GREEK
VERSIONS
OF
OT
and
English
translators
followed
Jerome
in
adopting
the
Hebrew
canon,
and
relegated
the
remaining
books
to
the
limbo
of
the
Apocrypha.
The
authority
attaching
to
the
LXX
and
Massoretic
canons
respectively
is
a
matter
of
controversy
which
cannot
be
settled
offhand;
but
the
fact
of
their
divergence
is
certain
and
historically
important.
7.
If
the
LXX
had
come
down
to
us
in
the
state
in
which
it
was
at
the
time
when
its
canon
was
complete
(say
in
the
1st
cent.
B.C.),
it
would
still
have
presented
to
the
critic
problems
more
than
enough,
by
reason
of
its
differences
from
the
Hebrew
in
contents
and
arrange-ment,
and
the
doubt
attaching
to
its
fideUty
as
a
transla-tion;
but
these
difSculties
are
multiplied
tenfold
by
the
modifications
which
it
underwent
between
this
time
and
the
date
to
which
ourearUest
MSS
belong
(4th
cent.
a.d.).
It
has
been
shown
above
that
the
LXX
was
the
Bible
of
the
Greek-speaking
world
at
the
time
when
Christianity
spread
over
it.
It
was
in
that
form
that
the
Gentile
Christians
received
the
OT;
and
they
were
under
no
temptation
to
desert
it
for
the
Hebrew
Bible
(which
was
the
property
of
their
enemies,
the
Jews),
even
if
they
had
been
able
to
read
it.
The
LXX
consequently
became
the
Bible
of
the
early
Christian
Church,
to
which
the
books
of
the
NT
were
added
in
course
of
time.
But
the
more
the
Christians
were
attached
to
the
LXX,
the
less
wiUing
became
the
Jews
to
admit
its
authority
;
and
from
the
time
of
the
activity
of
the
Rabbinical
school
of
Jamnia,
about
the
end
of
the
1st
cent.,
to
which
period
the
fixing
of
the
Massoretic
canon
and
text
may
be
assigned
with
fair
certainty,
they
definitely
repudiated
it.
This
repudiation
did
not,
however,
do
away
with
the
need
which
non-Palestinian
Jews
felt
for
a
Greek
OT;
and
the
result
was
the
production,
in
the
course
of
the
2nd
cent.,
of
no
less
than
three
new
translations.
These
translations,
which
are
known
under
the
names
of
Aquila,
Theodotion,
and
Symmachus,
are
described
below
(§§
16-18)
;
hereit
is
sufficient
to
say
that
they
were
aU
translated
from
the
Massoretic
OT,
and
represent
it
with
different
degrees
of
fideUty,
from
the
pedantic
verbal
imitation
of
Aquila
to
the
literary
freedom
of
Symmachus.
By
the
beginning
of
the
3rd
cent,
there
were,
therefore,
four
Greek
versions
of
the
OTin
the
field,
besides
portions
of
others
which
will
be
mentioned
below.
8.
Such
was
the
state
of
things
when
Origen
(a.d.
185-253),
the
greatest
scholar
produced
by
the
early
Church,
entered
the
field
of
textual
criticism.
His
labours
therein
had
the
most
far-reaching
effect
on
the
fortunes
of
the
LXX,
and
are
the
cause
of
a
large
part
of
our
difficulties
in
respect
of
its
text
to-day.
Struck
by
the
discrepancies
between
the
LXX
and
the
Heb.,
he
conceived
the
idea
of
a
vast
work
which
should
set
the
facts
plainly
before
the
student.
This
was
the
Hexapla,
or
sixfold
version
of
the
OT,
in
which
six
versions
were
set
forth
in
six
parallel
columns.
The
six
versions
were
as
follows
—
(1)
the
Hebrew
text;
(2)
the
same
transUterated
in
Greek
characters;
(3)
the
version
of
Aquila,
which
of
all
the
versions
was
the
nearest
to
the
Hebrew;
(4)
the
version
of
Symmachus;
(6)
his
own
edition
of
the
LXX;
(6)
the
version
of
Theodotion.
In
the
case
of
the
Psalms,
no
less
than
three
additional
Greek
versions
were
included,
of
which
very
little
is
known;
they
are
called
simply
Quinta,
Sexta,
and
Sepiima.
Elsewhere
also
there
is
occasional
evidence
of
an
additional
version
having
been
included
;
but
these
are
unimportant.
A
separate
copy
of
the
four
main
Greek
versions
was
also
made,
and
was
known
as
the
Tetrapla.
The
principal
extant
fragment
of
a
MS
of
the
Hexapla
(a
10th
cent,
palimpsest
at
Milan,
containing
about
11
Psalms)
omits
the
Hebrew
column,
but
makes
up
the
total
of
six
by
a
column
containing
various
isolated
readings.
The
only
other
fragment
is
a
7th
cent,
leaf
discovered
at
Cairo
in
a
genizah
(or
receptacle
for
damaged
and
disused
synagogue
MSS),
and
now
at
Cambridge.
It
contains
Ps
22«-i«-
2»-28,
and
has
been
edited
by
Dr.
C.
Taylor
(Cairo
•Genizah
Palimpsests,
1900).
Origen's
Hebrew
text
was
substan-
GREEK
VERSIONS
OF
OT
tially
identical
with
the
Massoretic;
and
Aq.,
Symm.,
and
Theod.,
as
has
been
stated
above,
were
translations
from
it;
but
the
LXX,
in
view
of
its
wide
and
frequent
discrepancies,
received
special
treatment.
Passages
present
in
the
LXX,
but
wanting
in
the
Heb.,
were
marked
with
an
obelus
(
—
or
-h)
;
passages
wanting
in
the
LXX,
but
present
in
the
Heb.,
were
supplied
from
Aq.
or
Theod.,
and
marked
with
an
asterisk
(*);
the
close
of
the
passage
to
which
the
signs
appUed
being
marked
by
a
metobelus
(:
or
7.
or
X).
In
cases
of
divergences
in
arrangement,
the
order
of
the
Heb.
was
followed
(except
in
Prov.),
and
the
text
of
the
LXX
was
considerably
corrected
so
as
to
bring
it
into
better
conformity
with
the
Heb.
The
establishment
of
such
a
conformity
was
in
fact
Origen's
main
object,
though
his
conscience
as
a
scholar
and
his
reverence
for
the
LXX
did
not
allow
him
altogether
to
cast
out
passages
which
occurred
in
it,
even
though
they
had
no
sanction
in
the
Hebrew
text
as
he
knew
it.
9.
The
great
MSS
of
the
Hexapla
and
Tetrapla
were
preserved
for
a
long
time
in
the
library
established
by
Origen's
disciple,
Pamphilus,
at
Csesarea,
and
references
are
made
to
them
in
the
scholia
and
subscriptions
of
some
of
the
extant
MSS
of
the
LXX
(notably
N
and
Q).
So
long
as
they
were
in
existence,
with
their
apparatus
of
critical
signs,
the
work
of
Origen
in
confusing
the
Gr.
and
Heb.
texts
of
the
OT
could
always
be
undone,
and
the
original
texts
of
the
LXX
substantially
restored.
But
MSS
so
huge
could
not
easily
be
copied,
and
the
natural
tendency
was
to
excerpt
the
LXX
column
by
itself,
as
representing
a
Greek
text
improved
by
restora-tion
to
more
authentic
form.
Such
an
edition,
contain-ing
Origen's
fifth
column,
with
its
apparatus
of
critical
signs,
was
produced
early
in
the
4th
cent,
by
Pam-philus,
the
founder
of
the
library
at
Csesarea,
an3
his
disciple
Eusebius;
and
almost
simultaneously
two
fresh
editions
of
the
LXX
were
pubUshed
in
the
two
principal
provinces
of
Greek
Christianity,
by
Hesychius
at
Alexandria,
and
by
Lucian
at
Antioch.
It
is
from
these
three
editions
that
the
majority
of
the
extant
MSS
of
the
LXX
have
descended
;
but
the
intricacies
of
the
descent
are
indescribably
great.
In
the
case
of
Hexa-plaric
MSS,
the
inevitable
tendency
of
scribes
was
to
omit,
more
or
less
completely,
the
critical
signs
which
distinguished
the
true
LXX
text
from
the
passages
imported
from
Aq.
or
Theod.;
the
versions
of
Aq.,
Theod.,
and
Symm.
have
disappeared,
and
exist
now
only
in
fragments,
so
that
we
cannot
distinguish
all
such
interpolations
with
certainty;
Hexaplaric,
Hesychian,
and
Lucianic
MSS
acted
and
reacted
on
one
another,
so
that
it
is
very
difficult
to
identify
MSS
as
containing
one
or
other
of
these
editions;
and
although
some
MSS
can
be
assigned
to
one
or
other
of
them
with
fair
confidence,
the
majority
contain
mixed
and
un-determined
texts.
The
task
of
the
textual
critic
who
would
get
behind
all
this
confusion
of
versions
and
recen-sions
is
consequently
very
hard,
and
the
problem
has
as
yet
by
no
means
been
completely
solved.
10.
The
materials
for
its
solution
are,
as
in
the
NT,
threefold
—
Manuscripts,
Versions,
Patristic
Quota-tions;
and
these
must
be
briefly
described.
The
earliest
MSS
are
fragments
on
papyrus,
some
of
which
go
back
to
the
3rd
century.
About
16
in
all
are
at
present
known,
the
most
important
being
(i)
Oxyrhynchus
Pap.
656
(early
3rd
cent.),
containing
parts
of
Gn
14-27,
where
most
of
the
great
vellum
MSS
are
defective;
(ii)
Brit.
Mus.
Pap.
37
(7th
cent.),
sometimes
known
as
U,
containing
the
greater
part
of
Ps
10-34
[it
is
by
a
mere
misunderstanding
that
Heinrici,
followed
by
Rahlfs,
quotes
the
authority
of
Wilcken
for
assigning
this
MS
to
the
4th
cent.;
Wilcken's
opinion
related
to
another
Psalter-fragment
in
the
British
Museum
(Pap.
230)];
(iii)
a
Leipzig
papyrus
(4th
cent.),
containing
Ps
30-55,
the
first
five
being
considerably
mutilated;
(iv)
a
papyrus
at
Heidelberg
(7th
cent.),
containing
Zee
4"-Mal
#.
A
papyrus
at
Berlin,
containing
about
