^[1] An English translation of Aristeas is available in James Hamilton Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1983–1985), 2:7-34.

^[2] “The overarching goal behind the establishment of the library was to collect all books in the world. In order to enhance the holdings, manuscripts were acquired by both honest and dishonest means. It is said that Ptolemy III Euergetes confiscated manuscripts from passengers who sailed into Alexandria, had them copied, and kept the originals but returned the copies.” Andrew D. Clarke, “Alexandrian Library,” ed. Craig A Evans and Stanley E Porter, Dictionary of New Testament Background (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 26.

^[3] Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:15.

^[4] For a variety of reasons, scholars doubt the accuracy of the report, but it is the earliest and most authoritative version of the Septuagint’s origin.

^[5] Josephus, Antiquities 12:11–118.

^[6] Philo, Life of Moses II.25–44.

^[7] b. Megillah 9a–b, y. Megillah 1:9.

^[8] Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 31, Dialogue 68; Tertullian, Apology 18; Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 1.22; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.8.

^[9] Philo, Life of Moses II.37–40. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 5.8.

^[10] The modern critical edition of the Septuagint is the Göttingen Septuagint, a massive collection of advanced volumes that are accessible only by scholars of multiple languages and technical terminology. John William Wevers et al., eds., Göttingen Septuagint, 24 vols. (Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967–2008). A helpful two-part introduction to using the Göttingen Septuagint may be found here: Abram K-J, “How to Read and Understand the Göttingen Septuagint: A Short Primer, Part 1,” Words on the Word, November 4, 2012, accessed December 1, 2022, https://abramkj.com/2012/11/04/how-to-read-and-understand-the-gottingen-septuagint-a-short-primer-part-1/.

^[11] “Already in the third century, competence in Hebrew could no longer be assumed for Egyptian Jews. Practically all their synagogue and grave inscriptions, as well as nearly all their names, are Greek.” Martin Hengel, Roland Deines, and Mark E. Biddle, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon (Edinburgh, Scotland: T&T Clark, 2002), 80.

^[12] An early debate on this topic may be found in Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 67, 71. In the subsequent sections of the Dialogue, Justin makes accusations that Jews had removed verses from the Septuagint. Justin’s accusations against Jews are just as baseless as Rabbi Tovia Singer’s claims against Christians.

^[13] The literature on Isaiah 7:14 is extensive. Besides discussions in academic commentaries on Isaiah as a whole, the verse has been dealt with in monographs, journals, and treatises for centuries.

^[14] These passages are not handled with depth in this article. They are addressed elsewhere on Chosen People Answers.

^[15] For more on “the Three,” see our Textual Criticism 101 article on Chosen People Answers.

^[16] There were exceptions, such as Jews living under Byzantine rule.

^[17] Leonard J. Greenspoon, “Bible: Translations,” ed. Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House, 2007), 3:595-98.

^[18] See Textual Criticism 101 for more about these text families.

^[19] Some recommended primers include: Karen H. Jobes and Moisés Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint, Second Edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015); James K. Aitken, ed., The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint (London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2015); Natalio Fernández Marcos, The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible (Leiden: Brill, 2000); Hengel, Deines, and Biddle, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon; Timothy Michael Law, When God Spoke Greek: The Septuagint and the Making of the Christian Bible (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); Mogens Müller, The First Bible of the Church: A Plea for the Septuagint, vol. 206 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996); Emanuel Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint (Atlanta, GA: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999).

^[20] Tovia Singer, “A Christian Defends Matthew by Insisting That the Author of the First Gospel Relied on the Septuagint When He Quoted Isaiah to Support the Virgin Birth,” Outreach Judaism, n.d., accessed November 17, 2022, https://outreachjudaism.org/septuagint-virgin-birth/.

^[21] Tovia Singer, “Is the Septuagint A Theological Crime Scene?,” Outreach Judaism, n.d., accessed November 17, 2022, https://outreachjudaism.org/is-the-septuagint-a-theological-crime-scene/.

^[22] Tovia Singer, “A Closer Look at the ‘Crucifixion Psalm,’” Outreach Judaism, n.d., accessed November 17, 2022, https://outreachjudaism.org/crucifixion-psalm/.

^[23] Singer, “A Closer Look at the ‘Crucifixion Psalm.’”

^[24] Singer, “A Christian Defends Matthew.”

^[25] Rabbi Tovia Singer Reveals Church Used the “Septuagint” to Conceal Corruption of Jewish Scriptures, 2018, accessed November 18, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SxtDOfDbNs; Rabbi Tovia Singer Reveals Church Used the “Septuagint” to Conceal Corruption of Jewish Scriptures; Rabbi Tovia Singer Unhinges the Septuagint and Greek, 2020, accessed November 18, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os0NWGbrC70.

^[26] Tovia Singer, Let’s Get Biblical, New Expanded Edition. (Forest Hills, NY: Outreach Judaism, 2014), 1:49-50, 63, 2:51-57.

^[27] Asher Norman appears to repeat abbreviated versions of Singer’s exact claims yet without attribution. Asher Norman, Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus (Los Angeles, CA: Black White & Read, 2008), 96–97.

^[28] As of this writing in 2022, I have only found one author who has written a rebuttal of Tovia Singer’s claims: Steve Rudd, “10 Archeological Proofs the Septuagint Tanakh Was Translated by Jews Before 150 BC,” The Interactive Bible, last modified 2017, accessed November 18, 2022, https://www.bible.ca/manuscripts/Septuagint-LXX-Greek-Bible-entire-Tanakh-39-books-translated-complete-by-150BC.htm. While this article shows a considerable amount of care and scholarly sophistication, I find the presentation practically unreadable, and the attitude displayed by the author is ungracious. It will not be cited further in this article.

^[29] Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum, eds., “Septuagint,” Encyclopaedia Judaica (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House, 2007), 18:307.

^[30] Alexander A. Di Lella, “Wisdom of Ben-Sira,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992).

^[31] That is, the portion of the Septuagint that included works that were not originally part of the Hebrew Bible. Another apocryphal work in the Septuagint includes 1 Maccabees, which relates the story of Hanukkah in the second century BCE.

^[32] Moshe Zevi Segal, “Wisdom of Ben Sira,” ed. Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House, 2007), 377.

^[33] Rick Brannan et al., eds., The Lexham English Septuagint (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012).

^[34] “[I]t is more generally held that the versions of the Former and Latter Prophets must be placed before the end of the third century B.C.E., and that at least some of the Hagiographa were already translated at the beginning of the second century B.C.E., since the prologue to the Greek Ben-Sira (132 B.C.E.) refers to an already existing version of the "the Law, the Prophets, and the other writings." It is therefore accepted that a complete version of the Hebrew Bible existed at least at the beginning of the first century C.E.” Suzanne Daniel, “Bible: Translations,” ed. Geoffrey Wigoder and Fern Seckbach, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd., 1997).

^[35] “Over the next century [the second century BCE], the books of the Prophets were also translated, as were most of the books of the Writings. By 116 B.C.E., the grandson of Ben Sira (who translated Ben Sira/Ecclesiasticus into Greek) refers to Greek versions of all but a few books of the Writings.” Paul V.M. Fescher, “Privileged Translations of Scripture,” ed. Jacob Neusner, Alan J. Avery-Peck, and William Scott Green, The Encyclopaedia of Judaism (Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2000), 3:1310-11.

^[36] “It is not known when the other books of the Bible were rendered into Greek. The grandson of Ben Sira (132 b.c.), in the prologue to his translation of his grandfather’s work, speaks of the “Law, Prophets, and the rest of the books” as being already current in his day. A Greek Chronicles is mentioned by Eupolemus (middle of second century b.c.); Aristeas, the historian, quotes Job; a foot-note to the Greek Esther seems to show that that book was in circulation before the end of the second century b.c.; and the Septuagint Psalter is quoted in 1 Macc. 7:17. It is therefore more than probable that the whole of the Bible was translated into Greek before the beginning of the Christian era.” Richard Gottheil, “Bible Translations,” ed. Isidore Singer, The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1901–1906), 3:186.

^[37] An annotated version of the manuscripts is also available here: Steve Rudd, “Greek Scroll Twelve Minor Prophets Nahal Hever 50 BC: Septuagint Translation of 8HevXIIgr,” The Interactive Bible, last modified November 2017, accessed November 20, 2022, https://www.bible.ca/manuscripts/bible-manuscripts-Septuagint-twelve-Greek-Minor-prophets-scroll-Nahal-Hever-Bar-Kochba-Cave-of-Horrors-letters-Dodekapropheton-Greek-8HevXIIgr-50BC.htm.

^[38] “Manuscript data was assembled first based on H.B. Swete's Introduction, which was then consulted and expanded with information found on Wikipedia’s Septuagint Manuscripts page. Where questions arose, the list at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities was consulted. As several institutions that hold Septuagint manuscripts also hold New Testament manuscripts, information on holding institutions was reconciled with data from the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung (INTF) and, where possible, uses the INTF list as the authority for institution name, location, and URL.” Rick Brannan, ed., Septuagint Manuscript Explorer (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2015). The Wikipedia page of Septuagint manuscripts is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint_manuscripts.

^[39] Professionally trained and employed scribes working from scriptoria did not appear in Christian circles until the fourth century CE. Before that time, manuscript production was unregulated and commonly done by private individuals and communities. Bruce M. Metzger and Bart D. Ehrman, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration, 4th edition. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 24–25.

^[40] Esther F:11, Brannan et al., The Lexham English Septuagint.

^[41] Kelly A. Whitcomb and Trisha Wheelock, “Additions to Esther,” ed. John D. Barry, The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

^[42] Albert I. Baumgarten and S. David Sperling, “Scroll of Esther,” ed. Fred Skolnik and Michael Berenbaum, Encyclopaedia Judaica (Detroit, MI: Macmillan Reference USA in association with the Keter Pub. House, 2007), 18:218.

^[43] However, Josephus usually paraphrases biblical texts and does not quote word-for-word. Josephus’ dependence on the LXX must often be proved by shared ideas and details. Hengel, Deines, and Biddle, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon, 102.

^[44] Eugene Ulrich, “Josephus’ Biblical Text for the Books of Samuel,” in Josephus, the Bible, and History, ed. Louis H. Feldman and Gohei Hata (Leiden: Brill, 1989), 85.

^[45] For example, in Wars 6.311, Josephus paraphrases the LXX of Daniel 9:27 (v. 25 in Hebrew), rendering “πλάτος καὶ μῆκος” in the LXX as “τετράγωνον.” It is unlikely that Josephus was paraphrasing the Hebrew “רְחֹוב וְחָרוּץ.”

^[46] Herbert Edward Ryle, Philo and Holy Scripture: Or, The Quotations of Philo from the Books of the Old Testament (London; New York: Macmillan and Co., 1895). Hengel comments, “According to Leisegang’s index, Philo cites roughly 1100 passages from the Pentateuch (roughly a third from Genesis, followed by Exodus, while the three remaining books play a relatively minor role), but only forty-seven texts from other books (seventeen from the Psalms, twelve from Kings, eleven from the prophetic books, Proverbs four times, and one each from Joshua, Judges and Job). The so-called ‘apocrypha’ do not appear at all.” Hengel, Deines, and Biddle, The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of Its Canon, 78–79.

^[47] For example, On Drunkenness 36 / 1 Sam 1:14; On the Change of Names 6 / Job 14:4.

^[48] For example, Planting 33 & Names 24 / Hosea 14:9–10; Confusion 14 / Zech 6:12.

^[49] Charles Duke with Philo of Alexandria Yonge, The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995), 400.

^[50] For an extensive survey, see F.C. Burkitt and Louis Ginsberg, “Aquila,” ed. Isidore Singer, The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1901–1906), 2:34-38.

^[51] Soderlund writes, “Influenced by Rabbi Akiba and his school of strict exegesis, where every particle and minute detail of the Hebrew text was sacred, Aquila attempted to reproduce the Hebrew text word for word in Greek, without regard to Greek grammar or syntax. An illustration of Aquila’s style is Gen. 1:1, which might be rendered into English, ‘In heading founded God with the heaven and with the earth.’ ‘Heading’ was selected because the Hebrew word for ‘beginning’ was a derivative of ‘head,’ while ‘with’ represents the untranslatable sign of the Hebrew accusative (ʾeṯ̱), which is indistinguishable from the preposition ‘with.’” S.K. Soderlund, “Septuagint,” in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, ed. Geoffrey William Bromiley, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1979–1988), 4:404.

^[52] Frederick Field and Origen, Origenis Hexaplorum Quae Supersunt Sive, Veterum Interpretum Graecorum in Totum Vetus Testamentum Fragmenta., 2 vols. (Oxford, UK: E typographeo Clarendoniano, 1875), https://archive.org/details/origenhexapla01unknuoft.

^[53] Field and Origen, Origenis Hexalporum, 2:443. In the late second century, Irenaeus commented, “So God became man, and the Lord Himself saved us, having Himself given the sign of the Virgin. Consequently, the interpretation of certain ones who dare to explain the Scripture thus: Behold, a young girl (νεανις) will conceive and bear a son, is not true. Among these are Theodotion of Ephesus and Aquila of Pontus, both of them Jewish proselytes…. This was indeed prophesied before the transmigration of the people into Babylon took place, that is, before the Medes and the Persians acquired dominion. It was, however, translated into Greek by the Jews themselves a long time before our Lord’s coming, so that there is no room for suspicion that the Jews did so to accommodate themselves to us.” Irenaeus of Lyons, Against the Heresies, Book 3, ed. M. C. Steenberg, vol. 64 (Mahwah, NJ: The Newman Press, 2012), 97–98.

^[54] Jennifer M. Dines and Michael A. Knibb, The Septuagint (London;  New York: T&T Clark, 2004), 86.

^[55] See footnotes 20 through 26 for a summary of the written sources reviewed to make this assertion.

^[56] See footnotes 20 through 26 for a summary of the written sources reviewed to make this assertion.

^[57] Soderlund, “Septuagint,” 4:404.

^[58] A fourth-century CE date is likely due to the presence of Rav Pappa, Abayye, and Ashi in the preceding discussion.

^[59] Singer, “A Closer Look at the ‘Crucifixion Psalm.’”

^[60] Singer, “A Closer Look at the ‘Crucifixion Psalm.’”

^[61] Natalio Fernández Marcos interacts with the following theories: Septuagint as a Greek Targum, Alexandrian origin in the Maccabean period, Palestinian origin, liturgical origin, the “transcription theory,” the “proto-Septuagint,” and other minor theories. Fernández Marcos, The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible, 53–66.

^[62] Greenspoon, “Bible: Translations,” 3:596.

^[63] Singer does not mention that there are various lists of supposed Septuagint changes in rabbinic literature, and they do not all agree. For example, Talmud Yerushalmi lists thirteen changes (not fifteen), and some of the supposed changes are different (y. Megillah 1:9). Tov summarizes, “The principal sources for the rabbinic tradition are: b. Meg. 9a; y. Meg. 1, 1, 4., p. 72a; Mek. Exod 12, 40; Midr. Hagadol Exod 4, 20; Abot de-R. Nat. version B, chapter 37; Soph. 1. 7; Yal. Shim. Gen 3; Midr. Tan. Exod para 22. Additional sources are listed in Higger, Soferim, 101 . . . . The various sources list a different number of alterations and at times explicitly state the number at the head of the list. Thus Abot de-R. Nat. and Midr. Tan. Exod paragraph 22 mentions 10 alterations (although the lists include 11 or 14 instances) and Midr. Hagadol on Exod 4:20 and Deut 4:19 mentions 18 alterations (the list in Exodus includes only 16 alterations). Other lists do not indicate any number at the head of their lists: b. Meg. 9a; Mek. Exod 12:40; Yal. Shim. Gen, paragraph 3. It would be natural to assume that the shortest list (10 or 11 alterations) reflects the original formulation of the rabbinic tradition, expanded by the longer lists; however, the list and the story associated with it developed not only by expansion but also by abridgment. The sources mentioning 13 or 15 alterations are the most widespread and presumably reflect the central tradition. The difference between these two traditions lies in the inclusion or exclusion of passages 10 and 11.” Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 1–2.

^[64] Jacob Neusner, The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2011), 7b:41-42.

^[65] “[T]he passages listed in Hebrew refer to the Greek translation of the Torah, which is quoted in the list in Hebrew retroversion.” Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 7. Tov gives a line-by-line analysis of the fifteen Hebrew-Greek quotations. The Hebrew and the William Davidson English translation may be consulted on Sefaria here: https://www.sefaria.org/Megillah.9a.11?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en

^[66] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 1–20; Lawrence H. Schiffman, “Early Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism,” ed. John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010). Tov’s essay was originally published in journal form here: Emanuel Tov, “The Rabbinic Tradition Concerning the ‘alterations’ Inserted into the Greek Pentateuch and Their Relation to the Original Text of the LXX,” Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Period 15 (1984): 65–89. An older analysis by a Christian Hebraist may be found in Bernhard Pick, “Septuagint, Talmudic Notices Concerning The,” ed. John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature (New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1891).

^[67] See Textual Criticism 101 for an explanation of the Samaritan Pentateuch, a version of the Torah preserved (and also modified) by the Samaritan community.

^[68] Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2:679.

^[69] Field and Origen, Origenis Hexalporum, 1:34.

^[70] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 19.

^[71] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 13.

^[72] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 15.

^[73] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 7.

^[74] John Whitehorne, “Ptolemy (Person),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York, NY: Doubleday, 1992), 5:542.

^[75] Lawrence H. Schiffman, “Early Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism,” ed. John J. Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), 285.

^[76] Tov, The Greek and Hebrew Bible: Collected Essays on the Septuagint, 8.

^[77] Fernandez Marcos cites a German scholar, K. Müller, who counted five as well. Fernández Marcos, The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Version of the Bible, 45.

^[78] The procedure for finding sources was to use a combination of Logos Bible Software’s “Ancient Literature” feature, searching for LXX wording across my Greek sources in Logos, and looking at Field’s Hexapla renderings.

^[79] Eduard Lohse, “Ῥαββί, Ῥαββουνί,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey William Bromiley, trans. Geoffrey William Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964), 9:963.

^[80] Although it should be noted that there are some Orthodox Jewish scholars who value the Septuagint in ways that Rabbi Singer does not. See below.

^[81] Moses Maimonides, פרקי אבות: Including Shemoneh Perakim, the Rambam’s Classic Work of Ethics and Maimonides’ Introduction to Perek Chelek Which Contains His 13 Principles of Faith, trans. Eliyahu Touger (Brooklyn, NY: Moznaim Publishing Corporation, 1994), 179. Modern Orthodox scholar Marc Shapiro writes, “The standard version of Maimonides’ Commentary on the Mishnah does not contain the words ‘this entire Torah which is found in our hands today’. It does appear in the accurate Kafih edition as well as in the Ani ma’amin.” Marc B. Shapiro, The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised (Portland, OR: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2004), 91.

^[82] Hebrew text from “The 13 Principles of the Jewish Faith,” Chabad of Israel, accessed November 29, 2022, http://www.chabad.org.il/Articles/Article.asp?ArticleID=1955&CategoryID=150.

^[83] Josh Yuter, “Biblical Criticism for the Shomer Torah,” YUTOPIA, July 24, 2013, accessed November 29, 2022, https://joshyuter.com/2013/07/24/random-acts-of-scholarship/biblical-criticism-for-the-shomer-torah/.

^[84] Shapiro, The Limits of Orthodox Theology.

^[85] For extensive examples of textual corruptions in the Masoretic textual tradition, see Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded. (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012).