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Why do ancient translations matter, and what can they tell us about the Bible we read today?

In this teaching, we examine the Septuagint, Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls, and what ancient textual witnesses reveal about the Old Testament.

Also available through YouTube Music as an episode of Theophilus Podcast.

The Septuagint is the ancient Greek collection of translations of the Jewish Scriptures. Produced within the Greek speaking Jewish world, it became part of the scriptural environment inherited by early Christians. Even familiar book names such as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy come through the Greek tradition.

We then examine the relationship between the Septuagint and Masoretic Text and what changed with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls revealed textual diversity within ancient Judaism. Some Hebrew manuscripts preserve readings closer to the Septuagint than the later Masoretic tradition, showing that a different Greek reading may reflect a different underlying Hebrew text.

Deuteronomy 32:8 preserves a difference involving the “sons of Israel” and “sons of God,” with implications for the Divine Council worldview.

Psalm 22 raises the question surrounding “like a lion” and “they pierced my hands and my feet,” showing how small manuscript differences can affect a passage.

Finally, we examine Isaiah 7:14 and the Hebrew words almah and bethulah. Does almah mean “virgin” or “young woman”? Why does the Septuagint, translated centuries before Christianity, use the Greek parthenos? What does this reveal about Jewish interpretation before Matthew applied the passage to Jesus’ birth?

The goal is not to choose the textual tradition that gives us our preferred theology. It is to follow the manuscript evidence and understand the historical context in which Scripture was transmitted and interpreted.

Textual variation does not require abandoning biblical authority. Most differences do not substantially change a passage’s meaning, and major Christian doctrines do not depend upon selecting a convenient manuscript reading.

Research and Further Study

This teaching draws from the following papers:

• Septuagint and Masoretic Text: A Comparative Study of Textual Divergences and Their Theological Implications

• How Ancient Translations Shaped the Bible We Read Today: Septuagint and Masoretic Text

• ʿAlmâ, Bethulah, and the Septuagint

• Virgin or Young Woman:

• Psalm 22: A Prophetic Foreshadowing of Christ’s Passion

The deeper academic work develops these questions in considerably greater detail, including the Septuagint and Masoretic textual traditions, the Dead Sea Scrolls, textual criticism, Hebrew Vorlage, the Divine Council worldview, Deuteronomy 32, Psalm 22, Isaiah ⁠7:14⁠, almah, bethulah, parthenos, the virgin birth, and the use of the Old Testament within the New Testament.

Defend the Word MinistriesDefendtheWord.com

Academic PapersGeneWilliamsJr.academia.edu

Remember these wise words I once took to heart when studying Scripture:"If it's weird, it's important. What you know may not be so."Think carefully. Follow the evidence. And let's see where it leads.

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Production NoteThis teaching is presented using an AI digital twin of Gene Williams. The research, arguments, and teaching content are his own.