The same variations we find in adverbs, particles, proper nuiins, but more especially in certain phrases.
See Thiersch, JJe Pentateuchi Versions Alexandrina (Erlangae, 1840) ; Frankel, Vorstridien der Septuaffinfa (Leips. 1841); Kaulen, Einleitung in die heiliye Schrift (Freiburg, 1876), p. 85 sq. (B. P.)
SEPTUAGINT, Talmudic Notices Concerning THE. It is Strange that the writers of the art. Septua- GiNT in Smith's Did. of the Bible and in Kitto's Cyclop. should not have mentioned the notices we find concern- ing that version in the Talmud and other Jewish writ- ings. It is true that in Kitto we find it stated, " It is spoken of in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds;" but where, and what, the reader is at loss to see. Yet these notices are very important, since they throw a great deal of light upon some points which have vexed the interpreters. The oldest notice is that contained in the J/ec/«7/(/,aMidrashic commentary on Exodns (comp. the art. Midkasii), where Exod. xii, 40 is thus cited:
'i5i "b -jcia -j^nx^i ir:: ■j'nxm ni-i::T32 laai ibx,
and where we read, " And this is one of those things which they wrote to king Ptolemy. In the same man- ner they wrote, Gen. i, 1, ni^X'nn Nin QinbX; ver.26,ni?:'im nhlTl D1X nirrX; ver.27(comp.v,2),
i-'nip:'! ; ii, 2, "iGirn cr^n n-^nbx b^ii ; xi, 7, n-nx
nbaxi ; xviii, 12, !T'2'l-ip3; xlix, 6, OllnX (instead of ^^■^')■, Exod. iv, 20, C1X XT:j13 (for "l^nn) ; Numb, xvi, 15, 'II^H; Deut. iv, 19 (they added) ^ixnb; xvii, 3, D'la^b ni72ixb; and they wrote. Lev. xi, 6, and Deut. xiv, 7, D"ibann niiys (for ri331Xn)." From this passage we can infer that, besides the clianges enumerated here, others are not to be excluded ; besides, it only speaks in general of those who wrote the Bible for Ptolemy, and neither the number seventy nor seven- ty-two writers or translators is mentioned. It is differ- ent with the relation given in the Jerus. Talmud, Merjil- la, i, 9. Here the number of changes made is given as thirteen (D''52Dn 131513 12T 5^) : the passages are the same as given in the Mechilta, with some very slight changes. Thus Gen. i, 27 (comp. v, 2) we read 1"'ap3'' ; xlix, 6, "111:: (instead of U.^'X); Exod. xii, 40, ni'-i:j-22 rl^jnxn brni; in Lev. xi, 6 (Deut. xiv, 7) the expla- nation of the change is given that the name of Ptole- my's mother was Xr31X. The number of the transla- tors is also not given. The Baln'lonian Talmud, Megilla, 9 a, however, mentions the number of elders as seventy- two, who were put in seventy-two different cells without knowing for what purpose. Then king Ptolemy went to each of these and said to him, " Write for me the law of Moses, your teacher." God disposed it so that they all translated alike. The changes mentioned here are given without any number ; but they are almost the same as the above, with slight modifications. Gen. i, 27 (comp. V, 2), n2p31 is not changed, but 0X^2 is changed into 1XT2; xli.x, 6 agrees with the Jerusalem Talmud; and so, likewise, Exod. xii, 40. We find, as an addition, that in Exod. xxiv, 5, 11, ^lil^iXt is written for ■'"IS'3 and "ib"i:JX; in Deut. xvii, 3, we have the addition DlSsb without n^aixb; and to Lev. xi, 6 (Deut. xiv, 7) a similar explanation is given as in the Jerusalem Tal- mud, that the name of Ptolemy's wife was P33'1X; and hence they thought that it would be regarded as a mock- ery, on the side of the .Jews, should they have mentioned her name (as that of an unclean animal) in the law. In the Midrashim only single passages are mentioned — thus Gen. i, 27 in Bereshith R(d>ba, ch. viii, as Mechilta, with which also agrees Gen. ii, 2 in ch. x; xi, 7 with ch. xxxviii; xviii, 12 with ch. xlviii; xlix, 6 with ch. xcviii, where, as in Mechilta, we find DISX. All these passages are accompanied with the remark that here is
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one of the changes made for Ptolemy, without giving their number. In iShemotk Rahbu, eh. v on Exod. iv, 20, it is stated that this is one of the ei(/hteen changes made for Ptolemy, without stating wherein these changes con- sist. In Be7-eshith Rubba, ch. Ixiii on Exod. xii. 40, in order to show that Abraham was already called " Israel," the verse is quoted, "It is an old matter; the dwelling of the Israelites in Egypt, Canaan, and Goshen," etc. (and thus Abraham's stay in Egypt and Canaan is num- bered among the 430 years). In the treatise SejAer Toruh, i, 8, 9, seventy elders are mentioned who wrote the law, and the alterations made are given as thirteen. In the treatise Sopherim, i, 7, 8, we also read of thirteen alterations made by the translators.
In examining more minutely these changes we shall find the following :
1. Gen. i, 1-3, according to the structure of the language and the most ancient traditions still preserved by Rashi and Aben-Exra, is to be rendered " In the beginning lohen God created." But as this supposes the existence of pri- mordial waters and of a chaotic mass, which, by the drain- ing of the waters on the second day, became the formed earth, it was thought necessary, iu translating the Bible into Greek, and in opposition to the Greek cosmogony and polytheism, to lay great stress on the absolute unity of God and on the absolute creation from nothing. Hence the word n^lTX"! had to be made independent of the fol- lowing verses, and to be rendered in the beginning, iv upxt'i 67ro£tio-ei' 6 e£o?, instead of " iu the beginning ivhen." This change the Talmud indicates by the pregnant construc- tion r.i^X'nn X^n C^ribx, thus placing niaX"l2 last, and precluding every other translation than God created in the beginning (Geiger, Urschrift, p. 344, etc.).