| Preface | ix |
| Abbreviations | xiii |
| Resources | xv |
1. | What is 'the Septuagint'? | 1 |
| Terminology | 1 |
| Scope of the term in antiquity | 2 |
| Scope of the term in contemporary usage: 'Septuagint' and/or 'Old Greek' | 2 |
| Primary sources: manuscripts and editions | 3 |
| The earliest Jewish manuscripts | 4 |
| The earliest Christian manuscripts | 6 |
| Printed editions | 7 |
| Secondary sources: the Christian versions | 9 |
| The Old Latin | 10 |
| The Coptic | 11 |
| The content of the Septuagint | 11 |
| Differences between Hebrew and Greek order | 12 |
| The individual books of the Septuagint | 13 |
| The Pentateuch | 14 |
| The historical books | 16 |
| The sapiential books | 19 |
| The prophetic books | 21 |
| Summary | 24 |
| Further reading | 24 |
2. | Origins: Facts and Fictions | 27 |
| Introduction | 27 |
| The Letter of Aristeas | 28 |
| Outline of content | 28 |
| Relevance to the Septuagint | 30 |
| Aristobulus | 33 |
| Sources | 33 |
| Aristobulus on the Septuagint | 34 |
| Earlier versions of the Septuagint? | 35 |
| Relationship between Aristobulus and The Letter of Aristeas | 35 |
| Aristobulus in context | 37 |
| Further reading | 39 |
3. | Origins: Questions and Issues | 41 |
| Dating, location and purpose | 41 |
| The translation of the Pentateuch | 41 |
| The translation of the Prophets and the Writings | 45 |
| The Septuagint as a whole: theories and questions | 47 |
| The 'texts for worship' hypothesis | 47 |
| The 'texts for study' hypothesis | 51 |
| The question of the Septuagint | 60 |
| Further reading | 61 |
4. | The Status of the Septuagint: from Philo to Jerome | 63 |
| Introduction | 63 |
| Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 bce - c. 50 ce) | 64 |
| Philo on the making of the Septuagint | 64 |
| Special features in Philo's account | 65 |
| Philo on the 'inspiration' of the Septuagint | 67 |
| A defence of the Septuagint against accusations of inaccuracy? | 69 |
| Josephus (37 - c. 100 ce) | 71 |
| Continuation of the Septuagint legends in Judaism | 72 |
| Rabbinic sources and the Septuagint | 73 |
| Continuation of the Septuagint legends in Christianity | 75 |
| The defence of the Septuagint | 75 |
| The Septuagint and Jewish alternatives | 77 |
| Augustine and Jerome | 77 |
| Further reading | 79 |
5. | Textual Developments to the Fifth Century CE | 81 |
| The Jewish versions | 81 |
| The kaige revision | 81 |
| 'Theodotion' | 84 |
| Aquila | 87 |
| Symmachus | 89 |
| Other Jewish versions | 90 |
| Christian use of the versions | 92 |
| The Christian recensions | 93 |
| The 'Hesychian Recension' | 94 |
| The Hexaplaric Recension | 95 |
| The Lucianic (Antiochian) Recension | 103 |
| Further reading | 106 |
6. | Language and Style | 109 |
| Introduction | 109 |
| The Septuagint and Koine Greek | 110 |
| The Septuagint's first readers | 115 |
| Summary | 117 |
| Translation technique | 117 |
| 'Literal' and 'free' translations | 119 |
| Conclusion | 128 |
| Further reading | 129 |
7. | The Use of the Septuagint: from the Beginnings to the Present Day | 131 |
| Septuagint and Masoretic Text: interpreting the differences | 131 |
| Identifying distinctive theological elements | 131 |
| Jewish and Christian reception history | 135 |
| Early Jewish interpretation | 136 |
| Hellenistic Jewish authors | 137 |
| Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha | 138 |
| Philo and Josephus | 140 |
| Early Christian interpretation | 142 |
| Influence of the Septuagint on New Testament interpretation | 142 |
| Patristic use of the Septuagint | 145 |
| The influence of the Septuagint on biblical interpretation | 147 |
| Issues in the patristic use of the Septuagint | 149 |
| Modern interest in the LXX | 151 |
| The Septuagint and textual criticism | 151 |
| Modern translations | 152 |
| The Septuagint as Christian Scripture | 154 |
| The Septuagint as Jewish Scripture | 154 |
| The Septuagint and Hellenistic culture | 155 |
| Further reading | 156 |
| Bibliography | 159 |
| Index of References | 177 |
| Index of Authors | 183 |
| General Index | 187 |