1. This version was highly esteemed by the Helle- nistic Jews before the coming of Christ. An annual fes- tival was held at Alexandria in remembrance of the completion of the work (Philo, De Vita Mosis, lib. ii). The manner in which it is quoted by the writers of the New Test, proves that it had long been in general use. Wherever, bj' the conquests of Alexander or by colo- nization, the Greek language prevailed ; wherever Jews were settled, and the attention of the neighboring Gen- tiles was drawn to their wondrous history and law, there was found the Sept., which thus became, by Divine Providence, the means of spreading widely the knowl- edge of the One True God and his promises of a Saviour to come throughout the nations; it was indeed ostium gentibus ad Christum. To the wide dispersion of this
version we may ascribe, in great measure, that general persuasion which prevailed over the whole East (pe?-- crebuerat Oriente toto~) of the near approach of the Re- deemer, and which led the magi to recognise the star that proclaimed the birth of the King of the Jews.
2. Not less wide was the influence of the Sept. in the spread of the Gospel. Many of those Jews who were assembled at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, from Asia Minor, from Africa, from Crete and Rome, used the Greek language ; the testimonies to Christ from the law and the prophets came to them in the words of the Sept. ; St. Stephen probably quoted from it in his address to the Jews ; the Ethiopian eunuch was reading the Sept. version of Isaiah in his chariot (wc Trpo/Saroi' iir'i (j(pa- yijv i'lx^r]) ; they who were scattered abroad went forth into many lands, speaking of Christ in Greek, and jioint- ing to the things written of him in the Greek version of Moses and the prophets ; from Antioch and Alexan- dria in the East to Rome and Massilia in the West, the voice of the Gospel sounded forth in Greek; Clemens of Rome, Ignatius at Antioch, Justin Martyr in Pales- tine, IreuiBus at Lyons, and many more, taught and wrote in the words of the Greek Scriptures ; and a still wider range was given to the Sept. by the Latin ver- sion (or- versions) made from it for the use of the Latin churches in Italj' and Africa ; and in later times by the numerous other versions into the tongues of Egypt, Ethiopia, Armenia, Arabia, and Georgia. For a long period the Sept. was the Old Test, of the far larger part of the Christian Church (see the Hulsean Prize Essay, by W. R. Churton, On the Injlvence of the Sept. on the Progress of Christianity [Camb. 1861J; and an art. in the Zeitschr.f. icissensch. Theol. 1862, vol. iii).
A number of other versions have been founded on the Sept. 1. Various early Latin translations, the chief of which was the Vetvs Itala ; 2. The Coptic and Sahidic, belonging to the 1st and 2d centuries; 3. The FZthiopic, belonging to the 4th century; 4. The Armenian, of the 5th century; 5. The Georgian, of the 6th century; 6. Various Syriac versions, of the 6th and 8th centuries; 7. Some Arabic versions [see Akakic Veksioss] ; 8. The Slavonic, belonging to the 9th century.
IV. Liturgical Origin of Portions of the Version, — This is a subject for inquiry which has received but lit- tle attention ; not so much, probably, as its importance deserves. It was noticed by Tregelles many years ago that the headings of certain psalms in the Sept. coin- cide with the liturgical directions in the Jewish Prayer- book. The results were at a later period communicated in Kitto's Joinnal of Sacred Literature, April, 1852, p. 207-209. The results ma}' be briefly stated: The 23d Psalm, Sept. (Heb. 24th), is headed in the Sept. rijf fiia^ ffajijiaTov ; so, too, in Heb. in De Sola's Prayers of the Sephardim, 'iltTX^n D""^:;: Psa. xlvii, Sept. (Heb. xlviii), Stvrfpci an/S/Saroc, "^id DT^b : Psa, xciii, Sept. (Heb.xciv), rerpd^i (Ta/3/3«rot', "^y^"! DT^?: Psa, xcii, Sept, (Heb, xciii), tig Tt)i' ij^dpav tov npo- (Ta/3/3aroi», "^^d DT^b, There appear to be no Greek copies extant which contain similar headings for Psa. Ixxxi and Ixxx (Heb, Ixxxii and Ixxxi), which the Jewish Prayer-book appropriates to the third and ffth days; but that such once existed in the case of the lat- ter psalm seems to be shown from the Latin I'salteriuvi Vetus having the prefixed qninta sabbati, "'UJ'^'in D1"'?. Delitzsch, in his Commentary on the Ps<dms, has recent- ly pointed out that the notation of these psalms in the Sept, is in accordance with certain passages in the Tal- mud,
It is worthy of inquiry whether variations in other passages of the Sept, from the Hebrew text cannot at times be connected with liturgical use, and whether they do not originate in part from rubrical directions. It seems to be at least plain that the Psalms were trans- lated from a copy prepared for synagogue worship,
V, Character of the Version. — Under this head we
SEPTUAGINT
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have to consider several special questions relating to its internal character as a translation :
1. /*■ the Sept. Faithful in Suhstance'? — Here we can- not answer by citing a few examples; the question re- fers to the general texture, and any opinion we express must be verified by continuous reading. For a purel}' philological examination, see Septuagint, Linguistic Charactek of.