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Engage with our Old Testament Textual Commentary Articles. Enrich your Bible study with insightful commentary on Old Testament texts.
The Father is the speaker here, the subject of this clause and the shift from the pronoun “me” to “him” in the next clause makes it sounds as though God the Father was the one to be pierced instead of Jesus. (John 19.37; Rev. 1;7)
The Hebrew has the reading “thirty-five-years” in verse 12 of chapter 11. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) has “a hundred and thirty-five years” in verse 12 of chapter 11....
The MT has the reading “Arphaxad fathered Shelah” in verse 24 of Genesis chapter 10. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) has “Arphaxad fathered Cainan, and Cainan fathered Sala [Shelah]” in verse 24 of Genesis chapter 10. ... Continue Reading →
Major Critical Texts and Manuscript Abbreviations of the Old Testament AC: Aleppo Codex AT: Aramaic Targum(s) B.C.E.: Before Common Era BHS: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Stuttgart, 1984. B 19A: Codex Leningrad c.: Circa, about, approximately LXX: The Greek Septuagint (Greek Jewish OT Scriptures in general and specifically used during of... Continue Reading →
Most of the MT has the reading “Dodanim” in verse 4 of chapter 10. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) and the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP) and some Hebrew manuscripts have “Rodanim” in verse 4 of chapter 10. “Rodanim” is also found in the Masoretic Text (MT) at 1 Chronicles 1:7. However, many of the Hebrew manuscripts, as well as the Syriac Peshitta and the Latin Vulgate read “Dodanim.” ...
The MT has the reading “bulls” (פָרִים; farim) in verse 2 of chapter 14. On the other hand, the LXX: Greek Septuagint reads “fruit” (καρπὸν; fruit) in verse 2 of chapter 14. The Septuagint continues to be very much important today and is used by textual scholars to help uncover copyists’ errors that might have crept into the Hebrew manuscripts either intentionally or unintentionally. ...
The BHS/MT has the reading “to all the beasts of the earth” in verse 10 of chapter 9. On the other hand, the Greek Septuagint (LXX) does not include “to all the beasts of the earth” in verse 10 of chapter 9. The verbal repetition in the Hebrew test is obviously for emphasis. The Septuagint continues to be very much important today and is used by textual scholars to help uncover copyists’ errors ...
The BHS/MT has the reading “walked with God” in both verses 22 and 24 of chapter 5. On the other hand, we have a variant in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) that reads “Enoch was pleasing to God” in both verses 22 and 24 of chapter 5. The metaphor “walked with God” would have been deemed ...
Some have argued that it was the versions that changed the reading from “Therefore whoever kills Cain.” so that it reads “Not so! Whoever kills Cain” in order to make a stronger contrast to Cain’s words in verse 14.
The bracketed clause “let us go over into the field” is not found in the Codex Leningrad B 19A and the Aleppo Codex, nor is it found in the QT Qumran Texts (Dead Sea Scrolls; Scroll 4Q2). However, the reading is included in older Septuagint manuscripts and in SP, SYR, and VG.
