(1.) It has been clearly shown by Hody, Frankel, and others that the several books were translated by differ- ent persons, without any comprehensive revision to har- monize the several parts. Names and words are ren- dered differenth' in different books ; e. g.
nOS, the Passover, in the Pentateuch is rendered wa- axa.; in 2 Chron. xxxv, 6, ipaaiK.
n''"l1X, Urim, Exod. xxviii, 26, di'jXaxric ; Dent, xxxiii, 8, 6?i/\oi ; Ezra ii, 63, <)iijnit,ovTei ; Xeh. vii, 65, ijiaTiaum.
nsrii Thimiviim, Exod. xxviii, 2C, u\ipeia; Ezra ii, 63,
The Philistines in the Pentateuch and Joshua are <pv\i- cTcei/j.; in the other books aXAu(^i/\oi.
The books of Judges, Knth, Samuel, and Kings are dis- tinguished by the use of 570) e m instead oitfii.
These are a few out of many like variations.
(2.) Thus the character of the version varies much in the several books; those of the Pentateuch are the best, as Jerome saj's ("Contitemur plus quam ceteris cum He- braicis consonare"), and this agrees well with the exter- nal evidence that the law was translated first, when He- brew MSS. were more correct and Hebrew better known. Perhaps the simplicity of the style in these early books facilitated the fidelity of the version.
(3.) The poetical parts are, generally speaking, infe- rior to the historical, the original abounding with rarer words and expressions. In these parts the reader of the Sept. must be continually on the watch lest an imperfect rendering of a difficult word mar the whole sentence. The Psalms and Proverbs are perhaps the best.
(4.) In the major prophets some of the most impor- tant prophecies are sadly obscured — e. g. Isa. ix, 1, tov- To irpiorov ttIe tcixv ttoiu, X^pa Titi^iovKwv, k. r. X. ; and in ix, (i, " Esaias nactus est interpretem sese indig- num" (Zwingli) ; Jer. xxiii, 6, icai tovto to ovofia av- Tov o KoXkau avTov Kvpiog 'IwaeStK tv toic; Trpofi)- TaiQ.
Ezekiel and the minor prophets (speaking generally) seem to be better rendered. The Sept. version of Daniel was not used, that of Theodotion being substituted for it.
(5.) Supposing the numerous glosses and duplicate renderings which have evidently crept from the mar- gin into the text to be removed (e. g. Isa. vii, IG; Hab. iii, 2 ; Joel i, 8) — for these are blemishes not of the ver- sion itself, but of the copies — and forming a rough esti- mate of what the Sept. was in its earliest state, we may perhaps say of it, in the words of the well-known simile, that it was, in many parts, " the wrong side of the He- brew tapestry," exhibiting the general outlines of the pattern, but confused in the more delicate lines, and with many ends of threads visible; or, to use a more digni- fied illustration, the Sept. is the image of the original seen through a glass not adjusted to the proper focus — the larger features are shown, but the sharpness of defi- nition is lost. On Judges, see Grabii Ep. ad J. Millium qu<i (Mend. L. ,/udd. Gen. LXX Vers, earn esse quam MS. Alex. Exhibet, etc. (Oxf. 1705); Ziegler, Theol. Abhundl. (Gott. 1791), vol. i. On Samuel and Kings, Thenius, Kurz;ief. exer;. Ildb. z. A. T. iv, 24 sq. ; ix, 13 8<i. On Chronicles, Movers, Krit. [Inters. (Honn, 1834). ( )n Esther, Fritsche's ed. (Ziir. 1848). See ./er. .t. v. .lud. .1 lex. ac lielir/. init. Grcec, em. Notisque Crit. ill. G. L. Spohn (Lips.'l704; 2d ed. 1824, by F. A. G. Spohn).
2. Is the Version Minutely Accurate in Details'? — We have anticipated the answer to this question, but will give a few examples :
(1.) The same word in the same chapter is often ren- dered by differint) words — Exod. xii, 13, ^nPIOQ, " I will
pass over," Sept. (T/cf7ra(Tuj,but 23, nOQ, "will pass over,"
Sept. TTOptKEVUETai.
(2.) l>i[Jh'ing words by the same word — Exod. xii, 23, "isy, "pass through," and npQ, "pass over," both by irapiXtixTETai ; Numb, xv, 4, 5, nniia, "oti'ering," and nST, " sacrifice," both by Srvtria.
(3.) The divine names are frequently interchanged; KvpioQ is put for D^n'?X, God, and QtiiQ for n"~^, Je- hovah ; and the two are often wrongly combined or wrongly separated.
(4.) Proper names are sometimes translated, some- times not. In Gen. xxiii, by translating the name Machpeluh {to cnrXovv), the version is made to speak first of the cave being in the field (ver. 9), and then of the, field beimj in the cave (ver. 17), 6 aypii^ 'E(ppwi>, og )iv IV Tqj SnTX({i aTrt}\ai({), the last word not warranted by the Hebrew. Zech. vi, 14 is a curious example of four names of persons being translated — e. g. n'^'ub, " to Tobijah," Sept. roig xpi](Ti[ioig avrtig ; Pisgah in Dent, xxxiv, 1, is (pacrya, but in Deut. iii, 27, tov \t- Xa^EVjiivov.
(5.) The translators are often misled by the similarity of Hebrew words — e. g. Numb, iii, 26, 1^ir,'^"3, "the cords of it," Sept. rd KaTc'tKoiwa. and iv, 26, to. ntpirjoa. In other places 01 k«Xoi, and Isa. liv, 2, tu axoiVKyjiaTa, both rightly. Exod. iv, 31, ^l"?;'^^, " they heard," Sept. tx^'ip^ (inpiU']') ; Numb, xvi, 15, "I have not taken one ass" (1T2H), Sept. oIik tiri^vfitffia {'^■'On) t'iXrj^a; Deut. xxxii, 10, inx:i?2^, "he found him," Sept. av- TapKijcrev aiWov; 1 Sam. xii, 2, "^F13'C3, "I am gray- headed," Sept. Ka^^i'jfTOfjiai (ipl^'lj); Gen. iii, 17, T^"i^35'3, "for thy sake," Sept. tv toI^ tpyoig aov (T forn).'