The Septuagint (LXX)
(J.K. Aitken, Feb 2012)
Introductions to the Septuagint
Dines, J.M., The Septuagint (London: T&T Clark, 2004) [Readable introduction for
students, including placing it within its historical context].
Dorival, Harl, & Munnich, La Bible grecque des Septante (Paris: Éditions du Cerf /
Éditions du C.N.R.S., 1988) [The most up-to-date scholarly introduction and
discussion of all issues – sadly, already out of print, but online at:
http://bibliotheque.editionsducerf.fr/par%20page/561/TM.htm].
Hengel, M. The Septuagint as Christian Scripture: Its Prehistory and the Problem of
Its Canon (Old Testament Studies; T & T Clark, 2002). [On the early Christian
use]
Jellicoe, Sidney, The Septuagint and modern study (Oxford: Clarendon P., 1968). [An
updating of the information in Swete (below). Highly technical]
Jobes, Karen H. and Moises Silva, Invitation to the Septuagint (Grand Rapids, Mich.;
Carlisle: Baker Books: Paternoster, 2000) [The latest introduction to LXX,
aimed at students or those new to the field]
McLay, R. Tim, The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Research (Grand Rapids,
Mich.; Cambridge : W.B. Eerdmans, 2003).
Swete, H.B., An Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek (Cambridge, 1900) [The
classic essay on the Septuagint by H.B. Swete, one of the significant critical
scholars of the LXX text.]
Translations
Pietersma, A. & B.G. Wright (eds), NETS: A New English Translation of the
Septuagint (New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000) [A new
translation, in accordance with the NRSV. Commentaries on the translation will
follow in the future]
Brenton, Lancelot Charles Lee 1844. The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament,
According to the Vatican Text, Translated into English: with the Principal
Various Readings of the Alexandrine Coy, and A Table of Comparative
Chronology. 2 vols. London: Bagster. [Until NETS, the only complete
translation still in print; now in 1 volume]
Commentaries
Harl, M. (general editor), La Bible d’Alexandrie: traduction du texte grec de la
Septante (Paris: Cerf, 1986). [Excellent commentary series in French, still in
progress but so far covering: v. 1. La Genese / intr. et notes par Marguerite Harl
[et al.] -- v. 2. L’Exode / intr. et notes par Alain Le Boulluec et Pierre Sandevoir
-- v. 3. Le Levitique / intr. et notes par Paul Harle et Didier Pralon -- v. 4. Les
Nombres / intr. et notes par Gilles Dorival [et al.] -- v. 5. Le Deuteronome / intr.
et notes par Cecile Dogniez et Marguerite Harl -- v. 6: Jesus (Josue)/ par
Jacqueline Moatti-Fine -- v.7: Les Juges/ par Paul Harle -- v. 9: Premier Livre
des Regnes/ par Bernard Grillet et Michel Lestienne -- v. 17: Les Proverbes/ par
David-Marc d'Hamonville -- v. 23.: Les Douze Prophetes, 4-9/ par Marguerite
Harl et al.]
Bibliographies
1
Brock, S.P., A Classified Bibliography of the Septuagint (ALGhJ 6; Leiden: Brill,
1973).
Dogniez, C., Bibliography of the Septuagint (1970-1993) (VTSuppl. 60; Leiden: Brill,
1995).
Studies on the Language
Lexicons
Taylor, Bernard A., The Analytical Lexicon to the Septuagint (Zondervan, 1994). more
of a parsing guide than a lexicon. It provides an English gloss and parses (in
alphabetical order) all words found in Rahlfs’s Septuaginta.
Lust, Johan, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie (eds.), Greek-English Lexicon of the
Septuagint (Revised edition; American Bible Society, 2004). This work has
entries for every work found in Rahlfs's Septuaginta. This revised one-volume
edition brings together the revised text of the first volume published in 1992, and
the slightly reworked text of the second part published in 1996.
Muraoka, Takamitsu, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Peeters, 2009). This
recently completed lexicon is by far the best lexicon of the LXX available as it
provides far more than just English glosses and parsing. Based on the Göttingen
Septuagint where available.
Hatch, Edwin, Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint: and the other
Greek Versions of the Old Testament - Including the Apocryphal Books (Second
edition, two volumes in one; Includes Muraoka, "Hebrew/Aramaic Index";
Baker Academic, 1998).
Grammars
Thackeray, H. St. J., A Grammar of the Old Testament in Greek: According to the
Septuagint. Vol. 1: Introduction, Orthography, and Accidence (Cambridge
University Press, 1909; reprint G. Olms, 1978).
Conybeare, F. C., Grammar of Septuagint Greek: With Selected Readings,
Vocabularies, and Updated Indexes (Hendrickson; reissue edition, 2001). A
reprint of Selections from the Septuagint (1905), this work includes an
introduction to the LXX, a grammar section primarily covering accidence and
syntax, followed by selected readings with in-depth introductions and full textual
and grammatical notes.
Interlinear Issues
Brock, S.P., “The Phenomenon of the Septuagint,” OTS 17 (1972) 11-36.
Brock, S.P., “Aspects of Translation Technique in Antiquity,” Greek, Roman and
Byzantine Studies 20 (1979): 69-87.
Brock, Sebastian P., “To Revise or Not to Revise: Attitudes to Jewish Biblical
Translation,” Septuagint, Scrolls and Cognate Writings (Atlanta: Scholars Press,
1992), 301-38.
Joosten, Jan, “Reflections on the ‘Interlinear Paradigm’ in Septuagintal Studies,” in
Voitila, Anssi and Jutta Jokiranta (eds.) Scripture in Transition: Essays on
Septuagint, Hebrew Bible, and Dead Sea Scrolls in Honour of Raija Sollamo
(SJSJ, 126; Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008), 163–178.
Muraoka, T., “Recent Discussions on the Septuagint Lexicography with Special
Reference to the So-Called Interlinear Model,” in Die Septuaginta. Texte,
Kontexte, Lebenswelten (ed. M. Karrer and W. Kraus; Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr
[Paul Siebeck], 2008) 221-35.
2
Pietersma, A., “A New Paradigm for Addressing Old Questions: The Relevance of the
Interlinear Model for the Study of the Septuagint,” in Bible and Computer (ed. J.
Cook; Leiden, 2002), 337-64.
Further Tools
Hatch, Edwin, Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint: and the other
Greek Versions of the Old Testament - Including the Apocryphal Books (Second
edition, two volumes in one; Includes Muraoka, “Hebrew/Aramaic Index”;
Baker Academic, 1998).
Muraoka, T., Hebrew/Aramaic index to the Septuagint: keyed to the Hatch-Redpath
concordance (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1998).
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