Superiority of the Septuagint Version
Superiority of the Septuagint version.
(1) It is clear and precise
Psalm 90:1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place(a) in all generations.
[a] Septuagint. Targum and Vulgate read refuge.
(2) Unwilling to admit Jesus was the Christ
Matthew 1:23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
The Masoretic Text says the young woman because they made these changes to the text in order to obscure Messianic prophecy.
LXX Isa 53:8 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken away from the earth: because of the iniquities of my people he was led to death.
NKJV Isa 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
(3) Erev Exodus 12:6, Leviticus 23:5 and elsewhere
The Septuagint defines the term erev as “evening”, arbayim as “the two evenings” and ben ha arbayim as “between the evening times” or “toward evening.”.
The Masoretic Text, according to the JPS translation, defines the term erev as “twilight”, arbayim as “twilight” and ben ha arbayim also as “twilight”.
Why is the Septuagint superiority? The Septuagint was considered divinely inspired by most Judeans since translated. It was universally accepted by the early Christians for the first 400 years of Christianity and was used and quoted from by Jesus and His Apostles, who quoted from it under divine inspiration.
We know the fundamental rule of Textual Criticism is usually that the older the text, the better, and the Septuagint outdated the Masoretic Text version by about 1000 years.
Encyclopædia Britannica says “When the final codification of each section was complete, the Masoretes not only counted and noted down the total number of verses, words, and letters in the text but further indicated which verse, which word, and which letter marked the centre of the text.”
Comment: the problem is that the translation itself isn’t a perfect one, subject to translation bias. Hence this praise is fake.
Coincident? It was about this time, there was the beginning of the Karaites movement, and the anti-christianity among the Jewish communities taking shape.
Answer, Yes, it is
In the 8th century.. .Anan ben David, a disaffected member of the exilarch’s family, founded a dissident group, the Ananites, later known as the Karaites (Scripturalists). The exact relationship between the followers of Anan and the later Karaites, however, remains unclear. The term itself first appeared in the 9th century, when various dissident groups coalesced and ultimately adopted Anan as their founder, though they rejected several of his teachings. The new group advocated a threefold program of rejection of rabbinic law as a human fabrication and therefore as an unwarranted, unauthoritative addition to Scripture; a return to Palestine to hasten the messianic redemption; and a reexamination of Scripture to retrieve authentic law and doctrine. Under the leadership of Daniel al-Qumisi (c. 850?), a Karaite settlement prospered in the Holy Land, from which it spread as far as northwestern Africa and Christian Spain. A barrage of Karaite treatises presenting new views of scriptural exegesis stimulated renewed study of the Bible and the Hebrew language in Rabbinic circles as well. The most momentous consequence of these new studies was the invention of several systems of vocalization for the text of the Hebrew Bible in Babylonia and Tiberias in the 9th and 10th centuries. The annotation of the Masoretic (traditional, or authorized) text of the Bible with vocalic, musical, and grammatical accents in the Tiberian schools of the 10th-century scholars Ben Naftali and Ben Asher fixed the Masoretic text permanently and, through it, the morphology (linguistics) of the Hebrew language for Karaites as well as Rabbanites.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism#ref299298
They were in bed for convenience; in their Masoretic Text, the Karaites want to reinterpret erev to lean its meaning to suit their doctrines like that of the Samaritans and Sadducees (all without allegiance to the Oral Law), while the Rabbinites, who couldn’t care whatever was translated into English, since they use Hebrew as their language in synagogue, want more than anything else to get rid of Jesus as the Messiah
Or, regarding the Tanakh, published by The Jewish Publishing Society. Most modern versions, including the TANAKH, New Revised Standard, New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, New King James, and New International Version, use the word “twilight” in Exodus 12:6 to describe ben ha arbayim.
Numbers 25:4
Septuagint: And the Lord said to Moses, Take all the princes of the people, and make them examples of judgment for the Lord in the face of the sun, and the anger of the Lord shall be turned away from Israel.
Targum: And the Lord said to Mosheh, Take all the chiefs of the people, and appoint them for judges, and let them give judgment to put to death the people who have gone astray after Peor, and hang them before the word of the Lord upon the wood over against the morning sun, and at the departure of the sun take them down and bury them and turn away the strong anger of the Lord from Israel.
Peshitta Online: Numbers 25:4 The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”
Peshitta Lamsa: And the LORD said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and expose them before the LORD in the daylight that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from the children of Israel.
Tanakh:Numbers 25:4 And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up unto the LORD in face of the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.’
KJV: Numbers 25:4 And the Lord said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel. — this includes all men, women and children; all are to be hung! Genocide!
Jeremiah 4:10
Septuagint: And I said, O sovereign Lord, verily thou hast deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, There shall be peace; whereas behold, the sword has reached even to their soul.
Peshitta Online:Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace’; whereas a sword touches the throat.”
Peshitta Lamsa: Then I said, I beseech thee, O LORD God, surely I have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem; for I have said, You shall have peace; and behold, the sword reaches into the soul.
Tanakh:Then said I: ‘Ah, Lord GOD! surely Thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.’
Vulgate: And I said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God, hast thou then deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: You shall have peace: and behold the sword reacheth even to the soul?
JKV: Then said I, Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
Isaiah 43:28
Septuagint: And the princes have defiled my sanctuaries: so I gave Jacob to enemies to destroy, and Israel to reproach.
Peshitta Online: “So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, And I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement.
Peshitta Lamsa: Your princes have profaned the sanctuary; therefore I have given Jacob to the curse and Israel to reproaches.
Tanakh:Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and I have given Jacob to condemnation, and Israel to reviling.
JKV: Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Isaiah 14:12
Septuagint: How has Lucifer, that rose in the morning, fallen from heaven! He that sent orders to all the nations is crushed to the earth.
Peshitta Online: “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!
Vulgate: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning? how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations?
Tanakh 1917: How art thou fallen from heaven,
O day-star, son of the morning!
How art thou cut down to the ground,
That didst cast lots over the nations!
JKV: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Peshitta Online by Paul D. Younan: Disclaimer: This translation is not sanctioned by the Church of the East. This is a personal translation only, and all readers are encouraged to verify the work on their own. This translation has not been edited nor verified by anyone other than the author (who does not have official sanction for this work) and is likely to have numerous errors.
I Samuel 13:1 JPS 1917 Saul was—years old when he began to reign; and two years he reigned over Israel
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 