Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research

“A most important tool for Septuagint and text-critical research. It gives a thorough introduction into the use of the Septuagint in biblical research and convincingly expresses the relevance of the LXX for textual criticism.”—B. Beeckman Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses

• PrefaceEditions of Textual Sources Abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction: Some Basic Notions A. The aims of the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible B. Collecting variants C. The reconstruction of individual elements in the original text of the LXXD. The character of the canon of the “LXX” E. The categories “literal” and “free” F. Understanding the LXX G. Editions H. Electronic tools I. The evaluation of the LXX in biblical research Part IThe Reconstruction of the Hebrew Text Underlying the LXX: Possibilities and ImpossibilitiesChapter 2. When to Reconstruct Variants? A. ExegesisB. Scribal developmentsChapter 3. How to Reconstruct the Vorlage of the LXX—Positive and Negative AspectsA. Criteria for retroversion 1. Greek–Hebrew equivalents2. Intuition3. Textual probability4. Linguistic plausibility5. External supportB. The nature of retroverted variants1. Some types of reliable retroversions2. Doubtful retroversions3. The existence of retroverted variantsExcursus 1:The use of concordances in the reconstruction of the Vorlage of the LXXExcursus 2:The use of electronic tools in the reconstruction of the Vorlage of the LXXExcursus 3:endentious palaeographical exegesis?Chapter 4. The Reconstruction of Elements Not Indicated in the Vorlage of the TranslatorsA. Vocalization 1. Reconstructing “different vocalizations” 2. The translators’ attitude towards the unvocalized text 3. The reconstruction of the vocalization 4. The grapheme ש 5. The translators and the reading tradition 6. The reliability of the reconstruction B. Word Divisions C. Sense Divisions Chapter 5. Variants, Variants/Non-Variants, and Pseudo-Variants A. Variants 1. Pluses2. Minuses 3. Transpositions4. Differences in words Excursus 1:Matres lectionis and final letters Excursus 2:Abbreviations? Excursus 3:The script of the Vorlage of the LXX Excursus 4:Variants retroverted from the revisions of the LXX B. Non-Variants C. Variants/Non-Variants 1. Connective waw/καί 2. Singular/plural forms of nouns and verbs 3. Pronouns 4. Active/passive forms of verbs 5. Prepositions 6. The article D. Pseudo-Variants 1. Interchange of similar letters in “difficult” Hebrew words 2. Intrinsically improbable readings 3. Deviations from MT in the LXX causing further deviations in the translation Excursus:tymological Exegesis Part II: The Nature and Evaluation of the Hebrew Text Underlying the LXXChapter 6. The Nature of the Hebrew Text Underlying the LXXA. The geographical provenance of the Hebrew text underlying the LXXB. The relationship between the Hebrew text underlying the LXX and ancient Hebrew witnesses of the biblical text1. Hebrew scrolls from Qumran 2. The Samaritan Pentateuch C. Characteristic features of the Hebrew text underlying the LXX D. Evaluation of the literary evidence in the LXX Chapter 7. The Evaluation of Retroverted Variants in Biblical ResearchA. General B. The evaluation of readings C. Some rules for evaluation Excursus:The evaluation of retroverted variants in the BH series Chapter 8. The Contribution of the LXX to the Literary Criticism of the BibleIndexesIndex of authors Index of biblical passages