Septuagint

Codex Vaticanus, with the Greek text of First Esdras

Codex Vaticanus, with the Greek text of First Esdras

Septuagint is the ancient Greek translation tradition of Israel's Scriptures, received widely by early Christians and deeply influential on the New Testament and liturgy.

Theological status: Theological synthesis

A collection of Greek translations

Septuagint, often abbreviated LXX, names a body of Greek translations and textual forms produced by Jewish communities over several centuries, beginning with the Pentateuch in the third century before Christ. The traditional story of seventy or seventy-two translators expresses its revered antiquity but should not be treated as a modern account of every book's composition.

The surviving manuscripts are not one mechanically uniform edition. They witness different translation styles, revisions, and arrangements, and they sometimes preserve readings older than the medieval Hebrew Masoretic tradition.

Christian reception

New Testament authors frequently quote Scripture in Greek forms close to the Septuagint, and the early Church used it extensively in preaching, theology, and worship. Its wider manuscript tradition includes books Catholics call deuterocanonical, although ancient codices do not all contain an identical table of contents.

Catholic esteem for the Septuagint does not imply that it supersedes Hebrew and Aramaic witnesses in every passage. Dei Verbum honors the ancient Greek version while modern Catholic exegesis compares all relevant textual evidence.

Text, canon, and translation

The Septuagint should not be equated simply with the Catholic Old Testament, nor with a single Greek manuscript. Its textual history matters because Greek translations sometimes differ from the Masoretic Text, preserve a different Hebrew Vorlage, or reflect a translator's interpretation. Catholic biblical study therefore compares the best available Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, and ancient-version evidence rather than presuming one witness settles every question.

The Greek corpus is also important to the history of the canon. Some manuscripts transmit books Catholics receive as deuterocanonical, but manuscript contents and book order vary. The Catholic canon rests on the Church's reception of Scripture, not on an assertion that every ancient Greek codex contains one fixed modern table of contents.

In worship and interpretation

Greek biblical language shaped the vocabulary of the New Testament, the Fathers, and early Christian liturgy. Quotations may follow the Septuagint closely, adapt it, or translate afresh; the relationship must be examined passage by passage. This prevents both anachronism and the claim that the New Testament simply reproduces a uniform Greek Bible.

For Catholic readers, the Septuagint is a major witness to the Scriptures as they were heard in the world of early Christianity. It is neither a substitute for historical study nor a merely antiquarian artifact: it helps illuminate the Church's biblical language, lectionary inheritance, and interpretation of Christ in the Old Testament.