Septuagint Commentary Series – serie

The Septuagint (LXX) of Genesis allowed Greek-speaking Jews in the last centuries BCE to read their sacred stories in their new lingua franca. The Hellenistic influence on this Greek translation of Genesis at times subtly altered the manner in which Jews – and later Christians – understood the origins of the world and the relationships within and outside the first family of Israel. Because the LXX was the Bible of the early Christian Church, it had more influence on Christian thought than the earlier Hebrew version. LXX Genesis: A Commentary, based on the Greek text of Codex Alexandrinus, offers the first English language commentary on one of the most significant books of Tanak and the Christian Bible.

This commentary on Greek Jeremiah is based on what is most certainly the best complete manuscript, namely Codex Vaticanus. The original text is presented uncorrected and the paragraphs of the manuscript itself are utilized. The translation into English on facing pages is deliberately literal so as to give the modern reader a hint of the impression the Greek translation could have made on an ancient reader. The purpose of the commentary is to provide a discussion of the Greek text of Jeremiah in its own right. Hence references to the Vorlage are only made to explain peculiarities in the Greek text.

In 1 Edras Michael Bird presents a commentary on this much neglected text based on its witness in Codex Vaticanus as part of the next installment of the Septuagint Commentary Series. Containing material that parallels 2 Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, 1 Esdras is featured in the Septuagint and Christian Apocrypha. The commentary presents a survey of critical issues related to the study of 1 Esdras and provides an impressive literary analysis of the contours of 1 Esdras.

Rather than studying the LXX of Hosea mainly as a text-critical resource for the Hebrew or as a help for interpreting the Hebrew, this commentary, as part of the Septuagint Commentary Series, primarily examines the Greek text of Hosea as an artifact in its own right to seek to determine how it would have been understood by early Greek readers who were unfamiliar with the Hebrew. This commentary is based on the uncorrected text of Vaticanus, and it contains a copy of that text with notes discussing readings that differ from modern editions of the LXX along with a literal translation of that text. This commentary also has an introduction to the Minor Prophets in the Septuagint. It is relevant for anyone studying the LXX or the book of Hosea.

Exodus: A Commentary on the Greek Text of Codex Vaticanus is the first comprehensive commentary on the Septuagint in English. An introduction orients readers to the study of LXX Exodus and the manuscript of Codex Vaticanus. This is followed by a presentation of the text of Vaticanus opposite a fresh translation. In the commentary proper, Gurtner examines literary features of the Greek of Exodus in general as well as features particular to the text of Vaticanus. Some comparisons are made with other Greek traditions of Exodus in addition to translational features of Exodus with respect to its Vorlage.

This work is the first major commentary of LXX Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah in English. Rather than seeing LXX mainly as a text-critical resource or as a window on a now-lost Hebrew text, this commentary, as part of the Septuagint Commentary Series, interprets Baruch and EpJer as Greek texts and from the perspective of Greek readers unfamiliar with Hebrew. Included are a transcription and an English translation of Codex Vaticanus, the oldest extant manuscript of the books, and a detailed commentary. Another major contribution is the utilisation of the sense-delimitation (paragraphs) of Codex Vaticanus and other codices to explore how early readers interpreted the text.

This work consists of an introduction, transcription, translation, and commentary to the Greek translation of Isaiah in the Codex Sinaiticus. It comments on the Greek language in its context, especially on how the Greek language is stretched beyond its normal range of function. It addresses the peculiarities of Codex Sinaiticus, including its history, scribes, divisions, and orthography. In line with the aims of the Brill Septuagint Commentary Series, it mainly discusses not how the text was produced, but how it was read.