cambridge, September

i,

1000.

B. S.

CONTENTS. PART

I.

THE HISTORY OE THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT AND OF ITS TRANSMISSION. PAGES

CHAPTER

I.

The Alexandrian Greek Version

T

CHAPTER

Later Greek Versions

....... CHAPTER

The Hexapla, and

— 28

II.

29

— 58

59

— 86

87

— 121

122

— 170

171

— 194

III.

the Hexaplaric and other Recensions

of the Septuagint

CHAPTER

IV.

Ancient Versions based upon the Septuagint

CHAPTER Manuscripts of the Septuagint

.

V.

.....

CHAPTER Printed Texts of the Septuagint

.

VI. .

Contents.

x \\

TART

II.

THE CONTENTS OF THE ALEXANDRIAN OLD 7ESTAMENT. PAGES

CHAPTER Titles,

I.

Grouping, Number, and Order of the Books

CHAPTER

.

CHAPTER in the

.

.

CHAPTER

:

LITERARY

— 288

289

— 314

315

— 341

342

— 366

VI.

Stichi, Chapters, Lections, Catenae, &c.

PART

265

V.

as a Version

CHAPTER Text divisions

— 264

IV.

of the Septuagint

The Septuagint

231 III.

Hebrew Canon

CHAPTER The Greek

— 230

II.

Books of the Hebrew Canon

Books not included

197

III.

AND TEXTUAL CONDITION OF THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT.

USE, VALUE,

CHAPTER

I.

Literary use of the Septuagint by non-Christian Hel-

369—380

lenists

CHAPTER Quotations from the Septuagint in the

il.

New

Testament

381

— 405

Contents.

CHAPTER

*iii

HI.

TAGES Quotations

from the

Septuagint in early Christian

406

— 432

.

433

—461

.

462

— 477

478

— 497

writings

CHAPTER The Greek Versions

IV.

as aids to Biblical Study

CHAPTER

.

V.

Influence of the Septuagint on Christian Literature

CHAPTER Textual condition arising out of

of the

VI.

Septuagint, and problems

it

,

ADDITIONAL NOTES. pp.

498-530

APPENDIX.

The Letter

of Pseudo-Aristeas.

— 550

Introduction

$33

Text

551—606

INDICES. i.

ii.

Index of Biblical references Index of Subject-matter

.....

609—616 617—626

PART

I

THE HISTORY OF THE GREEK OLD TESTAMENT AND OF ITS TRANSMISSION

PART

I.

CHAPTER

I.

The Alexandrian Greek Version. A Greek

i.

version of any portion of the Old Testament

presupposes intercourse between Israel and a Greek-speaking

So long as the Hebrew race maintained its isolation, no occasion arose for the translation of the Hebrew Scriptures As far as regards the countries west of into a foreign tongue. people.

Palestine, this isolation continued until the age of it is

Alexander

1 ;

therefore improbable that any Greek version of the Scrip-

Among

tures existed there before that era.

the Alexandrian

Jews of the second century before Christ there was a vague belief that Plato and other Greek philosophical writers were indebted for some Thus Aristobulus ev.

12) writes:

xiii.

1

of their teaching to a source of this kind (ap.

Clem.

Al. strom.

KaT7]Ko\ov0r]K€

$e

Individual cases, such as that of the

{ap. Jos.

c.

Ap.

1,

22),

who was

EXX^ft/co? ov

i.

kol

22 6

;

cf.

2 .

Eus. praep.

II Aaron/

rrj

kolO'

Jew mentioned by Clearchus rrj

8icl\€ktu) jxbvov

a\\a

nal rrj

How

numerous and prosperous are exceptions to a general rule. were the Jewish colonies in Asia Minor at a later period appears from the Acts of the Apostles see also Ramsay, Phrygia 1. ii. p. 667 ff. 2 This belief was inherited by the Christian school of Alexandria; see Clem, strom. v. 29, Orig. c. Cels. iv. 39, vi. 19; and cf. Lact. inst. IV. 2. xpvxVt

;

S.

S.

T

The Alexandrian Greek Version. kou

vo/xoOecrta.,

rjfxas

e£ 7)

vcf>

ircpov

rd re Kara

€7rtKpaT7;crccos,

Alyv7rTov i£ayu}yr}v rav 'Ej3pa(o)V tcoV y/xeT€po)v ttoXltwv

yeyovoTwv aTravTiov

T

^ajpa? Kat to

Uepawv

Ka.i

CKacrra T(oV

Se irpo ArjfArjTpiov

SL-qp/xr/vevTat

'AXe^dvSpov

TTpo t?;?

iart 7rep tepyacr ap;€vos

cpavepos

iv avrfj Xeyo/xiviov.

avrois

B.C.

included at least the Books

A

similar claim has

buted by Pseudo-Aristeas elSorwv

7rpoo-avav

t?)S

vnep

e'pyov

f)pa)v

ravras d^iovpev npoKo-

crvvaycoyrj^

lovftaieov

pi^cr&ai).

When

2.

and

the lxx. passed into the hands of the

Church

^vas used in controversy with Jewish antagonists, the

Jews

not unnaturally began to doubt the accuracy of the Alexandrian version (Justin, dial. 68 toX/xwctl Xiyav

ttjv

yv

££r)yr](riv

k^-qyrj-

cravTO ol efSSo/XTjKOVTa v/xwv TrpeafivTepOL Trapd Ti.ToXtpia.iu) ra) tiov

Atyv7TTtW

fido-iXci

crucial instance

yevopcevoi

etiat

pvq

ev

The

aXr)6rj).

ticplv

was the rendering of np?V by

-n-apOivos in Isa.

where vedvis, it was contended, would have given the meaning of the Hebrew word (id. 71, 84; Iren. iii. 21. 1). But the dissatisfaction with which the lxx. was regarded by

vii.

14,

true

the Jewish leaders of the

second century was perhaps not

altogether due to polemical causes.

The

the newer school of [Jewish] interpretation,

with

the

An

text 1 ."

received

official

lxx. "did not suit it

did not correspond

had received

siderably from the text accepted in earlier times

the

and

and the Alexandrian

approval of the Rabbis,

which

represented pass

to

into

something better avrol efyyelaOou

the

older

disuse.

for

text,

Attempts were made

Of two such

Irenaeus speaks in terms of reprehension

Origen, able to

kolL

who add

to provide

.

.

dial. 71

translations

fresh

(I.e.

TCOV VVV fl€$epfXr}V€V€LV ToXjJ,U)VT(l)V TTjV ypdCprjV

'E^eo-to?

version,

began to be suspected

Greek-speaking Israelites (Justin,

7reipuWai).

con-

differing

text

hioi

ovx

«js

.0)5

®€00OTL(x)V...O

'AKvXas o IIovtikos, dpKpoTepoi 'IovSatoi

[sc. o

ano ^,u>u>7rrjs 8e rrjs TLovtov oppcopevov, Kadiarrrjaiv €7riaTare7v rols epyois ktX 7riKpav6e\s 8e...7rpoar}'\v7repiT€pv€Tai 'louSato? " Kat eTTiTTovGis (piKoTLprjadpevos

nevdepidrjv,

avrov

e/celcre

T€V€i

teal

etjedaxev iavrbv padelv ttjv 'Eftpaieov ?)ui/\€ktov /cat rot avrcov (TTOLx^aTavrrjv Se dos irapa

etco#acriv

01

dyvoowTcs

E/?ptuW Siaand the same

ttjv

7ravTCov tcaXXov «riT€T€uy/>i€j'co)

;

preference for Aquila seems to have been characteristic of the

Jews in the fourth and fifth centuries (cf. Jerome on Ezek. iii. 5, and Augustine de civ. Dei xv. 23), and at a still later period, even Justinian, when regulating the public reading of the

for

Scriptures in the synagogues, thought

the use of Aquila (novell. 146

:

it

"at vero

expedient to permit ii

qui Graeca lingua

legunt lxx. interpretum utentur translatione...verum...licentiam

concedimus etiam Aquilae versione utendi").

It

was equally

natural that the proselyte's version should be regarded with

by Christians, who saw in it the work of a champion Rabbinism as well as a bold attempt to displace the 8 Septuagint Yet the few Christian writers who were students distrust

of

.

Hebrew

of the

He

work. Xe^ci)

;

Bible learnt to recognise the fidelity of Aquila's

was 'a slave to the

whatever was wanting

1

Megilla

2

See

JV^D"

letter'

in the

(SovXevw

Hebrew

text

rfj 'EfipaLnrj

was not to be

there is a play upon DQ^ (cf. Gen. ix. 27). the preface to Prof. Burkitt's Fragments of Aquila, p. vi. : "Aquila in a sense was not the sole or independent author of the version, its uncompromising literalism being the necessary outcome of his Jewish teachers' system of exegesis." S. S.

1.

9: in

1

Dr C. Taylor in

3

Later Greek Versions,

34

found in Aquila (ov r

6

AaATyo-arc Mr) Kavxao-Qo)

t,o)vvv-

,a

Kat

yaevos .

ets

Trpo(f>TjTr}s

(3ao-t\€L

o~tjp.€pov

ti/v

€7rt

avrov

8tSa)/At

x €^° as ^s*

Ka *

I2

/cat

iyivero oh rjKOvcrev avv to prjp.a tovto,

avros ernvvcv avros

Kat

Kat 01 /3ao-tAets «V

Kat

ct^ey

©ere* Kat WrjKtxv I3

Kat

l8ov

rjyyio-cv

Kat

o;(Aoj/

eya>

8i8co/xt

Aeyct

7rdVra

rovro^

avrov

Kal

irpoo~-

/SacnXea

TaSe

crvi>

tov /-teyav

o-tjpiepov,

€is

'Aa/3

€t7rei/

EtSes

avroO

e7rl tt/j/ 7ro'Atv.

7rpocf>r}Tr}S

7rpos

Io-par/A

3^3^

cri;crKtao-p:ot-

prj-

Ta yeypafxjxeva

fiifiXtOV

'EAKiaov 6 tepevs

Tjfiepo>i>

to.

KaOdp-

Aoyovs tov vopov tovs yeypa/x-

XcAkcuxs 6 tepcvs ev

Kat

^oti aAAa, ev

€T€l

^-J^^

€7rt

TttV KptTCOV ot

Ae'ws 'Iwo-taov lirovrjOrj to

le-

ye tovs #eAr/Tas

eiSaAa Kat

KaTa to

r}fJL€ppavds

Kal €V rots epyots rs...Kai rivas eripas Trapa ras Kadrj(ia£evp.evas epprjvelas evaWarrovcras..., ccpevpeiv, as ovk oi'S' odev €K nvatv p.v)(a>v top iraKai XavSavovcras XP°' V0V e * s $&>* dvi^vevaas \6ya>v

vi.

arrr)Kpi^(iifiivr}

irpoT)yay€V...Tivos ap* 1

2

pp.

e?ei>

ovk

ei'Scos

avro tovto p.6vov

For other examples see Field, prolegg.

p.

xxx.ff.

;

itTeo~t]pr]va.TO

D. C. B.

iv.

Reading, perhaps, D\T?N D?¥21 D?¥2 ; cf. Nestle, Marginalicn, 3 See D. C. B. iii. p. 20.

3, 15.

)

Later Greek Versions.

54

rrjv fiev evpoi ev rfj npos 'Aktico NiK07roXet...eVt fiias avOis cearjpeiwTai a>s ev 'iept^ol evprjpevrjs ev niBco Kara rovs xP° vovs Epiph. tie mens, et pond. 18 p.era 'AvTcovivov tov vlov 2e(3r)pov. tov dicaypov tov /3acn\ea>s Sevrjpov rjvpeOr] ij TvepnTT) ev ttWols ev y lepi^6i KeKpvppevr) ev xpovois tov vlov Hevrjpov tov e7riK\r)devTos KapaicdWov re kol TeTa...ev 8e ro) c/38o/xw airov eTei rjvpeOrjaav koi

ws apa

/3t/3Xoi Trjs TrepTTTrjs eK$6o-ea>s ev

irlOois ev 'Iept^eo KeKpvppevrjs fiera

EfipacKobv kcu '~EWr)viK.a)v. tov 8e KapaKaWov diad€xeTai AvT(ov7vos eTepos...peTa tovtov efiao-iKevo-ev'AkeiEavdpos... errj iy'' ev peo~(o t£>v xpovoiv tovtcov rjvpidr] ckttj eKdoais, koi avTrj Pseudo-Ath. ev nidois netcpvp-pevr), ev NiKOTroXei Tjj irpos 'Akti'o).

aXkoov

/3t/3Xi'o)i/ y

syn. scr. sacr. JJ iripirTr) epprjveia eo-Tiv r) ev irLQois evpeOelaa kcKpvppevrj eVi 'Avtcovlvov j3a.ai\ea>s tov KapanaXka. ev 'Iept^to irapa etcrrj epprjveia eaTiv r) ev tivos Twv ev lepoaoXvpois anovbaiaiv. irLQois evpedelaa, koi avT-q KeKpvppevrj, eiri 'A\e£dv8pov tov Mapaias iraidbs ev NiK07roXei ttj npos "Aktlov vivo 'Qpiyevovs yvcopipcov. Hieron. de virr. ill. 54 "quintam et sextam et septimam editionem, quas etiam nos de eius bibliotheca habemus, miro labore repperit et cum ceteris editionibus conparavit": in ep. ad Tit. "nonnulli vero libri, et maxime hi qui apud Hebraeos versu compositi sunt, tres alias editiones additas habent quam 'quintam' et 'sextam' et 'septimam' translationem vocant, auctoritatem sine nominibus interpretum consecutas." Cf. in Hab. ii. 11, 13.

iii.

1

It

appears from the statement of Eusebius that Origen found

the Quinta at Nicopolis near Actium, or the Septima

211

— 217)

at

was discovered

and

that either the Sexta

in the reign

of Caracalla (a.d.

Jericho; while Epiphanius, reversing this order,

says that the Quinta was found at Jericho

c.

a.d. 217,

Sexta at Nicopolis under Severus Alexander (a.d. 222

According to Epiphanius both the

and the

— 23

2

5

.

Quinta and the Sexta,

according to Eusebius the Sexta only, lay buried in a

iri6ov OT/peiGoo-ecos rd rcov Xeyopeveov 'E^airXcov rjplv dvriypacpa KaraXeXonrev, I8ia>s rr)v 'AkuAou kcu ^vppd^ov nai Qeo8oriaivos ev pr) ei86rcov 'E/3patKa crrot^6ta...Kat ovrcos rols

avrov e^airXols r) 6v oft peS" as fj rov Qeo8oriaivos avvreraKrai, nal e£r)s r) irepirrr) re kol exr^ 2 .

Xeyopevois