Septuagint

The Septuagint, abbreviated LXX, is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible dating from the Hellenistic period. Traditionally attributed to seventy or seventy-two Jewish scholars in Alexandria in the 3rd century BCE, the name commemorates the reputed translators. Most scholars, however, view it as the product of multiple translators and later revisions over several centuries.

The Septuagint includes the Torah (Pentateuch) and the Prophets and Writings in Greek; its content and order differ from the later Masoretic Text. It also contains books not present in the Hebrew Bible, known as the deuterocanonical books or Apocrypha, such as Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and additions to Esther and Daniel. Different Christian traditions accept varying portions of these books in their canons.

Significance: It was widely used in the Jewish diaspora and the early Christian church; numerous New Testament quotations align with the LXX. The Septuagint has served as a crucial source for textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible; modern critical editions reconstruct the Greek text from manuscripts like Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus and compare with the Masoretic Text.