Product Guide to Resources for Septuagint Study

The Septuagint (commonly abbreviated "LXX") is a Greek translation of the Old Testament. It is one of the earliest translations of the Old Testament available, completed before New Testament times. As such, the Septuagint is valuable both to classical scholars and Biblical scholars because it provides a snapshot of Hellenistic Judaism at the time of the translation of the Septuagint. Today, more than 2000 years after the Septuagint was completed, we can see how Hebrew terms and concepts were translated into Greek for use by Hellenistic Jews. This provides insight to students of the whole Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. Old Testament scholars can garner a better understanding of how the Old Testament was understood and practiced based on the translation into Greek. New Testament scholars gain access to a version of the Old Testament comparable to what New Testament writers used. Linguists can embark on etymological studies, to compare Septuagint usage of a term with New Testament usage.

Septuaginta

The Logos Septuaginta is based on work done at the Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) at the University of Pennsylvania. Each word is tagged with its lexical form (or "lemma") and fully morphologically analyzed. English glosses have also been added to each word.

The morph-tagged Septuagint can be unlocked individually or can be purchased along with other original language texts and tools in Scholar's Library Silver Edition, Scholar's Library, or Biblical Languages Supplement (an add-on product for those who already own a base library).

The Parallel Aligned Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture

In addition to the morphologically analyzed Septuagint, Logos offers another resource for the student familiar with Hebrew and Greek: The Parallel Aligned Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture. This helpful resource uses the Hebrew text as a base, and provides an interlinear lining-up of the Septuagint Greek with the Hebrew words. This type of association is a boon to students who want to study different concepts or topics from the early days of the Old Testament through New Testament usage. Consider C.H. Dodd's statement on the importance of this type of information:

The fundamental document of Hellenistic Judaism is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, commonly known as the Septuagint, which was made, to speak broadly, during the three centuries preceding the Christian Era. Translation is an impossible art, for the words of one language seldom or never convey precisely the same ideas as the corresponding words of another language. Besides philological differences in the words themselves, there are differences in the associations which the words have acquired in different contexts of thought and experience. Thus the words of the Hebrew Scriptures, in passing into Greek, partly lost one set of associations, and partly gained a new set, while at the same time the Greek words used in translation may have acquired something of the value of the Hebrew words they represent. If we can recover in some measure the associations of the Greek words, and compare them with the associations of the Hebrew words, we may do something towards fixing the meaning which the words would henceforth bear in Hellensitic Judaism, and wherever the influence of Hellenistic Judaism extended. (Dodd, C.H., The Bible and the Greeks, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1935, pp. xi-xii.)

The Parallel Aligned Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Texts of Jewish Scripture can be unlocked individually or can be purchased along with other original language texts and tools in The Original Languages Library or The Scholar's Library: Gold Edition.

Lexicons

In addition to source texts of the Septuagint, Logos also offers a lexicon tailored for use with the Septuagint: A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. This lexicon is included in Scholar's Library Silver Edition, Biblical Languages Supplement, can be unlocked individually, and is also available from the German Bible Society as part of their Stuttgart Electronic Study Bible.

Classical Greek lexicons are also helpful in one's study of the Septuagint. Logos offers the Granddaddy of them all: A Greek-English Lexicon, commonly referred to as "Liddell-Scott-Jones", "Liddell & Scott", or simply "LSJ". This is the full, unabridged edition of this classic lexicon with its most recent supplement fully integrated. This is the lexicon used by classicists and biblical scholars alike. Note that Logos also offers the intermediate edition of this lexicon, titled An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, which may prove helpful to obtain shorter abridged defintions of many classical Greek words.

Additional Titles

• The Septuagint (available in the Understanding the Bible and its World Collection). Jennifer Dines provides a survey of current scholarship on the Greek Bible, outlining its origins, history, relationship to the Hebrew text and ongoing value to biblical studies.
• Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel. Driver's Notes argues for many Septuagint readings over the MT text as we have it today.
• The Septuaging as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon, part of the Second Temple Period Collection currently gathering interest on our pre-publication program. Other volumes in this collection also relate to the Septuagint, such as commentaries on Sirach, 1 Maccabees, Tobit and Esther.
• The Library of Hebrew Bible/OT Studies: JSOTS on Nevi'im (7 volumes currently gathering interest on our pre-publication program) contains two books comparing the Septuagint to the Hebrew Bible: The Open and Sealed Book: Jeremiah 32 in its Hebrew and Greek Recensions and When We All Go Home: Translation and Theology in LXX Isaiah 56-66.
• The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Research makes a sustained argument for the influence of the Greek Jewish Scriptures on the New Testament and offers basic principles for bridging the research gap between these two critical texts.

Conclusion

Logos Bible Software offers a bounty of resources to assist you with studying the Septuagint. Whether your interest is simple word study or in-depth etymological comparisons, these resources are available to help your study of this valuable yet often overlooked area of Bible study.