The Septuagint — Wisdom Literature

Corey J. Mahler on Wed 02 Jul 2025

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Hosts

Corey J. Mahler

coreyjmahler.com

@CoreyJMahler

    Woe

    aka Eschatologuy

    @treblewoe

      As between the Septuagint (LXX) and the rabbinic text (MT), there are significant differences in the books that comprise the wisdom literature (i.e., Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). These differences range from changes in diction through distortions and corruptions to outright additions and deletions (one should think of the warning in the Book of Revelation). Out treatment here is not (and is not intended to be) comprehensive — there are centuries of work ahead of the Church; rather, we intend to drive home the point that the only Christian reaction is to abandon and anathematize the ‘Hebrew’ passed to us by the rabbis in favor of the Greek passed to us by Christ, the Apostles, and our faithful forebears — and, most importantly of all, preserved by God, as He promised.

      Christ, the Apostles, and the early Church all unanimously held that the Septuagint is, indeed, the very Word of God. In this fifth episode in the (now) nine-episode LXX series, we examine differences between the LXX and the MT in the wisdom books (largely focusing on Proverbs). This is the second of three episodes dealing specifically with the Old Testament differences between the LXX and the MT.

      This is, of course, not our closing argument, for we will be making that in the two episodes that deal with the New Testament and how it treats the Old Testament.

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      Show Notes

      See Also

      Further Reading

      Parental Warnings

      None.

      Transcript

      The transcript for this episode can be found here

      Other transcripts can be found here

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      Join the discussion on Telegram, visit the feedback form or comment below.

      The Septuagint — Near Eastern History

      Corey J. Mahler on Wed 23 Apr 2025

      Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:51:20 — 327.0MB) | Embed

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      Hosts

      Corey J. Mahler

      coreyjmahler.com

      @CoreyJMahler

        Woe

        aka Eschatologuy

        @treblewoe

          The Word of God has been preserved — miraculously — down through the ages, faithfully transmitted forward from past generations to us. This is according to God’s promises, and yet God nowhere (in the Old Testament) says which language He will use to accomplish this. Many have long claimed that God used Hebrew to do this, but the Hebrew language was never a true written language until the 20th century and, above and beyond this, the Hebrew language was dead for more than two thousand years. How, then, did God preserve His Word? He caused it to be translated into Greek — the Septuagint (LXX).

          It was the Septuagint that was used by our forefathers in the faith, by the Apostles, and by Christ Himself. In this first of our four-part (really five-part) series on the Septuagint, we cover the history of the Hebrew language and the history of the LXX up until about AD 1000; we trace how the so-called “Masoretic Text” was infiltrated into the Church by those who deny Christ, curse His sheep, and serve another master, and how, tragically, Christians failed to prevent this and permitted the MT to supplant the LXX; and we begin to make our case for a return to the Word of God as He has preserved it and as the Church has always received it — in Greek, as the Septuagint.

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          Show Notes

          See Also

          Further Reading

          • Letter of Aristeas [Wikipedia]
          • Although we do not (yet) have an English translation using the LXX that we unreservedly recommend, we recognize that some will want a version for the sake of comparison. This is one option: The Lexham English Septuagint
            • The Brenton edition can be found in several places online.

          Parental Warnings

          None.

          Transcript

          The transcript for this episode can be found here

          Other transcripts can be found here

          Support the Podcast

          Comments?

          Join the discussion on Telegram, visit the feedback form or comment below.