About the seventy interpreters and about those who falsely interpreted the Holy Scriptures

The essay “On the Seventy Interpreters and Those Who Falsely Interpreted the Holy Scriptures” is an abbreviated summary of chapters 9-19 of the treatise by St. Epiphanius of Cyprus “On Weights and Measures”, which talks about the canon of the Old Testament and its translations. *The title of the work in Latin is De LXX interpretibus. Ptolemy the Second, nicknamed Philadelphus, having built a library in the city of Alexandria, in the so-called Vrukhie 1, a locality located in the same city, entrusted this very library to the care of a certain Demetrius of Phalereus 2, ordering him to collect into it books from everywhere by poets and other writers. When up to fifty-four thousand books had been collected, then the king sent a letter and a golden meal weighing one hundred talents to the Jerusalemites, instead of the meal taken from the holy place in Jerusalem, asking them to send him all the Holy Scriptures of the Jews. They joyfully and without delay, having copied the books in golden Hebrew letters, sent him exactly twenty-one books, and according to their calculation, twenty-two canonical books and seventy-two apocryphal books. But the king, having received the books and opened them, could not read them, and therefore was forced to write them another letter, asking them to send interpreters to him who could translate for him what was written in Hebrew into Greek. Then the teachers of the Jews, having chosen seventy-two interpreters from men from each tribe, send them to the king, following the example of what Moses once did, who ascended the mountain at the command of the Lord and heard the words: take with you “seventy” men and “go up” to the mountain” (Ex. 24: 1, 12). He took six from each tribe, and all together seventy-two. So they did and sent seventy-two men, who, together with the king, slept in pairs on thirty-six beds, so as not to be shaken by the agreement with others, and thus accomplished their work. For Ptolemy, having built the previously mentioned 4 houses and dividing each of them into two, imprisoned two in each from morning to evening, and together with them he imprisoned two youths for serving and for preparing food; also cursive writers. And he did not install window doors in the walls of those houses, but made holes in the roof above, called anaphotids 5 . Thus, spending time from morning to evening, locked with a key, they made the transfer. Each pair of interpreters was given one book for translation, such as the book of Genesis - to one pair, the Exodus of the Children of Israel - to another pair, Leviticus - to a third, and others like this. And thus the Scripture was revealed, translated thirty-six times. When the translation of all the books was completed, the king sat on a high throne, and thirty-six readers sat on the floor, having books in front of them. And when one read, there was no disagreement. Such a wonderful work of God makes it clear that these men had the gift of the Holy Spirit. Where anything was subtracted from them, it was subtracted from all of them together, and what was subtracted was not needed, but what was added was needed. Thus, the books translated into Greek were placed in the first library. And after her, another library was built, called the daughter of the first, in Serapium 6. And the time of Ptolemy and Cleopatra passed, while the kings of the Lagid dynasty reigned. And then come the Roman emperors. Augustus reigned for 56 years. In the 42nd year of his reign, Christ was born. Tiberius – 23 years old. In the 18th year of his reign, the Lord was crucified. From the crucifixion to the devastation of Jerusalem, 40 years and several days passed. From Augustus to Hadrian - 180 years. In the 12th year of Hadrian's reign, Aquila became famous, so that from the time of the translation of LXXII interpreters to the translator Aquila, or until the 12th year of Hadrian's reign, 430 years, 4 months and about 9 days passed 7. This Hadrian arrived in Jerusalem and, intending to rebuild it, took the aforementioned Aquila, a Greek by birth, just as Hadrian himself was a Greek. Aquila was the father-in-law of the emperor, coming from Sinope in Pontus. It was the emperor who placed him in Jerusalem to supervise the work, giving the city his name and the title of the royal name. Just as he himself was called Aelius Hadrian, so he named the city Aelia. Thus, Aquila, living in Jerusalem, saw that the disciples of the apostles were distinguished by their faith and performed great signs of healing and other miracles. For, having returned from the city of Pella to Jerusalem itself, they stayed here. When the city of Jerusalem was about to be taken by the Romans and devastated, all the disciples were forewarned by an angel to move out of the city. Having moved out of here, they settled in Pella, a city that lay on the other side of the Jordan. Aquila, amazed by all this, believed in Christianity. And after a little time, according to his request, he received the seal of Christ 8. But at the same time, he did not abandon his previous occupation, which he indulged in when he was a pagan. Namely, he was carefully taught the vain astronomy and, having become a Christian, did not abandon this error, but every day he observed the position of the birth hours. For this he was rebuked by teachers, who, while reproaching him every day, did not achieve any success. On the contrary, he argued with them, discussing fate; and they, seeing that he could not be saved, cast him out of the Church. He, dishonored, is inflamed with vain jealousy and, having sworn to renounce Christianity, accepts circumcision according to the Jewish rite. At the same time, he devoted himself with the greatest zeal to the study of the Hebrew language and Hebrew letters. Having learned it perfectly, he set to work on his translation of the Holy Scriptures, guided not by right reason, but by a deliberate thought - to subvert some clear sayings, contrary to the translation of seventy-two interpreters, so that what was attested in the Divine Scriptures about Christ would be conveyed differently, in order to cover up his shame and protect his foolishness. And this translation of Aquila was the second translation after the expiration of the mentioned amount of time, that is, four hundred and thirty years. After this, in the time of Commodus and Severus, a certain Samaritan Symmachus, from among those who are considered wise men by the Samaritans, was not honored by his people, became indignant at the arrogance of his rulers and was indignant at his tribe, came to the Jews, became a proselyte and received secondary circumcision. For just as those who convert from Judaism to Samaritanism are circumcised a second time, so are those who convert from Samaritanism to Judaism. But even after circumcision they become uncircumcised, with the help of some medical art, through stitching and medicinal potions, 9 just as the Apostle says: “Is anyone called to be circumcised? Let him not make himself uncircumcised: is anyone uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised” (1 Cor. 7:18). They say that this demonic delusion was first invented by Esau. And so this Symmachus, having compiled his translation to refute the translators who were among the Samaritans, made a third translation. After him and in his footsteps, under the emperor Commodus II, a certain Theodotion of Pontus, one of the adherents of the heretical leader Marcion, who also came from Sinope, angry at his heresy, also turned to Judaism and was circumcised and, having learned the Hebrew language and Hebrew letters, published his translation of the sacred books. In most cases his translation agrees with that of the seventy-two; for he acquired great skill from this translation. As for the fifth and sixth editions of the translations, I cannot say where the translators came from or who they were. I can only say that the fifth was found hidden in a barrel in Jericho after the persecution of King Septimius Severus, during the time of Antoninus Caracalla 11, son of Severus, along with other Jewish books. Under Emperor Alexander, son of Mamaea, the sixth edition was found, also hidden in barrels in Nicopolis near Actium 12. Under the emperor Decius, Origen became famous, who, as we said before, 13 introduced both the asterisk sign and the obel sign into use. He juxtaposed six translations and the Hebrew text on one page with Hebrew words and sayings, and on the other with Hebrew words in Greek letters in the corresponding column, so that even those who did not know Hebrew letters, with the help of Greek ones, could understand the power of Hebrew sayings. And thus, in his so-called exapla and octapla, 14 by comparing two pages of the Hebrew text and six translators in parallel rows, he brought great benefit to those inquisitive about everything good. And oh, if only he had not fallen into error in his writings, he would not have offended the world and himself by beginning to teach badly about the faith and poorly explain most of the passages of the Holy Scriptures! It was he who found the fifth and sixth editions of the translations, and not knowing who compiled them, designated the fifth with the letter ε᾿, meaning the number five, and the sixth with the letter ς᾿, meaning six. But some, having found the Hebrew edition placed in first place, in second place the translation of Aquila, then the translation of Symmachus, then the translation of the seventy-two, then the translation of Theodotion and finally the fifth and sixth editions, think that the translations of Aquila and Symmachus were compiled before the translation of the seventy-two. However, they are wrong. Origen compared them in such a way and did it well that he gave the translation of the seventy-two a place in the middle. He placed it in the middle so that this translation would serve as an exposure of the translations placed on both sides of it. The name: Vruhiy (Βρουχεῖον) was due to a change in the word: πυρουχεῖον (granary), which was the official name of this part of the city, in which there were grain warehouses (spare stores). Demetrius of Falerei is a famous statesman and scientist of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC The same Ptolemy Philadelphus later exiled him to Upper Egypt, where he died, as they say, from the bite of a poisonous snake. See Plutarch's biography of Demetrius of Phalereus. According to other lists, five hundred talents (St. Epiphanius “On Weights and Measures,” chapter 10). “On Weights and Measures”, ch. 3. Serapium was a pagan temple in Alexandria and at this temple there was a library, which, together with the temple, was burned during the war under Julius Caesar, as Ammianus Marcellinus testifies. Wed. “On Weights and Measures”, ch. 13. That is, the sacraments of baptism and confirmation. For more information about this, see “On Weights and Measures,” chap. 16. The first was Lucius Aurelius Commodus. The full name of this emperor was: Bassian Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla. Of the many cities of the same name, here is of course Nicopolis, located in Acarnania, between Epirus and Aetolia. “On Weights and Measures”, ch. 2 and 7. The tetrapla are four Greek translations, in which the translations of Aquila, Symmachus, the Seventy-Two and Theodotion are compared. And when these four columns are compared with two Hebrew ones, then they are called exapl. If the fifth and sixth translations are added to this in order, they are called octapla (“On Weights and Measures,” Chapter 19). You might be interested in: