Download or read book Septuagint Prayer of Manasseh written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-02-02 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Prayer of Manasseh was found in some copies of the Septuagint, but not all. It is believed to have been added in the 2nd-century BC, which is why it is not found in all copies. The 5th-century Codex Alexandrinus includes the Prayer of Manasseh as one of the 14 Odes, appearing directly after Psalms, however, it often appears at different positions within Bibles, and is treated as a separate work by many Christian denominations. The Prayer of Manasseh is unusual in that it is written by one of the 'evil' kings of Judea, who restored Baalism, and restored the statue of Ba'al to King Solomon's Temple. It is a prayer dedicated to 'the Lord' which is a direct translation of the title Ba'al, and may, therefore, be seen as a Baalist prayer. This is something that has concerned Jews and Christians throughout history, which is why it is not universally considered canon by either Jews or Christians. The author of the Septuagint's 2nd Paralipomenon (Masoretic Diḇrê Hayyāmîm) attempted to resolve the question of Manasseh's prayer by adding a story of his repentance and return to worshiping the Lord (Masoretic Yahweh) after being imprisoned by the King of Assyria, however, that story is not viewed as possible by many, as it would have meant that Judea was conquered by the Assyrians, who then incarcerated the Judean King in Nineveh. There are no records of this, however, Manasseh is mentioned as the King of Judea in the Assyrian records, and the two nations appear to have had cordial relations. The fact that the author of 2nd Paralipomenon felt he needed to explain the existence of the Prayer of Manasseh, proves it was in use by Jews at the time, although, it may not be the Prayer that ended up in the Septuagint. Fragments of a Hebrew Prayer of Manasseh have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, however, not enough of them survives to determine how much the two Prayers originally deviated.

Download or read book Septuagint Psalms and the Prayer of Manasseh written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2021-08-06 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Psalms are a complex collection of hymns and prayers likely composed over many centuries, and by various authors. The earliest psalms are attributed to King David or are written for King David, including the first 40, which are likely the original group of psalms. Many other psalms are attributed to, or written for Asaph, Solomon, Ethan, Moses, Jeremiah, Haggai, Zachariah, the sons of Korah, or the sons of Jehonadab. Some of the psalms have internal historical references that indicate the likely time-frame they were written in. King David is generally believed to have lived around 1000 BC by those who accept him as a historical figure, and Asaph, Solomon, and Ethan all lived around the same time, so those who accept the psalms as having been written by authors that they are attributed to, would generally place the origin of most of the texts to around 1000 BC. The life of Moses has been dated to anywhere between the 16th and 13th centuries BC, and the original sons of Korah lived at the same time, however, the sons of Korah were also the priests in Solomon's Temple before they were replaced by the Levites. Jehonadab lived during the reign of the Israelite King Jehu, who lived circa 800 BC, while Jeremiah's life is dated to circa 600 BC, and the lives of Haggai and Zachariah are dated to circa 500 BC. The Prayer of Manasseh was found in some copies of the Septuagint, but not all. It is believed to have been added in the 2nd-century BC, which is why it is not found in all copies. The current scholarly view is that it was likely written in Greek, and is not the original Prayer of Manasseh mentioned in the Septuagint's 2nd Paralipomenon, however, translations of the versions found in the Septuagint are the only version found in the various translations of 2nd Paralipomenon, including the Syriac and Ge'ez translations, which supports the version in the Septuagint as being in the Aramaic translations the Greeks translated. Fragments of a different Prayer of Manasseh have been discovered among the dead sea scrolls, written in Hebrew, which is probably a translation of a Canaanite Prayer of Manasseh. It is unclear which Prayer of Manasseh is the original, and both could be original prayers by Manasseh, who was reported as being a Judahite king from the era when the Judahites were writing in Canaanite, and taken north to Assyria, where Aramaic was the common form of writing. The story of his capture is not corroborated by Assyrian sources, and seems unlikely, leaving the question of where the Aramaic Prayer a mystery.

Download or read book The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament and Apocrypha written by Lancelot Brenton and published by . This book was released on 2018-08-27 with total page 803 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edition of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's English translation of the Septuagint has been thoroughly reviewed by comparing two separate transcriptions against the original printed text to correct transcriptional and typographical errors. This edition is a transcription of the Greek-English edition that was first published around 1870. Brenton's footnotes are not included. The text is presented in 11 point font for ease of reading. Volume II includes Job through the Prayer of Manasseh.

Download or read book The Old Testament in Greek According to the Septuagint written by Henry Barclay Swete and published by . This book was released on 1901 with total page 874 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Septuagint Odes written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 76 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 Book of Odes is not believed to have been added until the 3rd-century AD, and is the only specifically Christian book to be added to the Septuagint. It includes the older Prayer of Manasseh, which was found in some copies of the Septuagint, but not all. The Prayer of Manasseh is believed to have been added in the 2nd-century BC, which is why it is not found in all copies. The current scholarly view is that it was likely written in Greek, and is not the original Prayer of Manasseh mentioned in the Septuagint's 2nd Paraleipomenon. Fragments of a different Prayer of Manasseh have been discovered among the dead sea scrolls, written in Hebrew, which could be the original, however, it is more likely that the original would have been written in Canaanite (Samaritan, Paleo-Hebrew) than Hebrew, and therefore it is still not clear which, if either, is the original Prayer of Manasseh. Most of the other songs and prayers in the Book of Odes are copied from other books found in the Septuagint, although not exactly word for word. These songs and prayers include works attributed to Moses, Hannah the mother of Samuel, King Hezekiah, the prophets Habakkuk, Isaiah, Jonah, Azariah, Hananiah, and Mishael. Additionally, the Odes includes specifically Christian prayers copied from either the Gospel of Luke, by Zechariah the father of John the Baptist, Simeon, and in some manuscripts Mary the God-Bearer.

Download or read book T T Clark Companion to the Septuagint written by James K Aitken and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-02-26 with total page 623 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible and the scriptures read by early Christians. Septuagint studies have been a growth field in the past twenty years. It has become an area of interest not only for textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible but as a product of Judaism in the Graeco-Roman world. It is even being utilized occasionally by scholars of Greek religion. At the same time renewed interest in the daughter versions (Syriac, Vulgate, Ethiopic, Coptic etc.) has thrown new attention onto the Septuagint. This Companion provides a cutting-edge survey of scholarly opinion on the Septuagint text of each biblical book. It covers the characteristics of each Septuagint book, its translation features, origins, text-critical problems and history. As such it provides a comprehensive companion to the Septuagint, featuring contributions from experts in the field.

Download or read book Letter of Aristeas and the Pithom Stele written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 103 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 Letter of Aristeas, also called the Letter to Philocrates, was written by someone who claimed to have been part of the events that created the original translation of the Septuagint. It was treated as an authentic historical document by ancient Jewish historians, such as Aristobulus of Alexandria circa 150 BC, Philo of Alexandria circa 15 AD, and Josephus circa 93 AD. As Aristobulus quoted the Letter around 150 BC, the letter clearly predates Aristobulus by enough time for him to see it as an authentic document, which would imply prior to 200 BC. Since the time of Jerome, circa 400 BC, the Letter's authenticity has been debated. It was generally considered authentic until the 1500s when Jerome's views were repeated by the Spanish humanist Luis Vives. The Letter came under attack throughout the 1600s through the 1800s, and by the 1900s was viewed as a fictional document. Most of the arguments levied against it, were based on a lack of understanding of who Ptolemy II Philadelphus was, and why he would be depicted as worshiping the Jewish god. Latin critics did not understand the references to Plato's Cratylus and translated Δία as Dis (Jupiter), which would force the origin of the Letter to a later date after Rome had risen in power. In the time period this Letter is set, Carthage sill dominated the Western Mediterranean and Romans only ruled Italy. The reference to Δία was, in fact, part of a reference to Ζῆνα and Δία found in Plato's Cratylus, which was a reference to the Greek folktales about Zeus being the creator of life. References to the creator god in the letter were traditionally dismissed as being unlikely, as a Greek king would not have worshiped the Jewish god, however, this argument was based on a lack of understanding of Philadelphus. The Pithom Stele, found in the late 1800s shows that Philadelphus embedded himself in the Egyptian religions, portraying himself as the son of Atum, the creator god of ancient Egypt. The Pithom Stele was discovered at Tell el-Maskhuta, Egypt. It had originally been erected in the Temple of Atum at Pithom (Tell el-Maskhuta), circa 264 BC. The city of Pithom appears to have been moved at least once. Pharaoh Necho II seems to have founded a city of Pithom at the site of El Retaba eight miles west of Tell el-Maskhuta, circa 600 BC, when the Canal of the Pharaohs was dug linking the Nile to the Gulf of Suez. This canal was filled with sand and debris repeatedly and then cleared repeatedly. The Greek historian Herodotus, circa 430 BC claimed it was opened on the orders of the Persian King Darius, circa 490 BC. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, circa 330 BC, claimed the canal was never completed, meaning it was not open during his lifetime. It is generally accepted today that Ptolemy II Philadelphus reopened the canal during his lifetime, and built Heroöpolis, which was called Per-Atum (Pithom), including the Temple of Atum where the Pithom Stele was found.

Download or read book A Handbook to the Septuagint written by Richard Rusden Ottley and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Septuagint s Solomon and the Testament of Solomon written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020-07-07 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: King Solomon is arguably the most famous of all ancient Israelite kings, with several books in the Septuagint dedicated to him, or about him, or even by him, yet, to date, no archeological evidence for his life has been found. Additionally, the Testament of Solomon has survived from the Second Temple era which displays another side of King Solomon. The lifetime of King Solomon falls during the Third Intermediate Period (dark age) in Egyptian history, and therefore are no records of Solomon within the very limited Egyptian records from the time. Egyptologists believe the Kingdom of Egypt collapsed at the beginning of the time period, and by the time that Solomon would have lived, in the early-9th century BC, the king of Egypt only controlled the northern region, while the rest of Egypt was under the rule of the High Priest of Amen (Amun). The various books associated with Solomon that made it into the Septuagint, include 3rd Kingdoms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon, als of which have been retranslated into modern English. The first book in this collection is 3rd Kingdoms, which tells the life of Solomon, likely from Ezra the Scribe's perspective, 500 years later. The book likely dates to before the reign of King Josiah, circa 700 BC, but is believed to have been redacted by Ezra the Scribe, or someone else in his era. The second book, Proverbs, also called Proverbs of Solomon, is generally attributed to King Solomon, who is explicitly referred to as the author of some of the proverbs. A number proverbs are known to have been copied from older collections of proverbs, most notably the Wisdom of Amenemope, which was apparently written by Amenemope son of Kanakht sometime before Pharaoh Akhenaten, circa 1350 BC. The third book, Ecclesiastes is generally also attributed to King Solomon, however, he is not mentioned anywhere by name. The idea that King Solomon was the author, is found in the introduction to the text. At some point before the Greek translation was made, someone added an introduction and conclusion to the text, in which the author is described as being the 'son of David,' and a 'King in Jerusalem.' The fourth book, Song of Songs, also called the Song of Solomon, is a song about King Solomon theoretically written in his time, circa 950 BC. The book does not list its author, but it was clearly written by a woman in love with Solomon. She is believed to have been referring to herself as a Shulamite in chapter 7, which suggests she was Abishag the Shulamite, King David's youngest concubine. The fifth book, Wisdom of Solomon was added to the Septuagint sometime between 250 and 132 BC, and while it was traditionally attributed to King Solomon, today scholars generally believed to have been composed in Greek, shortly before it was added to the Septuagint. The Wisdom of Solomon itself appears to have been redacted before the Greek translation, as the first half is about the spirit of wisdom, Sophia in Greek, who is credited with actually doing most of what the Lord (Iaw/Yahweh) was credited with doing in the Septuagint and Masoretic Texts, however, this changes abruptly to crediting the Lord in chapter 11, and Sophia disappeared entirely from the rest of the book. The sixth book, Psalms of Solomon, is also called Psalms of Salomon in many of the surviving manuscripts, although it is not clear why. At this time, it is universally agreed that the Psalms of Solomon is a pre-Christian work, as early Christian writers referred to it even though it is clearly not about the life of Jesus as described in the gospels. The seventh book, Testament of Solomon, was widely used by Christian and Gnostic astrologers in the first few centuries of the Christian era.

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint written by Alison G. Salvesen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-01-26 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Septuagint is the term commonly used to refer to the corpus of early Greek versions of Hebrew Scriptures. The collection is of immense importance in the history of both Judaism and Christianity. The renderings of individual books attest to the religious interests of the substantial Jewish population of Egypt during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and to the development of the Greek language in its Koine phase. The narrative ascribing the Septuagint's origins to the work of seventy translators in Alexandria attained legendary status among both Jews and Christians. The Septuagint was the version of Scripture most familiar to the writers of the New Testament, and became the authoritative Old Testament of the Greek and Latin Churches. In the early centuries of Christianity it was itself translated into several other languages, and it has had a continuing influence on the style and content of biblical translations. The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint features contributions from leading experts in the field considering the history and manuscript transmission of the version, and the study of translation technique and textual criticism. The collection provides surveys of previous and current research on individual books of the Septuagint corpus, on alternative Jewish Greek versions, the Christian 'daughter' translations, and reception in early Jewish and Christian writers. The Handbook also includes several conversations with related fields of interest such as New Testament studies, liturgy, and art history.

Download or read book Septuagint s Ezekiel and the Ba al Cycle written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 1901 with total page 229 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 Book of Ezekiel is connected to Ezra and his Great Assembly in Jewish tradition, who apparently finished the book. It is one of the most standardized books, where the Greek and Hebrew translations are extremely similar. Both books contain some of the most obscure language, both Greek and Hebrew, containing many Aramaic loanwords. The Aramaic dialect is not consistent, with the early section, chapters 1 through 39, having Amorite and Assyrian loanwords, while the latter section, chapters 40 through 48, appears to have been written in Persian Imperial Aramaic. The early and later sections of Ezekiel also used different titles for God, and appear to have been written at different points in time, centuries apart. The early section is consistent with the historical records and was likely written during the late Assyrian and early Babylonian eras. The latter section appears to have been added during the time of Ezra, as the Persian Empire collapsed before the onslaught of the Macedonians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Egyptians. The Book of Ezekiel is certainly one of the strangest books to survive from antiquity and has been the source of much speculation throughout centuries, by Jews, Christians, and atheists alike. Ezekiel's opening vision, of the flying machine, was the source of an entire branch of Jewish literature, Merkabah mysticism. The Septuagint uses the strange title Lord Lord through the first 39 chapters, before switching to the more common term Lord God for the later section of the book. This term could only have read Adon Ba'al in the Aramaic texts the Greeks translated Ezekiel from, as both adon and ba'al translate as 'lord.' This meaning that Ezekiel's god was Ba'al, the Canaanite god of thunder, whose holy mountain was Mount Zephon. Ezekiel describes his Lord Lord as being a thunder cloud, and refers to the god as coming from Zephon, which confirms that he did view the god as being Lord Ba'al. The Ba'al Cycle is a collection of stories about Ba'al Hadad, the supreme god of the Canaanite pantheon in the late bronze age. Unfortunately, the Texts that comprise the Ba'al Cycle are damaged, especially in the first section, where Hadad fights Yam to become Ba'al. In the subsequent section where the battle is discussed, Anat's defeat of the seven-headed monster Lotan is mentioned, however, this section is missing from the battle itself. Many tablets are believed to be lost from the epic, nevertheless, it is an important series of texts, as it allows us to see the other great religion of Canaan in the era that the early Israelite (later Samaritan and Jewish) religion was forming.

Download or read book Tobit and Ahikar written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Words of Ahikar is the oldest surviving Israelite story, with known copies in Aramaic dating back to the 5ᵗʰ century BC, making it a couple of centuries older than the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls. While the story is set during the Assyrian Captivity of the Samaritans during the 7ᵗʰ century BC, it is generally accepted by scholars that the book was written in its current form in the 6ᵗʰ century BC, during the Babylonian Captivity of the Judahites. It does not appear to have been considered a religious book by Judahites under Greek rule, or later when Judea became independent, and was not included in either the Septuagint or the Masoretic Text. Nevertheless, the author of the Book of Tobit, which is in the Septuagint, clearly viewed the Words of Ahikar as authentic, as his protagonist Tobit claimed that he was Ahikar's uncle, and both Ahikar and his nephew Nadan make a brief appearance in the book of Tobit at Tobit’s son Tobiah’s marriage feast in Nineveh. The Book of Tobit was likely written in the Median Empire, and carried into Judea by the priest Tobiah, who was listed as one of the leaders of the Israelites that returned to Judea after Cyrus II (the Great) released the Judahites when he conquered Babylon. The version of the book of Tobit found in the Codex Vaticanus and most surviving copies of the Septuagint, was translated into Greek from Aramaic and added to the Septuagint, likely before 200 BC when the Judean Revolt against the Ptolemys rule, resulted in most Jews and Samaritans fleeing from Egypt, either east into Judea, or south into Nubia. There is another version of the Book of Tobit found in the Codex Sinaiticus, which appears to be older than the version in the other codices, and not translated in the Ptolemy’s Egypt, but somewhere in the Seleucid’s Empire. 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. Additionally, fragments of Tobit found among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri don’t match either the Vaticanus or Sinaiticus version of Tobit. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri are a collection of ancient texts found in southern Egypt dating to the Greek, Roman, and Byzantine eras of Egyptian history, approximately 300 BC to 640 AD. Among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, two fragments of Tobit have been found, Papyrus 1594, dated to circa 275 AD, and Papyrus 1076, dated to circa 550 AD. Unfortunately, these fragments are extremely short, with only a few lines surviving from chapters 12 and 2 respectively. The Oxyrhynchus Papyri fragments of Tobit are in Greek but do not match surviving versions found in the Septuagint codices, meaning there were no less than three Greek versions of Tobit in circulation by 350 AD, when the Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus are dated to.

Download or read book Voyage of Wenamen written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 2020 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the Voyage of Wenamen, also called the Report of Wenamen, or the Misadventures of Wenamen, is considered one of the earliest surviving adventure tales. Unlike many of their neighboring cultures, the Egyptians did not write historical narratives, the text must have started as an autobiography of Wenamen circa 1065 BC. The one partially surviving copy appears to have been excerpted from the original autobiography, copied for one of the Meshwesh (Berber) Pharaohs that ruled the late 21ˢᵗ Dynasty after Osorkon the Elder seized the throne in 992 BC. It appears as if only the sections about Canaan were copied, which suggests the Pharaoh in question was looking for information on Canaan, likely as a prelude to an invasion. The surviving text includes the beginning of Wenamen's voyage, but not the beginning of his biography, which would have included his titles and honors and the story of how he became a priest of Amen. The surviving text covers Wenamen's voyage from his departure from Thebes, through his stops in the Egyptian capital of Tanis, and the coastal Canaanite cities of Dor, Tyre, and Byblos, before his ship was blown off course to Cyprus, and the story abruptly ends. The section that covers the stop in Tyre is in the damaged section, in the middle of the story, and only survives in fragments. The abrupt ending of the story is clearly not the end of Wenamen's Biography as it does not include his return to Egypt, which must have taken place or his story would never have been known to the Egyptians.

Download or read book Words of Ahikar written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020-02-09 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Words of Ahikar is the oldest surviving Israelite story, with known copies in Aramaic dating back to the 5ᵗʰ century BC. As it has been translated into many languages over the past two and a half millennia, it now has several names and translations, including the Words of Ahiqar, the Story of Ahikar, and various variations of the name, including Achiacharos, from the Greek translation, Ảḥyqr from the Aramaic translation, Akyrios from the Old Slavonic translation, Ḥayqār from the Arabic translation, and Xikar from the Armenian translation. This translation uses the most common English variation of Ahikar, which is based on a transliteration of the oldest surviving Aramaic version of the name. The oldest fragments of this book found to date, were discovered in Elephantine, Egypt, and date to the 5ᵗʰ century BC, making it a couple of centuries older than the oldest of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is not considered to be a true historical story by any modern academics or theologians. It is universally considered to be a work of fiction for several reasons, not the least of which are the boys flying on the backs of trained eagles. Another reason that the work is not considered historical, is that the Assyrian kings are not mentioned in the correct order, as King Esarhaddon was actually Sennacherib’s son, not his father. Both Kings are well known from the historical records of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. Moreover, Esarhaddon and his son Ashurbanipal liberated Egypt from Kushite rule and established the vassal state of Egypt which ultimately became independent again when the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell. During the time of Sennacherib, Egypt was still under the control of Kush, and there was no Pharaoh for Ahikar to visit. The book also refers to a King of Persia, centuries before there was a Kingdom of Persia, and is therefore generally dismissed as a quasi-historical work of fiction. Nevertheless, the Book of Tobit records that Ahikar was sent to Elam as an envoy, not Persia. As the Persians settled in the land of Elam after King Ashurbanipal destroyed Elam in the mid-7ᵗʰ century BC, the name Persia would have been the contemporary geographical term when the Aramaic translation was made, and not the original term. In any event, the author of Tobit must have had a copy of Ahikar that used the name Elam instead of Persia, or his reference to Ahikar going to Elam makes no sense.

Download or read book Greek Apocalypse of Ezra written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on 2020-04-06 with total page 44 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, Christians, Gnostics, and related religious groups. The original is believed to have been written in Judahite or Aramaic and is commonly known as the Jewish Apocalypse of Ezra, as Ezra is believed to have been an ancient Judahite. This translation is referred to as the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, as the book has nothing to do with modern Judaism. This version of the Apocalypse was translated into Greek sometime before 200 AD and circulated widely within the early Christian churches. This prophet Ezra is not the scribe Ezra from the books of Ezra, but a prophet named Shealtiel who lived a couple of centuries earlier. In the apocalypse, he is called Ezra by the angel Uriel, which translates a ‘helper’ or ‘assistant.’ In the book, it is claimed that the prophet Ezra wrote 904 books, and its popularity seems to have inspired a number of Christian-era Apocalypses of Ezra, presumably beginning with the ‘Latin’ Apocalypse of Ezra which claimed to be the ‘second book of the prophet Ezra.’ The ‘second apocalypse’ was strangely attributed to Ezra the Scribe, and not the earlier exilarch Shealtiel, suggesting the author of the second apocalypse was not entirely familiar with the first apocalypse. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra is a third Apocalypse of Ezra, which has only survived in two copies, both dating to before the 9th century. It is a separate text from the Judahite or Latin Apocalypses of Ezra and appears to be a Christian-era composite of various Ezra and Shadrach related materials. There is no consensus of when the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra was written, however, it is a Christian era Apocalypse, which refers to several Christian Apostles in heaven along with the Israelite Patriarchs. This Apocalypse uses a very inconsistent writing style and switches constantly between first-person and third-person as if it is a composite of material that originated in various earlier Ezra material. Some of the content repeats content found in the Judahite Apocalypse of Ezra, however, the bulk of the material is unique, describing Ezra’s journey through the sky (Heaven) and the underworld (Tartarus).

Download or read book Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra and the Arabic Apocalypse of Daniel written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Digital Ink Productions. This book was released on with total page 90 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Syriac Apocalypse of Ezra, sometimes called the Revelation of Ezra appears to have been reworked in the High Middle Ages. Another version of the apocalypse has survived in Arabic, but attributed to Daniel not Ezra, commonly known as the Arabic Apocalypse of Daniel. The Arabic version is shorter and appears to be older, likely dating to earlier than the time of Muhammad, while the Syriac version has been reworked into an anti-Islamic apocalypse, likely between 1229 and 1244. The apocalypse includes a reference from the High Middle Ages to Muslims as Ishmaelites, and Mongols as Gog and Magog, forming an alliance and conquering Jerusalem. This idea would not have been conceivable until the Mongols defeated the Khwarazmian Empire, an Islamic Turko-Persian empire in Iran and Central Asia. Before that, the idea that the Mongols could reach Jerusalem was not a consideration. The Apocalypse indicates that the city of Jerusalem was occupied by Christians at the time, which would place the anti-Islamic redaction to sometime between 1229 and 1244. The Latin crusaders had been driven out of Jerusalem in 1187, however, the kingdom of Jerusalem continued to exist, first from its capital in Tyre, and later Acre, however, in 1229 Jerusalem was recaptured, and held until 1244. As the Principality of Antioch was another crusader state to the north, and the name ‘Antioch’ appears to have been added earlier in the Apocalypse, the redactor may have meant it as a piece of propaganda intended to garner support from Byzantine Christians, who had not generally participated in the crusades and had better relations with the Muslims than the Catholics. The older Arabic version of the apocalypse likewise appears to have been used for propaganda, however, was anti-Jewish instead of anti-Islamic, and appears to have been written in Aramaic before the time of Muhammad. Based on the dialect of Arabic, it most likely originated in Palestine, among medieval Christians. The Arabic version is much shorter and is mostly paraphrased from the Gospels and other early Christian works, however, the content of the apocalypse is clearly something that was incorporated into the longer Syriac Apocalypse. While the content of the Arabic apocalypse is repeated in the Syriac apocalypse, it is a direct translation, but a series of paraphases that are reinterpreted in an anti-Islamic way. The longer Syriac apocalypse, which must originate much later than the pre-Islamic Arabic apocalypse, nevertheless, has much more content, most of which appears to have been composed in Neo-Babylonian sometime between 597 and 592 BC. The Syriac apocalypse has many Greek loanwords, confirming it was written in Greek, as well as an Arabic word the Syriac translator chose over a Syriac word, suggesting the Syriac translation was done long after Northern Iraq became Arabic speaking. All known copies of the Syriac Apocalypse can be traced to Iraqi Kurdistan, or the old Christian churches of Mosul, just south of Kurdistan. All of the surviving manuscripts are also in the Eastern Syriac script, and ten of the known 15 manuscripts can be linked to the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, of the Chaldean Catholic church, suggesting that all known copies are derived from the texts maintained at the monastery. The oldest known manuscript is from 1702 and is known as MS Mingana Syriac 11, or simplified to Mingana 11. It was copied on January 16, 1702, by a Hoshabo, son of Daniel, son of Joseph the priest, son of Hoshabo, and bought by Alphonse Mingana in the 1920s. Minanga was a British orientalist who had been born in Ottoman Kurdistan, and in the 1920s made multiple trips to northern Iraq to acquire ancient manuscripts, which later became the Mingana Collection at the University of Birmingham, in England.

Download or read book The Amarna Letters written by Scriptural Research Institute and published by Scriptural Research Institute. This book was released on 1901 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Amarna Letters are a collection of clay tablets found in the ruins of El Amarna, Egypt, in the 1880s. The city of El Amarna was built by the Pharaoh Akhenaten, during his religious reforms in the 1340s BC, but was then abandoned after he died and Egypt reverted to worshiping the old gods. These letters provide a unique glimpse into a period of Egyptian history, that the Egyptians themselves attempted to erase. After Akhenaten's heir Tutankhamen died, his successor Ay was only able to hold the throne for a few years before Horemheb seized it, and attempted to reunite the Egyptians by erasing all records of Akhenaten's reforms, which included erasing Akhenaten's name from almost every record in Egypt. By this period, El Amarna appears to have already been mostly abandoned, and therefore Egyptologists were able to reconstruct the strange story of Akhenaten's reign, in the middle of the New Kingdom era. The Amarna letters were recovered from the royal archives in El Amarna, where they appear to have been archived after having been translated for the royal court. The letters are inscribed on clay tablets in Cuneiform, the dominant form of writing in Mesopotamia, Canaan, and the neighboring cultures in Anatolia and Cyprus at the time. The shape of the Cuneiform logograms used is Akkadian, the parent form of the later Neo-Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, and Ugaritic forms of Cuneiform, however, the language used in the Letters is not pure Akkadian. The Letters are between various members of the Egyptian royal court, and many different cities and nations across the Middle East, including Babylon, Assyria, Mitanni, and Cyprus, and therefore the language within the Letters is not consistent. Within the letters from Canaanite cities, all of which were subject to Egypt at the time, several transliterated names are also used, which appears to be a direct precursor to the later development of Ugaritic Cuneiform by 1200 BC, which was an abjad similar to the Canaanite script that was developed by 1000 BC, however, used Cuneiform logograms instead of alphabet-like letters. The surviving letters were mostly about trade and diplomacy, however, do include a great deal of information about what was happening in the Middle East at the time. In particular, they demonstrate how limited Egypt's actual control of its Canaanite holdings was, where the governors of cities were constantly requesting military help to defend themselves against each other, the marauding Habirus, and the Hittite-backed Amorites in northern Canaan. The Amarna Letters were written during the mid-1330s BC, during the reigns of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Akhenaten, although it is not always clear when in their respective reigns the letters were written, or even which pharaoh was on the throne at the time.