Download or read book Septuagint Daniel Vaticanus Version written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 1901 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Daniel is by far the least standardized of all the books that made it into both the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text, with no less than 16 versions surviving from the classical and early medieval eras. The Septuagint manuscripts contain two versions, the standard version found in most manuscripts, and the 'Old Greek' version, which only survives virtually complete in the Medieval era Codex Chisianus. The common translation was done by the Jewish scholar Theodotion circa 150 AD, and supplanted the Old Greek translation as it was closer to the Jewish and Christian theology of the period. The Old Greek translation was the version originally in the Septuagint, however, the authenticity and accuracy of any and all versions of the Book of Daniel have always been in doubt. The Codex Chisianus is accepted as being the closest to the Old Greek translation. It claims to be a copy of the Christian scholar Origen of Alexandria's recension from circa 240 AD, and as the Syro-Hexaplar Codex, a Syriac translation of Origen's recension from 616 and 617 AD, is virtually identical, they are both accepted as Origen's work. Origen rejected both the shorter version of Daniel found in the Hebrew and Aramaic translation that the Jews of his day were using, and Theodotion's translation, which was largely based on the Hebrew and Aramaic text, and claimed the Old Greek translation was the closest to the original text of Daniel. When Theodotion made his translation, he primarily used the shorter Hebrew and Aramaic texts that the Jews were using at the time, and filled in the missing sections by copying from the Old Greek translation. The version of Daniel found in the Masoretic Text is the shortest version of Daniel to survive to the present, and is arguably the strangest, as it is a book retained in two languages. Chapter 1, and the opening lines of chapter 2 are in Hebrew, the rest of chapter 2, as well as chapters 3 through 7 are in Aramaic, and the rest is in Hebrew. This strange combination of Hebrew and Aramaic is also present in the surviving fragments of Daniel found among in the Dead Sea Scrolls, indicating the book was already half-Hebrew and half-Aramaic by the era of the Hasmonean Dynasty, which is when the Hebrew translations of most of the other Aramaic and Canaanite (Paleo-Hebrew) books first appeared.

Download or read book Septuagint Tobit Sinaiticus Version written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2021-02-26 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Tobit appears to be from an older sect of Judaism, likely the one led by the 'false priest' Tobiah, who was expelled from the temple by Ezra when his genealogy could not be proven in 2ⁿᵈ Ezra. 2ⁿᵈ Ezra was the version of Ezra used by the Pharisee sect which emerged under the Hasmonean Dynasty, while Tobit, along with Enoch, Jubilees, and Job appears to have primarily been used by the Essenes sects. The Book of Tobit is generally viewed as fiction by most scholars for a variety of reasons. One major reason it is viewed as fiction is the presence of Tobit's cousin Ahikar, in both versions of the book, who is the protagonist of the Words of Ahikar, a book set in the same era, which is also considered fiction. It is quite clear from the text of Tobit, that it is the same Ahikar, and not just someone with the same name, as Ahikar's betrayal by his nephew is mentioned, which is part of the early section of Ahikar. Nevertheless, both books, Tobit and Ahikar survive in various forms, meaning that they were edited multiple times before the versions that survive to the present were transcribed. The surviving copies of the Septuagint include two versions of the Book of Tobit, the more common form, found in the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, and most other surviving copies of the Septuagint, and the less common version found in the Codex Sinaiticus. The differences between the Vaticanus and Sinaiticus versions of Tobit are too extensive to treat the books as the same book, however, their story is essentially the same. The two books must have had a common source, however, the Sinaiticus's version is over 20% longer than the Vaticanus's version, and appears to be an older version of Tobit. One of the reasons that the Book of Tobit is interpreted as fiction, is the existence of historical errors and anachronisms found in the Vaticanus version, which includes the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar and the Persian king Ahasuerus jointly destroying Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Nineveh was sacked by Babylonian King Nabopolassar in 612 BC, along with Median and Persian allies, led by the Median King Cyaxares, who then integrated the city into his Median Empire. Nabopolassar's son Nebuchadnezzar, who assumed the throne in 605 BC, finally conquered the remnants of the Assyrian forces in Syria at the Battle of Carchemish that same year, however, he did not attack or destroy Nineveh. Meanwhile, the name Ahasuerus was the Aramaic name of Xerxes, the Persian king who ruled between 486 and 465 BC.

Download or read book Septuagint Esther Vaticanus Version written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2019-11-24 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The oldest surviving physical copy of Esther is found in the Codex Vaticanus, which dates to circa 350 AD. The version of Ether in the Codex Vaticanus is generally accepted as being the original version added to the Septuagint sometime in the 2ⁿᵈ century BC, however, it claims to have not been translated in Alexandria, like the rest of the Septuagint. There are two other early copies of the common version of Esther found in the Codex Vaticanus, the copy in the Codex Sinaiticus from circa 350 AD, Codex Alexandrinus from circa 450 AD. The term ‘king of the gods’ is found in chapter 4 of the Vaticanus version of Esther, however, does not make sense in the theology that developed in later Judaism, in which there was only one God, indicating the early date of the original composition. The title ‘king of the gods’ was used by Esther in the book, who use the title to refer to the god of the Israelite. While Esther was described as being the Queen (or royal consort) in the texts, she was also described as being a devote worshiped of the Israelite god, and ‘King of the gods’ was not a Zoroastrian title of Ahura Mazda either, as Zoroastrianism was also monotheistic, meaning that this title has to be traced back to the Israelite religion.

Download or read book Autobiography of Ahmose pen Ebana written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ahmose pen-Ebana was a major figure in the battles that forged Egypt’s empire during the New Kingdom era, in the late 1500 BC. According to his autobiography, he fought in the Battle of Avaris (circa 1550 BC), when the Theban Dynasty overthrew the Hyksos Dynasty, and then he fought at the Battle of Sharuhen a few years later, in which the last of the Hyksos Dynasty was destroyed. After these battles, the Thebans had gained political control over both Northern Egypt and Canaan, although the level of control exercised in Canaan is unclear. Then he reports fighting in a series of battles in Nubia as the Thebans conquered and enslaved northern Sudan. A canal had been dug through the shallow third cataract during the Middle Kingdom, which the Egyptians re-dug as soon as they took control of the region again during the campaigns of Ahmose I, who campaigned in Nubia between approximately 1540 and 1525 BC. The third cataract appears to also be the farthest south the Egyptians built a fortress during Ahmose pen-Ebana’s lifetime, the fortress at Tombos, which was more likely there to keep the canal clear for trade than to protect Egyptians from the Nubian tribes. Ahmose pen-Ebana then reports campaigns that were likely along the Yellow Nile in Darfur (modern Wadi Howar), and east past the fourth cataract of the Nile, before the Pharaoh Thutmose I declared victory in the south and marched his army as far north as it could go, invading the Mitanni Empire in Syria. His march through Canaan to the Euphrates was described as peaceful, and apparently, the Canaanite princes recognized his authority over the land. This march is believed to have happened in 1503 BC, and was his second peaceful march through Canaan, the first in 1505 BC, shortly after his coronation. Ahmose pen-Ebana does not report being part of that campaign, nor the earlier campaign of Ahmose I into Canaan after conquering Sharuhen, which strongly suggests that he did not take part in these campaigns. His long service in the Egyptian military includes service under three Pharaohs: Ahmose I (circa 1549 to 1524 BC), Amenhotep I (circa 1525 to 1504 BC), and Thutmose I (circa 1506 to 1493 BC), and included many of the most important battles that laid the foundation of the New Kingdom, allowing Egyptologists to understand the order of these battles, as well as the Egyptian view of the battles and their enemies. Ahmose pen-Ebana’s autobiography has survived to the present because it was cut into his tomb walls in El Kab, his hometown. About half of the text carved into the wall was destroyed when Egyptologists broke into the tomb in the 1800s, however, most of his biography seems to have survived. There is some damage to the wall the autobiography was carved on, resulting in short lacunas, however, Egyptologists believe their reconstructions of the missing texts are accurate, given how short the gaps are. In this translation, the Egyptologists’ reconstructions are treated as accurate, and their reconstructions are translated with the rest of the text. This may result in minor translation errors compared to the original text, however, it is better than reading sentences with missing words, especially when the words seem fairly obvious.

Download or read book Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 1900 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor is the earliest known surviving story of a shipwrecked sailor, and as such is the forerunner of many stories of nautical adventure encountering strange magical creatures, from Homer's Odyssey to Sinbad the Sailor. In a broader sense, it is generally considered the oldest piece of Egyptian fiction to survive to the present. Only one copy has been found to date, a single papyrus manuscript that resides at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia, and is designated pHermitage 1115. The exact origin of the papyrus was not properly documented at the time, which was common for early Egyptologists, however, it was most likely recovered in Vladimir Golenishchev's 1884-85 expedition to the Wadi Hammamat, which was the major trade route between the Nile in southern Egypt and the port of El Qoseir on the Red Sea. The papyrus does appear to be complete, however, the story is not. It begins abruptly and ends abruptly, and suggests that it was excised from an older text. The story begins as a ship's captain is returning home from Nubia, on a failed mission of some kind, and then segues to the narrator telling the disinterested captain of a time when was shipwrecked on an island near Punt. It ends as abruptly as it begins, but the scribe confirms that this is the end of the story. Based on the content, it appears that the point of the papyrus was to copy the section of text dealing with the island and the 'Lord of Punt,' which was copied from a longer text in which the captain returned from his failed mission in Nubia, and told the king a story his crewman had told him to make up for the fact that he had nothing to report, but also downplayed the fantastic story by making it clear that it was his boring crewman's story, and not his. The reason for the extraction of the story, was probably because at the time, in the early Middle Kingdom era, the Egyptians were re-exploring their world, and trying to find the lands their ancestors had been trading with. This short work of probable fiction was, nevertheless, about the fabled land of Punt, which the Middle Kingdom reopened trade with during the 11ᵗʰ dynasty. Under the 11ᵗʰ dynasty's Mentuhotep III, an officer named Hannu reopened trade with Punt, however, it is unknown if he personally sailed there or simply organized the expedition. The most probable time for Imenyas pen-Imeny to have excised the story was before that first mission of Hannu, when the Egyptians were scouring their records for information on Punt. The fact that it was abandoned in the Wadi Hammamat, the route taken from the capital at Thebes to the Red Sea port of El Qoseir, seems to be a pretty strong indicator that the navigator did not see any value in the text, and did not even bother carrying it all the way to the harbor.

Download or read book Latin Apocalypse of Ezra written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early centuries of the Christian era, several texts called the Apocalypse of Ezra were in circulation among Jews and Christians. The original is believed to have been written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Syriac, and is commonly known as the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra. This version was translated into Greek sometime before 200 AD and circulated widely within the early Christian churches. This book claimed that the prophet ‘Shealtiel, who was called Ezra’ wrote 904 books, and its popularity seems to have inspired several Christian era Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the short Latin Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the ‘second book of the prophet Ezra.’ The prophet Shealtiel was not Ezra the scribe, who the books of Ezra are named after in the Septuagint and Masoretic text, but the son of former King Jehoiachin of Judah, who had been taken captive by the Babylonians in 597 BC. The shorter Latin Apocalypse of Ezra has become fused with the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra in most Catholic and Protestant translations, however, scholars divide the Catholic versions of 4ᵗʰ Esdras (Protestant 2ⁿᵈ Esdras) into three sections, with only the core twelve chapters that correspond to the Orthodox and Ethiopian versions of the book labeled as 4ᵗʰ Ezra. The opening two chapters, which are only found in the Catholic version, are labeled as 5ᵗʰ Ezra, while the last 2 chapters found in Catholic version, as well as fragments surviving in an ancient Greek translation, are labeled 6ᵗʰ Ezra. 5ᵗʰ Ezra and 6ᵗʰ Ezra appear to have originally been one document, which is commonly called the Latin Apocalypse of Ezra, although it was almost certainly not written in Latin. In chapter 1 and 2 of the apocalypse, which is 5ᵗʰ Ezra, the author claimed to be Ezra the scribe, and gave his genealogy, which is found in the books of Ezra found in the Masoretic text and Septuagint, however, then claims he had been held captive in Media during the time of Artaxerxes. Chapter 3 and the beginning of chapter 4 of the apocalypse, the bulk of 6ᵗʰ Ezra, appears to be much older, and describe a world that the author of the longer apocalypse did not seem to understand. The prophecy itself was focused on fall of the Assyrian Empire, which did fall in 609 BC. The Assyrian Empire fell to a large alliance of its enemies, including the Medes, Scythians, and the rebelling Babylonians. The prophet, whoever it was, did not know this would happen, and did not mention the Medes or Scythians, and prophesied that after defeating the Assyrians, the conquerors would besiege Babylon, demonstrating the prophesy was made before Babylon revolted in 626 BC.

Download or read book Peshitta 5 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2024-05-30 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Peshitta includes Syriac translations of the four books of the Maccabees found in the Septuagint, along with a 5ᵗʰ book of Maccabees, which is also labeled as The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem. This book is a Syriac translation of the 6ᵗʰ book of Josephus’ The Judean War. General Josephus had started on the Judean side of the rebellion, however, was captured by the Romans, and survived the war. During the fall of Jerusalem, he was part of Caesar Titus’ entourage who tried to negotiate with the Judean rebels in Jerusalem. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Josephus was given some of the surviving archives and wrote Antiquities of the Judeans, as well as The Judean War. These books survive in Greek, however, it is generally agreed that Josephus wrote these books in Aramaic, and then translated them into Greek. The Syrian churches have traditionally claimed that the Peshitta’s 5ᵗʰ Maccabees is a Syriac transliteration of Josephus’ original Aramaic text. The Peshitta’s 5ᵗʰ Maccabees is often confused with the Arabic book of Maccabees in English literature due to a misidentification by the Anglican historian Henry Cotton in 1832. Josphus’ writing is also part of the Ge‘ez language extended canon of the Ethiopian bible, however, the Ge‘ez translations are longer, and it is debated if they were made from the old Aramaic versions or an Arabic translation. 5ᵗʰ Maccabees seems to have been added to the Peshitta in order to create a conclusion to the history of the kingdom of Judea, as it is just the section of The Judean War which covers the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Josephus’ intent was to accurately record the fall of Judea and is generally considered a reliable source. Not all of the 1ˢᵗ century historians agreed with Josephus’ view of what happened.

Download or read book The Life of Harkhuf written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 1901 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life of Harkhuf is one of the better-documented lives from the era of the Old Kingdom era of Egyptian history. Harkhuf lived during the reigns of kings Merenre I and Pepi II of the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty, at the same time as the more famous Weni, whom he may have mentioned in his autobiography. Like Weni, he is primarily known from the inscriptions on his tomb, however, unlike Weni, he only seems to have had one tomb. On the front of his tomb were carved two inscriptions, one promising to intercede in the afterlife for those who prayed for him at his tomb, and the other was his autobiography, telling of his three expeditions into Nubia for King Merenre I. This appears to have been the original design of the tomb, as the front of the tomb was completely covered in the two inscriptions, however, like Weni, he later had more to add. Unlike Weni, Harkhuf did not build a second tomb, instead, he had one side of the tomb smoothed off so a letter to him from King Pepi II could be inscribed there, providing more information about the world he lived in. Harkhuf lived during the 6ᵗʰ Dynasty of the Old Kingdom, which would have been at the peak of the Old Kingdom’s international reach, but after the major pyramid-building feats of the 5ᵗʰ Dynasty were completed. Egypt had already built the tallest building in the world around a century before Harkhuf’s expeditions into Nubia, which would continue to be the tallest building in the world for thousands of years, until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889. As Merenre I is only believed to have ruled for around 9 years, Harkhuf and Weni had to be active in Nubia at the same time. Weni’s Autobiography includes two lists of Nubian tribes, first a list of five tribes that fought in Canaan with the Egyptian army, and later a list of four tribes when he went to Nubia to dig five canals to open the region to trade via Egyptian barges. Nubia was the land to the south of Egypt, was Aswan and Elephantine at the First Cataract of the Nile. Elephantine, under its older Egyptian name Abu was mentioned as one of the mines that Weni visited, however, was considered Egyptian during the Old Kingdom, and marked the boundary between the two cultures. As only four of the five Nubian tribes that Weni mentioned are mentioned by Harkhuf, it allows both their routes through Nubia to be compared and tracked, establishing where the Nubian settlements were probably located.

Download or read book Syriac 7 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2024-08-18 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In addition to these five books of the Maccabees found within the Peshitta, there is additional Syriac literature associated with the woman and her seven sons, who were tortured to death by King Antiochus. A lesser-known Syriac work is The Story of the Lady and her Seven Sons, which Western biblical scholars have dubbed 7ᵗʰ Maccabees. 7ᵗʰ Maccabees does not appear to have been significantly altered by Christians. There is a reference to the youths believing in the Messiah that is often assumed to be a reference to Jesus by Christians, however, the prophecy of the Messiah long predated the time of Jesus. Therefore, it does not indicate the work of a Christian editor, but simply that the youths believed a Messiah would come to save the Judeans. This story could also be interpreted as evidence that Judas the hammer was once considered the Messiah, as he drove the Greeks out of Judea. However, he is not viewed that way today. If the story was associated with Judas’ cause at one point, it could explain why 6ᵗʰ and 8ᵗʰ Maccabees refer to the youths as the Maccabean martyrs. The name of the lady is also rendered strangely in 7ᵗʰ Maccabees. In 6ᵗʰ Maccabees, she is called Lady Shamoni, however, in 7ᵗʰ Maccabees the term mrtả is sometimes spelled as mrỉm or mrtỉm. Mrtả was the Syriac word for ‘lady’ or ‘noble woman,’ which was adopted as the name Martha in Greek, and spread into most European languages. As a result, her name is sometimes translated as ‘Martha,’ with both mrỉm and mrtỉm dismissed as scribal errors. Nevertheless, mrtỉm was the Judeo-Aramaic word for ‘ladies,’ suggesting the word is not an error but a transliteration from an older source text. The Syriac form of Aramaic used simpler pluralization, and mrtả was both the singular and plural form of the word ‘lady/ladies.’ Therefore, the terms mrtỉm or mrtả are both translated as the title ‘lady’ in this translation. It is unclear why the term would have been pluralized in the original Judeo-Aramaic text unless there were originally more than one lady in the text. It suggests her original name was Mary Shamone, however, this name is not consistent with Judean or Aramaic naming conventions from the era. If Mary was a mistranslation of mrtỉm, then this likely originated as a reference to eight noble women, not one. If so, the original title of this work was The Story of the Ladies and Their Seven Sons.

Download or read book Septuagint Judges and Ruth written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-12-27 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Book of Judges is very old, and the Song of Deborah may be the oldest surviving piece of Israelite literature. It uses some of the most archaic forms of Hebrew, and was likely composed in Canaanite before Hebrew became a defined dialect as this issue of dialect was part of the division between the Israelites during the battle between the Gileadites, east of the Jordan, and the Ephraimites from west of the Jordan. There is evidence that the book was either assembled or redacted in the Kingdom of Samaria. The region of the book also generally corresponds with the territory of the northern kingdom, both the region that had once been under Egyptian authority west of the Jordan, and the region east of the Jordan which had generally been independent of Egypt. The synchronizations between the Book of Judges and the records of Egypt are far too many to be overlooked or ignored. As almost all denominations of Christians and Jews agree that King Saul established his kingdom in 1037 BC, and the Septuagint's version of Judges includes 460 years of the land being ruled by Judges, or foreign kings, followed by an era of chaos when there was no king, the latest possible date the Exodus could have taken place was the 1500s BC, which supports the idea that the 10 plagues of Egypt were descriptions of the fallout and effects of the Minoan eruption which Egyptologists date to 1550 BC. According to Judges, 42 years later the Israelites invaded Samaria, (northern modern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank) under the leadership of Joshua, which would have been 1508 BC. The plan was already laid out in the Book of Joshua to occupy the entire land of Canaan, yet just three years later, when Joshua was 85 years old, the Israelites stopped their campaign, after having only occupied the cities in Samaria, this would have been in 1505 BC. The reason they stopped their invasion is not given, however, Egyptian records do explain it, as in the same year, 1505 BC, Pharaoh Thutmose I marched his army through Canaan to reconquer it for the Egyptian Empire. It had previously been under the control of the Hyksos Dynasty whose empire collapsed in the aftermath of the Minoan eruption. In 1550 BC, the Hyksos capital fell to the rival southern dynasty of Pharaoh Ahmose I, and the Hyksos retreated to their fortress of Sharuhen, near modern Gaza in the Palestinian Gaza Strip. This suggests the Hyksos maintained control over Canaan until Sharuhen fell to Ahmose I in 1540 BC. Ahmose I led an invasion of southern Canaan a few years later in an attempt to root out any remaining Hyksos. Egyptologists are not sure when this campaign was, placing it sometime between 1537 and 1527 BC. This campaign is not believed to have reached farther north than Byblos, in modern Lebanon, and did not result in any long-term political control over Canaan. Ahmose I's main goal seems to have been to destroy any remaining Hyksos in the region to ensure they did not try to recapture Egypt.

Download or read book Septuagint 4 Kingdoms written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2019-12-12 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Septuagint's 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms tells the history of the kingdoms of Samaria and Judah from circa 850 BC until the Babylonians conquered Judah circa 600 BC. This era of history is well documented in the historical records of the Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians, and unlike the earlier books of the Kingdoms, is generally accepted by historians. This era included the rise and fall of the Aramean Empire based in Damascus, the rise and fall of the Assyrian Empire farther north, the Assyrian wars against Egypt, and the sack of Thebes, and ultimately the rise of the Babylonian Empire. During this tumultuous time, the kingdoms of Israel, Judah, and Aram, which also appears to have been considered an Israelite kingdom by the prophet Ezekiel, struggled for survival and fell one by one to the expanding empires around them. Before the era of 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms, Samara had established an empire, occupying the Aramean kingdoms of Damascus and Hama in modern Syria, which had ended suddenly when an earthquake had leveled Samaria. The earthquake was mentioned in the Book of Amos, and archaeological evidence of it is found throughout modern northern Israel and the Palestinian West Bank. It is estimated to have been between 7.8 and 8.2 on the Richter Scale, and aftershocks likely lasted around 6 months. In the aftermath, Damascus rose to form its own Aramean empire, occupying Hama, and northern Samaria, as well as Gilead in southern modern Syria, which had been part of Samaria since the division of Israel into Samaria and Judah. However, as Assyria began to expand to the north, Samaria and Aram formed an anti-Assyria alliance, and the Samarian forces were stationed in Aram to help defend the northern border from the Assyrians. Judah was invited to join the alliance, but instead formed an alliance with the Assyrians and invaded and pillaged Samaria and southern Aram. Judah continued to be an ally of Assyria as the Assyrians conquered Aram, Samaria, and Sidon which had also allied with them. Fortunately, as Samaria finally fell to the Assyrians after a three-year campaign, the king of Assyria died, sparking a civil war between rival heirs. This civil war provided Judah with almost twenty years to build up defenses, and King Hezekiah built extensively across his kingdom. Archaeological evidence of Hezekiah's construction projects is common in the region around Jerusalem, and the southern region of the Palestinian West Bank, including the Broad Wall in Jerusalem, and the Siloam Tunnel, which connected Jerusalem with a water source outside the walls of the city. Ancient records of anti-siege artillery on the walls of Jerusalem also exist, likely ballistas or catapults, so, it is clear the Judahites knew they would be next. While the Assyrians did lay siege to Jerusalem according to 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms, they were not able to conquer the city. The Assyrian Annals record the campaign against Judah and record the cities they captured, which did not include Jerusalem, and so historians accept the general account of what happened found in 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms.

Download or read book Septuagint Esther Alpha Version written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2019-12-14 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are two versions of the Book of Esther the various copies of the Septuagint, however, neither originated at the Library of Alexandria. The common version of Esther is found in almost all copies, while the rare version is only found in four know manuscripts, numbered as 19, 93, 108, and 319. This version follows the rare version, also known as the Alpha version, using the oldest surviving copy as a source text, the Septuagint manuscript 319, while also comparing the other surviving manuscripts: 19, 93, and 108 The Alpha Texts version only survives in a few copies of the Septuagint, and based on its dialect, it was translated somewhere in the Seleucid Empire. The Alpha version is probably the oldest of the four translations, as it includes several unique elements that appear to have disappeared in later translations. One of these unique elements is the use of the month name Adar-Nisan, which is then clarified in a scribal note as being Dystros-Xandicos. Dystros-Xandicos was not a month, but two months on the modified Macedonian calendar used by the Seleucid Empire. As the story is set in the Persian Empire, the calendar in use was either the Persian calendar, or the Babylonian calendar. The names are the same as the Hebrew calendar, which are themselves based on the Babylonian Calendar, suggesting that this was the calendar the author used.

Download or read book Septuagint 3 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2019-12-19 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 3ʳᵈ Maccabees happens earlier than 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, set between 217 and 205 BC, and does not include Judas the Hammer (the Maccabee), or his brothers, which implies it is part of a larger collection of Maccabean texts, possibly Jason of Cyrene's now lost five-volume version of Maccabees. If it was part of Jason's version of Maccabees, then it was likely the second or third volume, as it is before Jason and his brothers enter the story, but its abrupt beginning indicates it was not the first volume. Unlike 1ˢᵗ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees does have a supernatural element, as messengers descend from the sky to save the Judahites, although the Judahites were apparently unable to see them. As the story told within 3ʳᵈ Maccabees cannot be historically proven, it is generally considered to be a work of historical fiction, however, this cannot be proven either. Like 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, 3ʳᵈ Maccabees appear to be an anti-Phrygian work, or at least anti-Sabaoth/Dionysus, suggesting it is another relic of Jason's work, and Jason's work was anti-Sabaoth in nature. In 3ʳᵈ Maccabees, the worship of Sabaoth at the Temple in Jerusalem is mentioned, under his Greek name Dionysus, while Philip the Phrygian in 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees is sent to govern Jerusalem decades later, he does appear to have been in charge of the Temple in Jerusalem. References to the Judean god Sabaoth appear at this point in the Greek language literature, either transliterated directly in the form of Sabaoth or translated into Greek as Dionysus. While there is a similar word in the ancient Israelite scriptures, it as translated as ṣbảwt, meaning 'armies,' when the Hebrew translations were made under the Hasmoneans, which is likely a direct translation of the Aramaic term. This god Sabaoth was considered at the time, to be the same god as the Phrygian god Sabazios, who the Greeks also considered a local variant of Dionysus. The fact that Dionysus was the Greek name of Sabaoth and Sabazios was recorded by the many Classical Era scholars, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, Lydus, Cornelius Labeo, and Plutarch.

Download or read book Septuagint 2 Kingdoms written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2019-12-13 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The first edition was followed by the second, before 200 BC which added the books of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, which was later known as the Octateuch. Around 200 BC the four books of the Kingdoms and two books of the Paralipomena were added to the Septuagint, along with the two books of Ezra the Scribe. The four books of the Kingdoms are believed to have been translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The four books of the Kingdoms would later become two books in the Masoretic Texts, the books of Samuel and Kings. Subsequent Latin and English translations of the Masoretic Texts labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Samuel and 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kings. The Septuagint's 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms is the book called 2ⁿᵈ Samuel in most Catholic and Protestant Bibles, and 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms in Orthodox and Coptic Bibles. This version differs slightly from the later Masoretic book of Samuel, although all three are generally similar. While a Greek simplification of the text is the simplest explanation for the less-confusing narrative, it cannot explain why the Greek translation has transliterated Hebrew words that are no longer in the Masoretic version. The origin of 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms, along with the other five books of Kingdoms and Paralipomena, is a matter of great debate among scholars. The Bava Basra tractate of the Talmud, reports that the first 25 chapters of Masoretic Samuel, and therefore the first 25 chapters of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms, was written by the prophet Samuel, and the rest of Masoretic Samuel, which would be chapter 26 through 31 of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms and the entire book of 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms was written by the prophets Gad and Nathan. Samuel, Gad, and Nathan are all mentioned in 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms, however, most biblical scholars have rejected the idea that they had anything to do with the authorship of these books for the past few hundred years. Almost all scholars in every era have agreed with the idea that the six books were based on the older, now lost, books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Samaria and Judea mentioned in the later books of Kingdoms. These six later books are generally accepted as having been written in the Babylonian or Persian era and then redacted in the Greek era or Hasmonean dynasty, however, the origin of the earlier works is a matter of debate. The Hebrew language of the second half of Samuel (2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms) is less archaic than the language of the first half of Samuel (1ˢᵗ Kingdoms), suggesting it was written later than the text that became 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms. The Greek translation also included a number of inconsistencies with the translations of 1ˢᵗ, 3ʳᵈ, and 4ᵗʰ Kingdoms, as well as the following book of 1ˢᵗ Paralipomenon, implying it was redacted sometime after the Hasmonean redaction, but before the Codex Vaticanus was prepared in the 4ᵗʰ century, which includes the oldest copy of the Septuagint's 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms currently in existence.

Download or read book Septuagint 1 Kingdoms written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Products. This book was released on 2019-12-15 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The four books of the Kingdoms are believed to have been translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 200 BC when a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The four books of the Kingdoms would later become two books in the Masoretic Texts, the books of Samuel and Kings. Subsequent Latin and English translations of the Masoretic Texts labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Samuel, and 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kings. The Septuagint's 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms is the book called 1ˢᵗ Samuel in most Catholic and Protestant Bibles, and 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms in Orthodox and Coptic Bibles. This version differs slightly from the later Masoretic book of Samuel, although all three are generally similar. Unlike the Masoretic version, Saul does not repeatedly meet David for the first time, meaning that either the Greeks simplified the Aramaic texts they translated, or the Masoretic version is based on a different version of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms. While a Greek simplification of the text is the simplest explanation for the less-confusing narrative, it cannot explain why the Masoretic version has Saul meeting David for the first time in three unique stories, or, why the Greek translation has transliterated Hebrew words that are no longer in the Masoretic version. The origin of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms, along with the other five books of Kingdoms and Paralipomena, is a matter of great debate among scholars. The Bava Basra tractate of the Talmud, reports that the first 25 chapters of Masoretic Samuel, and therefore the first 25 chapters of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms, was written by the prophet Samuel, and the rest of Masoretic Samuel, which would be chapter 26 through 31 of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms and the entire book of 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms was written by the prophets Gad and Nathan. Samuel, Gad, and Nathan are all mentioned in 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Kingdoms, however, most biblical scholars have rejected the idea that they had anything to do with the authorship of these books for the past few hundred years. Almost all scholars in every era have agreed with the idea that the six books were based on the older, now lost, books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Samaria and Judea mentioned in the later books of Kingdoms. These six later books are generally accepted as having been written in the Babylonian or Persian era and then redacted in the Greek era or Hasmonean dynasty, however, the origin of the earlier works is a matter of debate. The language of 1ˢᵗ Kingdoms is archaic, and early sections dealing with Eli and Samuel read like a continuation of Judges, implying the original book of Judges continued until Saul seized power in 1037 BC.

Download or read book Septuagint 2 Maccabees written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2019-12-17 with total page 82 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees claims to be an abridged version of Jason of Cyrene's now lost five-volume version of Maccabees. Jason's books of the Maccabees were likely composed earlier than 1ˢᵗ Maccabees, as the story ends decades earlier, and contains many references to Sabaoth in the form of Dionysus which are missing from the 1ˢᵗ Maccabees. While 1ˢᵗ Maccabees is a very secular version of the events that lead to the creation of the Hasmonean kingdom, and was, therefore, almost certainly composed by a Sadducee, 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees claims that Judas the Hammer, the protagonist of both 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees was a Hasidean, suggesting that either Jason of Cyrene, or whoever abridged his work, was a Hasidean. 1ˢᵗ Maccabees mentioned the Hasideans joining Judas' forces, but did not claim he was one. The Hasideans were one of two Judean sects that were mentioned in the various books of the Maccabees whose relationship to other sects is unclear. Some scholars have theorized that they may be the precursors to the Pharisees. 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees appears to be an anti-Phrygian work, although it is not clear if this was added by the author, or found in Jason's earlier work. The book is the only clear reference to the origin of Sabaoth within the Judean sects, as the god appears in the book, under his Greek name Dionysus, while Philip the Phrygian is in charge of the Temple in Jerusalem. References to the Judean god Sabaoth appear at this point in the Greek language literature, either transliterated directly in the form of Sabaoth or translated into Greek as Dionysus. While there is a similar word in the ancient Israelite scriptures, it as translated as ṣbʾwt, meaning 'armies,' when the Hebrew translations were made under the Hasmoneans, which is likely a direct translation of the Aramaic term. This god Sabaoth was considered at the time, to be the same god as the Phrygian god Sabazios, who the Greeks also considered a local variant of Dionysus. The fact that Dionysus was the Greek name of Sabaoth and Sabazios was recorded by the many Classical Era scholars, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Tacitus, Lydus, Cornelius Labeo, and Plutarch.

Download or read book Septuagint 1 Paralipomenon written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2019-10-29 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria. The creation of the Septuagint resulted from this order. It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint. The two books of the Paralipomena were translated into Greek and added to the Septuagint around 180 BC after a large number of refugees fled from the war in Judea and settled in Egypt. The two books of the Paralipomena were one book in the Masoretic Texts: the book of Divrei-hayyamim. Subsequent Latin translations were renamed 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronikon by Jerome in the 5ᵗʰ century AD. Subsequent English translations of the Old Testament labeled these books as 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Chronicles. The term Paralipomena, which means ‘things left out,’ is similar to the Hebrew name Divrei-hayyamim, which means ‘things in the days.’ The books are a collection of texts from various eras of Israelite history, spanning the era of the old Israelite Kingdoms, circa 1000 BC, through the Persian conquest, of circa 539 BC. Scholars have debated the origin of the books throughout their history, and there is no consensus within Rabbinical literature, Christian literature, or modern scholarship. The general Rabbinical view is that the two books of Paralipomena were written by one author, as Divrei-hayyamim, and then translated into Greek. The dominant early Christian view was that the books were written by Ezra the Scribe, circa 350 BC, however, this view was generally abandoned in Western Europe during the Protestant Reformation. Modern scholarly analysis has no consensus, however, the books do themselves indicate the eras they were compiled, nevertheless, the authors remain unknown. Based on the references within 1ˢᵗ Paralipomenon, the book was compiled sometime after 732 BC, when Tiglath-Pileser III deported the Reubenites, Gadites, and the people of Manasseh to other regions of the Assyrian Empire. The surviving Hebrew text of Divrei-hayyamim does, however, contain a reference to the Temple in Jerusalem as the ‘Temple of the Gods’, which means the original text of the book has to predate King Josiah’s reforms of circa 625 BC, and likely predates King Hezekiah’s similar reforms decades earlier. Both Hezekiah and Josiah are recorded as removing the idols of the gods from the temple, which had by all accounts been in the temple since it was built by King Solomon. The books of Paralipomena differ slightly from the later Masoretic book of Divrei-hayyamim, although the three are generally similar. In 200 BC the Greek Kingdom of Syria under the Seleucid Dynasty took Judea from Egypt and began an effort to Hellenize the Judeans, which included erecting a statue of Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem and effectively banning traditional Judaism. This Hellenizing activity was partially successful, creating the Sadducee faction of Judaism, however, it also led the Maccabean Revolt in 165 BC, which itself created the independent Kingdom of Judea. This Kingdom had a tenuous alliance with the Roman Republic until General Pompey conquered Syria into the Roman Republic in 69 BC. Pomey’s goal was to liberate Greek-speaking communities in the Middle East that had fallen under the rule of non-Greeks when the Seleucids Syrian Empire had collapsed, and he carved up Judea, and Edom to the east, placing Greek-speaking cities under the protection of the Roman province of Syria. He also liberated several smaller communities that had been occupied by Judea, granting them self-government, including Ashdod, Yavne, Jaffa, Dora, Marissa, and Samaria.