A New English Translation of the Septuagint

by Anonymous, Albert Pietersma (Editor), Benjamin G. Wright (Editor)

The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of Jewish sacred writings) is of great importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The first translation of the books of the Hebrew Bible (plus additions) into the common language of the ancient Mediterranean world made the Jewish scriptures accessible to many outside Judaism. Not
only did the Septuagint become Holy Writ to Greek speaking Jews but it was also the Bible of the early Christian communities: the scripture they cited and the textual foundation of the early Christian movement.

Translated from Hebrew (and Aramaic) originals in the two centuries before Jesus, the Septuagint provides important information about the history of the text of the Bible. For centuries, scholars have looked to the Septuagint for information about the nature of the text and of how passages and specific words were understood.

For students of the Bible, the New Testament in particular, the study of the Septuagint's influence is a vital part of the history of interpretation. But until now, the Septuagint has not been available to English readers in a modern and accurate translation. The New English Translation of the Septuagint fills this gap.

Genres: Religion, Reference, Christianity, Scripture, Old Testament, Biblical

1056 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2007

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Ronnie Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am by no means a Greek scholar, but last year I read the LXX (Septuagint) in Greek, and used this work as a supplement to that endeavor. This year in my annual reading through the Bible I used this as a complementary supplement to the NASB. I enjoy the NETS very much and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in Septuagint studies. I know that there are many out there who are opposed to the LXX, but one cannot argue with the fact that it was the translation quoted by the apostles 97% of the time in the NT. This version (NETS) does include the Apocryphal books and some very unique additions that are lacking in our modern translations. I will leave the debate and controversy to to greater minds than my own, but the extras in Esther and Daniel are intriguing and add so much to the story. I have a hard time understanding why they are left out of modern translations.

[Lukerik]

So there re two versions of the Book of Tobit. Who knew?! This book translates both of them in parallel texts so you can compare. It's a very entertaining short story with a religious intent, but funny, like Tobias' reaction to his father's sage advice when he hears about the money, or Ragouelos prematurely digging his eighth son-in-law's grave.

I didn't read any of the rest of the book as generally I'd rather avoid translations of a translation.

There is an official ebook version which has the text of the 2007 edition, so it doesn't have the corrections and emendations from 2009 and 2014. Pending the release of the proper ebook you can legally and for free download the most recent files here:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/

[Liam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good translation of the LXX. Just dabbled in this. It was nice to see the names in their original pronunciations - counter to most Bible translations. Occasionally the translation presented some phrases in more old fashioned ways - which made comprehension a little more difficult. But all in all very good.

[sch]

Jun 2020. Reading the thirty-odd introductory essays to each LXX book. Finished: an interesting summer project. I enjoyed puzzling out the pronunciation (and every once in a while the actual meaning) of the occasional Greek words. Natural next step is to read the text itself; maybe next summer.

[Pjfinnigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well worth the effort to read from cover-to-cover. Re-reading again. Translators' comments are invaluable. A LANDMARK Text.

[Brad Belschner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent, careful, scholarly translation of the Septuagint, very loosely based on the RSV. Also available free online as PDFs.

[Omni Theus · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 out 5 stars.

Incredible resource and glad the apocrypha was added. Careful scholarship that allows options on how one wants to read the book as well - (eg columns on pages with different texts rather than pushing the reader to a version the authors think you should read). Some knowledge of Greek is helpful (minimal Greek) particularly for places, names etc but honestly you get the gist of what is being said - eg David is 'Dauid' or Judah is 'Iouda' etc. I take this with me to church or any Bible study. Super helpful with about 60 % of NT references that go back to the LXX instead of the MT.

I've read most of this now. Still to read Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Reigns, Supplements, all the Psalms, 1 and 2 Esdras and Ezekiel. The modern non-Catholic will get a bunch out of books like Tobit, Baruch and Wisdom of Solomon. Definitely a high recommend! I bought another copy for a buddy who just got back from the mission field.

[Clayton Tune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Give it a try.

[Fit For Faith 〣 Your Christian Ministry. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good translation of the divinely inspired Greek Old Testament, but sadly including the Apocrypha which had not even been written in the time of the writing of the GOT.

The first 5 apocryphal books had been initiated during the translation of the Greek Pentateuch (LXX, ~250 BC), but the first 11 apocryphal books had only been completed by the time of CHRISTOS and therefore 140 years after the completion of the Greek Old Testament (~140 BC), while the full number of 15 apocryphal books had only been completed by ~100 AD, approx. 240 years after the Greek OT.

To now include the full collection of apocryphal books in the year 2007 into the Bible, just because some 5th century codices added those to the earlier scrolls, is not worthy of a biblical, nor an academic approach.

[Abigail]

Started in 2015 for a modified version of the How to Change Your Mind Bible reading plan (instead of using one translation for all the read-throughs, I'm using a different translation each time).

Have read so far:
Genesis - Feb.-Apr. 2016
Job - July-Aug. 2017
Ruth - April 13, 2019

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent tool to read alongside my study bible (which uses the NRSV) to help me understand alternate texts. I don't read ancient Greek (or modern Greek, either) so this book allowed me to still do some comparison between the NRSV translation of the Hebrew OT and the Greek OT.