Body: | A Greek Septuagint LXX in every Synagogue
Translations: Septuagint was "KJV" of Synagogues and Churches
"Scripture cannot be broken" (Jesus, John 10:35)
Steve Rudd 2017
Abstract:
From the tower of Babel, God knew translations of his inspired word would
be made into hundreds of different languages yet still carry the same
force, authority and message. This is what Jesus meant (in part) when He
said that "scripture cannot be broken" in John 10:35. Today Christians
regard our translations like the King James Version (KJV) or the New
American Standard Bible (NASB) as equal to the autograph in authority. When
a preacher reads from his English Bible it is considered equal to the
inspired word of God. The words of the English Bible are the words of God!
When Jesus began his ministry the Greek translation of the Hebrew Tanakh
had been in use so long throughout the entire world that it was considered
equal to the original Hebrew. Hebrew went extinct around 300 BC as a common
working language of the Jews. At the time of Jesus, Aramaic was the native
language but Greek was the working language of all Jews the world over.
Weekly Synagogue sabbath worship services were conducted entirely in Greek
not Hebrew and the Septuagint was their Bible. Christians regard the
translation KJV as the word of God in exactly the same way that Jews at the
time of Jesus regarded the translation Septuagint. Each of the thousands of
synagogues in and outside Judea used the Septuagint as their standard Bible
for worship, preaching and devotional reading. Augustine in 400 AD makes
this timeless observation true of Jews in 100 BC and Christians today:
"Nevertheless, the Church has adopted the Septuagint as if it were the
only translation. Indeed, Greek-speaking Christians use it so generally
that many of them do not even know that the others exist. From the
Septuagint a Latin translation has been made, and this is the one which the
Latin churches use." (Augustine, City of God 18.43, 400 AD) God foresaw
at the tower of Babel the His word MUST be translated and the Holy Spirit
wrote it in such a way so that the original meaning would transcend the
translation process. In 446 BC, Nehemiah translated Hebrew into Aramaic for
his listeners. In 282 BC seventy two Jewish scholars from Jerusalem
translated the Hebrew Tanakh into Greek for the Jews throughout the world.
In 80 AD, Apostle John translated Aramaic into Greek for his readers.
"Scripture cannot be Broken" even when it is translated!
Introduction:
1. God understood when he created all the languages of men at
the tower of Babel, that His written word would need to be translated into
each of these languages.
2. Here are six times Translations were used by God's people:
a. 446 BC: Nehemiah translated the law from Hebrew into Aramaic
b. 282 BC: The Septuagint is a translation of the entire Old
Testament from Hebrew into Greek.
c. 36-80 AD: New Testament translates Hebrew Old Testament
quotes into Greek:
d. 80 AD: John Translated Greek into Aramaic 5 times in his
gospel:
e. 400 AD: Augustine listed 8 translations of the Bible:
f. Today: Hundreds of translations of the Bible considered
equivalent to the word of God.
3. The Septuagint was to the first century Jews what the King
James Version is to Christians today: The word of God
a. The 39 books of the Greek Tanakh had been translated by Jews
with full approval of the Jerusalem High priests and were the standard
"pulpit Bible" in all the synagogues.
b. When Jesus was handed the Isaiah scroll in His home town
synagogue of Nazareth, it was the Greek Septuagint.
4. The Hebrew language was extinct at the time of Christ as a
working language among the general population:
a. The Jews in Judea including Jesus spoke Aramaic as their
"mother tongue" but the scriptures had never been translated into
Aramaic up this time so they used the Greek Tanakh.
b. Jews in Judea could not speak Hebrew but spoke Aramaic as
their default language and Greek as their working language of commerce.
c. The Jews outside of Judea spoke Greek only.
d. The need for translations of the word of God is and ancient
phenomena
5. Using translations is what Jesus meant (in part) when He
said that "scripture cannot be broken" in John 10:35.
a. Although Jesus could speak true native Hebrew, he did not
teach in this functionally extinct language because the masses spoke
Aramaic, Greek and Latin.
b. Jesus taught in Aramaic and Greek.
I. History of God's People using a translation:
1. 446 BC: Nehemiah translated the law from Hebrew into
Aramaic:
a. "Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had
made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah,
Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael,
Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam on his left hand.
Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing
above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then
Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen,
Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped
the Lord with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah,
Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad,
Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, explained the law to the people while the
people remained in their place. They read from the book, from the law of
God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading."
(Nehemiah 8:4-8)
b. "The first archeological evidence for a synagogue
appears in Schedia, near Alexandria in Egypt, in the third century bce.
Although no synagogues are clearly attested during the period of Ezra and
Nehemiah (late fifth and early fourth centuries bce), the tradition traces
the practice of translating Scripture from Hebrew into Aramaic during a
public reading to Ezra's reading of the Torah to the people of Jerusalem
(Nehemiah 8; b. B. Qam. 82a; Ber. 33a; Meg. 17b). According to Neh 8:7, the
Levites helped the people to understand the Torah by interpreting or giving
meaning to the words." (Zephaniah, M. A. Sweeney, p30, Targum Zephaniah
2003 AD)
2. 282 BC: The Septuagint is a translation of the entire Old
Testament from Hebrew into Greek.
a. 99% of first century Jews could not speak or read Hebrew
and used the Greek version in their Synagogues in and outside of Judea
beginning in 280 BC.
b. The Septuagint was the "standard issue Tanakh" for the
thousands of synagogues at the time of Jesus and was considered equal to
the Hebrew autograph in authority without question.
3. 36-80 AD: New Testament translates Hebrew Old Testament
quotes into Greek:
a. Only the Jerusalem temple elites (High priest and
Sadducees) spoke true Hebrew in the first century.
b. God chose that the New Testament was written in Greek in
282 BC when through His providence, the Hebrew Bible was translated into
Greek (Septuagint).
c. Jesus, Matthew, Paul and the Hebrews writer were
trilingual and translated Hebrew directly into Greek.
i. Jesus astonished the Temple teachers in part, because he spoke
the extinct true Hebrew at age 12: "Then, after three days they found Him
in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them
and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His
understanding and His answers." (Luke 2:46-47)
ii. Jesus defaulted to Aramaic not Hebrew because he cried to God
in Aramaic on the cross: "My God, why have you forsaken me" (Mark 15:34).
iii. Matthew was a tax collector in Capernaum who clearly had a
working understanding of Hebrew based upon the many intricate arguments in
his gospel directly dependant upon knowing Hebrew.
iv. Although Paul was born in Tarsus, he grew up in Jerusalem
from a young child and it is clear that he spoke native true Hebrew. In 36
AD Paul was the "star" of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin being educated under
a Pharisee named Gamaliel: "But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the
Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders
to put the men outside for a short time." (Acts 5:34) ""I am a Jew, born
in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel,
strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as
you all are today." (Acts 22:3)
d. Apostles Mark, Luke and John likely did not speak Hebrew.
4. 80 AD: John Translated Greek into Aramaic 5 times in his
gospel:
a. Five times John Translated Greek into Aramaic for the
diaspora Jews who did not speak Aramaic:
i. "Bethesda" (Jn 5:2) "Now there is in Jerusalem by the
sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew [Aramaic] Bethesda, having
five porticoes." (John 5:2)
ii. "Gabbatha" (Jn 19:13) "Therefore when Pilate heard these
words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place
called The Pavement, but in Hebrew [Aramaic], Gabbatha." (John 19:13)
iii. "Golgatha" (Jn 19:17) "They took Jesus, therefore, and
He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a
Skull, which is called in Hebrew [Aramaic], Golgotha." (John 19:17)
iv. "rabboni" (Jn 20:16) "Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She
turned and said to Him in Hebrew [Aramaic], "Rabboni!" (which means,
Teacher)." (John 20:16)
v. "Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, for the
place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in
Hebrew [Aramaic], Latin and in Greek." (John 19:20)
b. Hebrew had been extinct for close to 400 years when the
gospel of John was written.
i. ""In Hebrew" is usually understood to mean, "in the
language spoken by the Jews," that is "in Aramaic"" (NICNT, Jn 5:2,
1995 AD)
ii. "But as Dalman pointed out, words such as Γαββαθᾶ in
John 19:13 which are described as Ἑβραϊστί are actually Aramaic.
The Greek phrase calls the dialect "Hebrew" only in the sense that
Hebrews or Jews were using it, just as the reference in Daniel 1:4 to the
"tongue of the Chaldeans" does not refer to the native Semitic language
of the Chaldeans but to Aramaic which they had adopted (cf. Dan. 2:4).
(Greek, Hebrew Aramaic, or Syriac?, E. M. Yamauchi, Bibliotheca Sacra, 131,
p322, 1974 AD)
iii. The Judean Jews including Jesus, spoke Aramaic as their
mother tongue but were all fluent in Greek.
iv. John's gospel was to the Greek speaking Christians outside
Judea who did not speak Aramaic so he translated Aramaic words into Greek
throughout his gospel.
5. 400 AD: Augustine listed 8 translations of the Bible:
a. Augustine lists 6 translations of Hebrew into Greek:
Septuagint, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and an anonymous translation
which is known simply as the 'fifth edition.'
b. Augustine lists 2 translations into Latin: Jerome
translated Hebrew into Latin, and the Vulgate translated the Greek
Septuagint into Latin which was the one used by al the churches.
c. "There have, of course, been other translations of the
Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. We have versions by Aquila,
Symmachus, Theodotion, and an anonymous translation which is known simply
as the 'fifth edition.' Nevertheless, the Church has adopted the
Septuagint as if it were the only translation. Indeed, Greek-speaking
Christians use it so generally that many of them do not even know that the
others exist. From the Septuagint a Latin translation has been made, and
this is the one which the Latin churches use. This is still the case
despite the fact that in our own day the priest Jerome, a great scholar and
master of all three tongues, has made a translation into Latin, not from
Greek but directly from the original Hebrew."(Augustine, City of God
18.43, 400 AD)
6. Today: Hundreds of translations of the Bible considered
equivalent to the word of God.
a. English speaking Christians use translations like the
KJV or the NASB and regard them as equal to the autograph in authority and
unquestionably the word of God.
b. A tiny percentage of Christians speak Hebrew (OT) and
Koine Greek (NT) is an extinct language so everyone in the world must rely
upon translations.
7. "Scripture cannot be broken" This is what Jesus meant
when he said
a. God's plan from the Tower of Babel was to have His
inspired words translated into hundreds of languages and still be
authoritative.
b. If God accepts translations as equivalent to His word, we
do well to do the same.
II. God's master plan to prepare the Jewish people for conversion to
Christianity:
Each first century synagogue had three things Christians needed to
convert Jews. God's master plan to provide the Septuagint to 1000's of
synagogues in preparation for the coming of Christianity!
Weekly attendance: An established pattern of weekly attendance which
did not exist in Mosaic Temple worship or anywhere in the Old Testament
scriptures. Being completely optional like Wednesday evening bible study in
churches, only the most spiritual remnant of Jews would attend weekly
Sabbath worship services. It was this remnant who converted to Christianity
immediately!
The Septuagint: A text of the Bible in the language of the common
people (Greek)
A Mikveh: Also known as "The Christian Maker", full immersion
water baptism washed away sins in the name of Jesus and be born again!
See full outline on Synagogue Mikvaot
See full outline on First century Ritual Purity: Mikveh and stone vessels.
All this was part of God's plan in preparation for the birth of
Jesus Christ in 2 BC and the church in 33 AD. After the first attack of
Nebuchadnezzar in 605 BC until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the
Jewish state NEVER again achieved independence except for this tiny 47 year
window under the Hasmoneans.
In God's plan, the purpose of this brief period of Jewish
independence was clearly preparatory for the coming of the Messiah. During
the Maccabean independence the Septuagint Old Testament (LXX) was widely
used being accepted and established as God's inspired word. It was the
Septuagint that Greek speaking Jews and Gentiles would use to confirm Jesus
of Nazareth, was the Christ of Old Testament prophecy.
If anyone challenged the translation, they could visit the Library
of Alexandria read the autograph copy for themselves. Many probably did
just this and became Christians as a result!
Maccabean distribution of the Septuagint to the thousands of
Synagogues in the world:
There was an explosion of Greek translation, copying and
distribution that coincides directly with the Jewish independence under the
Maccabees.
Jewish independence began with the revolt of Matthias and John
Maccabeus in 166 BC. Full independence was reached in 110 BC under John
Hycranus I shortly after the liberation of Tyre in 125 BC from the
Seleucids. Full independence was sustained for only 47 years (110-63 BC)
and came to an end when Pompey captures Jerusalem in 63 BC and appoints
Hycranus II as high priest.
At the beginning of this short period of Jewish independence (110
BC) the Greek translations of the Jewish Old Testament scriptures (the
entire Tanakh) were already fully distributed into the thousands of
synagogues in and outside Judea and became the standard accepted text for
Greek speaking Jews unable to speak Hebrew.
Once the synagogues were all equipped with the Septuagint, God took
independence away from the Maccabees when Herod the Great executed Hycranus
II in Jerusalem in 30 BC. This ensured Jesus would be crucified according
to scriptures under Roman law rather than stoned under Jewish law. We have
an amazing God!
III. The Greek Septuagint (Old Testament) was the "King James Version"
used by Jesus:
The Greek Tanakh (LXX) was the "standard issue, Jerusalem certified"
translation used in every synagogue because Hebrew was functionally extinct
in the world by 100 BC. The Septuagint: Greek translation for a Greek
speaking Jewish population at the time of Jesus:
"If the Septuagint was good enough for Moses... IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!!" (So said Apostle Paul, NOT!)
At the time of Jesus, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) was accepted by the Jews in their Synagogues as "equivalent to" the Hebrew Tanakh. (Old Testament). Christians today view the English KJV or NASB as "equal to" the Greek and Hebrew originals.
At the time of Christ, the prophecies of Christ were accepted in two
languages: Original Hebrew and translated Greek of the Septuagint.
Today we do exactly the same thing as first century Christians. They
had two Bibles available to them: the "original Hebrew" AND the Greek
translation (LXX), but predominately used the Septuagint in daily reading
and evangelistic efforts. We likewise have available to us two Bibles: The
"original Hebrew/Greek" and English translations (NASB/KJV). We use the
English translation today (and not the Greek original) for the same reason
the Apostles used the Greek translation (and not the Hebrew original). Just
as the English NASB/KJV are accepted today as equivalent to the original
languages, so too the Greek Septuagint was accepted as equal to the
original Hebrew Old Testament. Both were accepted equally as the word of
God in the same way our NASB or KJV are today.
The Greek Septuagint became the primary textual tool "lead Jew and
Gentile to Christ". Indeed, the Ethiopian Eunuch's personal Old Testament
was the LXX (Acts 8:26-38) which he had in his possession while in
Jerusalem for the Passover festival when he was reading the Isaiah 53
passage.
Even more important than the fact that the text of Isaiah the Eunuch
was reading was Greek, was that Jewish Philip UNDERSTOOD the Greek words
that the Eunuch was speaking, recognized the passage and accepted it as
authentic scripture: "So he got up and went; and there was an Ethiopian
eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in
charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship, and he
was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet
Isaiah [in Greek]. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this
chariot." Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and
said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well,
how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up
and sit with him. Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was
this: "He was led as a sheep to slaughter; And as a lamb before its
shearer is silent, So He does not open His mouth. "In humiliation His
judgment was taken away; Who will relate His generation? For His life is
removed from the earth." The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please
tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone
else?" Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he
preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water;
and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being
baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you
may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son
of God." And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into
the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him." (Acts
8:26-38)
Finally, the majority of New Testament quotations of Old Testament
prophecies came from the Septuagint. This means the Holy Spirit Himself
considered the Greek translation good enough to be considered equal to the
long lost autograph Hebrew copy written in Paleo-Hebrew script that went
extinct around 550 BC.
In a kind of pre-echo of John the Baptist, the Maccabees "prepared
the way of the Lord" in making the LXX a universally accepted translation
of the Hebrew scriptures during the 103 year period of 166-63 BC of their
rebellion (or as they saw it, attempt at self government).
The day the church was born on Sunday 21 May 33 AD, the apostles
baptized 3000 Jews (Acts 2:41) in Jerusalem (likely in the recently
discovered Olympic size pool of Siloam, Mikveh) and a few weeks later the
men alone numbered 5000 (Acts 4:4). See full outline on the Synagogue
Mikveh.
What is amazing, is that given the Pentecost audience was comprised
of Greek speaking Jews from around the world (Acts 2:5-11) and each
initially heard the apostles speaking in their native-born tongue.
When Peter addressed the entire crowd in his great "first church
sermon" on Pentecost, he spoke in Greek, not Hebrew and certainly read
from the Greek Septuagint. This is because most knew little or no Hebrew
but all spoke the universal common Greek language of the Hellenistic and
Roman empires.
So the language of Peter's first sermon on the day of Pentecost
where he says, "Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins" (Acts 2:38) was spoken in Greek not Hebrew to the
audience!
"Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every
nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together,
and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his
own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, "Why, are not all
these who are speaking Galileans? "And how is it that we each hear them
in our own language to which we were born?" (Acts 2:5-8)
Conclusion:
1. There is a direct line of divine providence that
connects the Tower of Babel to the thousands of first century synagogues
each of which was equipped with everything needed to convert Jews to the
church:
a. Weekly attendance by a VOLUNTARY spiritual remnant of the
Jews
b. The Greek Septuagint bible translation
c. The Christian Maker: A Mikveh which Christians used as a
full immersion baptistry to wash away sins. See full outline on Synagogue
Mikvaot.
2. Translations have always been part of God's plan and
nothing has changed from the time of Christ to the present because both
periods used translations of God's word and considered them equivalent in
every way to the authoritative inspired word of God. Quoting a translation
equals quoting the autograph.
3. Apostle Paul said: "If the Septuagint was good enough
for Moses... IT IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!!!"
a. Of course Apostle Paul NEVER said this, but it pokes
appropriate scorn at Christians known as "KJV-ONLY's" who believe it
is a sin to use any other English translation OTHER than the King James
Version. In a shocking display of their naiveite, they have actually been
quoted to say "If the KJV was good enough for Paul... its Good enough for
me." NOT!
b. See also: "KJV Only" advocates refuted!
c. The easiest way to refute the "KJV-ONLY's" is to show
them an original "first printing" page from the 1611 AD version and
point out the marginal notes where the translators were unsure of which way
to render a word and included alternate readings based upon variant extant
manuscripts. Also the letter J is never used in the original KJV because
the letter J did not exist in the English language at this time. The letter
I is used in place of J. Jesus is spelled "Iesus" and Jehovah is
spelled "Ievohah". (So much for the Jehovah's witnesses who claim
THEY restored the name of God. See full outline)
This original leaf of Matthew 13 from the 1611 KJV is in possession of the
author.
Click on photo for high resolution page of first printing 1611 KJV
d. Having had many discussions with those who advocate that the
translators were inspired in 1611 AD, I can bear witness that they have
little historical Bible knowledge, are shockingly closed minded to the most
obvious facts, suffer from a unique over self-confident arrogance and
display elements of spiritual elite supremacism. We supply this to help
them see the truth but it will likely just ruin their day:
4. Jesus said, "Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35)
and that includes using translations of God's inspired words!
The Septuagint LXX
"Scripture Cannot Be Broken"
Start Here: Master Introduction and Index
Six Bible Manuscripts
1446 BC
Sinai Text (ST)
1050 BC
Samuel's Text (SNT)
623 BC
Samaritan (SP)
458 BC
Ezra's Text (XIV)
282 BC
Septuagint (LXX)
160 AD
Masoretic (MT)
Research Tools
OT Textual Variants
Messianic expectation
300 OT quotes in NT
Canon of the Bible
Chronology Charts
Seder Olam Rabbah
Steve Rudd, November 2017 AD: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections
By Steve Rudd: November 2017: Contact the author for comments, input or
corrections.
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