8EPHARVAIM (D^rjs? ; LXX A has in all the passages in Kings Zeip(papoviiii, B has in 2 K 17" 2fT0aDowfiAt, in V." [where MT is dub.] ^eir<papo6v, in 18** ~tiripapovnd.iv, in 19" Xt<p(papovdti' ; in the Isaiah passages B has 'Eiripapovdiii, A Ziir((>apeln). — The ' two Sijipars,' a city of Babylonia, called in the cuneiform inscriptions ' .Sipi)ar of the Sun- god ' and 'Sippar of Anunit.' Sippar of the Sun- god was discovered by Hormuzd Ka.ssara in 1881 at Abu-llabba on the Euplirates, 10 miles S.E. of Baghdad. A large quantity of valuable monu- ments and tablets have been found in the ruins of the temple of the Sun-god, which was termed Bit-Uri by the Semites, E-Babnra by the Sumor- ians. The Sumerian name of Sippar was Zimbir. Among the colonists transplanted to Samaria were men ot Sepharvaim (2 K 17'-""), and the capture of Sepharvaim by the Assyrians is referred to in 2 K 18" 19", Is 36'» 37'». According to lierosus, Xisuthros, the Chaldoian Noah, buried the records
of the antediluvian world at Sippara, as it was called by the Greeks. Abydenus {Fr. 9) states that Nebuchadnezzar excavated a great reservoir there ; and Pliny {HN vi. 30) afhrras that Sippar (which he calls 'ojipidum Hipparenorum') was the seat of a university. In the reign of Nabonidos the camp of the Bab. army was just outside its walls, under the command of ' the king's son,' and the fall of Sippar followed immediately upon the de- cisive battle at Opis, which laid Babj-fonia at the feet of Cyrus.* A. H. SaICE.
SEPTUAGINT
t. Importance.
ii. Name.
liL Origin and History of the legend. Iv. Printed liditions.
v. History of the Septuagint. vi. Maiiuscripls, Versions, Quotations. viL Use of the Septuagint. viii. Literature.
f Abbreviations in this article : — (B=Gr. Text of OT ; /D=Heb. Text of OT ; L.aff. = La^arde ; SSt. = hag. St-ptuafjintaStudieni Set, = Nestle, Septuarjintastudien ; Svv. = H, 13. Swete, An Jntrod. to the OT in (rreek (Cambridge. 19U«); Urt. = Unext ujid UbergetzuTigen der Bibel (Leipzig, 1897, being a reprint of the art * Bibeltext und Bibelubersetzungen ' in Herzog's liE^)].
i. Importance. — The Greek version of the OT, called Septuagint, is in most respects by far the most important version of the Bible treated in this Dictionary. To the Fathers of the Greek Church it appeared of such weight that they praised the Septuagint with one accord as a token of the special providence of God, as a link in the Divine dispensation for the salvation of mankind, seeing in it the work of direct inspiration, and placing it in a line with the writings of tlie prophets and the pleaching of the apostles (cf., for instance, Irenitus [ill. xxi. 4], ' unus enim et idem spiritus Dei, qui in Prophctis quidem pra^conavit, quis et qualis esset advent us Domini, in Senioribiis autem [i.e. the Seventy Elders, to whom this version was ascribed] interpretatus est bene, quie prophetata fuerant, ipse et in Apontolis prsedicavit.
The various claims which call for careful atten- tion to the LXX are, perhaps, best summed up in the second edition of it published in England (Cambridge, 16G5, 12'), by John Pearson, after- wards bishop of Chester : t ' The LXX is useful and even necessary (titilis atque nec«?sar»a): (1) ad Hebraicam veritatem probe perspiciendam ; (2) ad auctoritatem testimoniorum Apostolicorum con- firmandain ; (3) ad nativum Novi Foideris stylum recte intelligendum ; (4) ad Gra»cos Latinosque patres rite tractandos ; (5) ad scientiam denique lingnse Griecie ipsamque criticen adornandnm : quis cam doctis omnibus, pra'sertim theologis non videt esse commendatissimam ? ' t
• (The identification of Sepharvaim with Sippar, which has the weighty support of Schrader (KA 'Vi 279 [COT i. '271 f.l), bos been challenged by Haliivy {ZA li. 401 ff.), who would identify it with Stinbarain, a place subdued by Shaluianeser iv. (B.c. 727- 722). llaltjvy suggests that the same place is meant by the SniBRAlu of Ezk 47'*t. See, further, the Conim. of Bertholet or Kittel on KingH, and of Dillm.-Kittel on Isaiah, ad toco, — Kd.].
t The preface of his edition has been frequently repeated — l(W:i, 1094. 1707, 1730, 1831, 1843; at last scnarately, Cambr. 11*66, cum notulis Ed. Cburton (by Prof. W. Selwyn).
I Comp. in 8w. chs. 2-5 of part iii. on the Literary use and Value of the hXX, p. 433: ^No question can arise as to the greatness of the place occupied i)y the Alexandrian version in the religious life of the first six centuries of its history. The LX.\ was the Bible of the Hellenistic Jew, not only in Egypt and Palestine, but throuj^hout Western Asia and Kurope. It created a language of religion which lent itself readily to the service of Christianity, and became one of the most important allies of the gospel. It provided the Orcrk-spealtlng Church with an authorized translation of the OT. and, when OhristiAn missions a<lvaiiced beyond the limits of liclleni'jm, it served ai a basis for fresh translations into the vernacular.
'The LXX has long ceased to fulfil these or any similar functions. ... On the other hand, this most ancient of Biblical versions possesses a new and increasing imporumce in the field of Biblical study. It is seen to be valuable alike to the textual
438
SEPTUAGINT
SEPTUAGINT
ii. Name. — The name 'Septuagint' is shortened from secundum or iuxta Septuaginta {interpntes or seniorex), and is based on tlie legend that the translation of the OT from Hebrew into Greek was made by seventj', or more exactly seventy-two, elders or scholars, whom king Ptolemy Philadel- pliiis, by the advice of his librarian Demetrius Phalereus, sent for for this purpose, from the high priest Eleazar of Jerusalem.