[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)






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