[B-Greek] LXX question
Carl Conrad
cwconrad2 at mac.com
Mon Dec 15 05:00:55 EST 2008
On Dec 15, 2008, at 12:06 AM, Derek Flood (sharktacos) wrote:
> I've often heard that the LXX was the "official" Old Testament of
> both Jews and Christians around the time of Jesus. I'm wondering
> what the actual evidence for this is? Clearly it was widely used,
> and was the text used when the NT authors quoted the OT, but does it
> follow that there was no Hebrew Bibles, and that no Jew could read
> Hebrew at the time? Does it follow that Jesus could not read Hebrew
> and was educated in Greek?
>
> I've only been able to find texts that make this above claim for the
> LXX, but don't give any detail to back it up. So I'm hoping someone
> here can help me fill in the details, or point me to a good book
> that can.
>
> thanks,
> Derek Flood
This is really a background question rather than one that focuses
directly on the Greek text or the Greek language of the Bible. The
most significant evidence, I should think, is the fact that by far the
greater portion of Old Testament material cited in NT texts is clearly
drawn from the LXX; along with the fact that the NT itself, even if it
may derive in some parts from original Aramaic sources, is entirely
Greek and promulgated originally among a Greek-speaking population
that could only comprehend the OT scriptures in Greek translation.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Retired)
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list