What Is the Septuagint? Ἡ τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα · "The Seventy" · LXX

The Greek Old Testament · Translated before Christ · Explained simply

⚡ The 60-second answer

The Septuagint is the Old Testament translated into Greek — done by Jewish scholars in Egypt about 250 years before Jesus was born.

It contains the whole Hebrew Old Testament (all 39 books) — plus about 10 extra books.
It was the everyday Bible of Greek-speaking Jews, and then of the early Christian Church.
When the New Testament quotes the Old Testament, it usually quotes the Septuagint.
Because it's older than Christianity, it proves key prophecies weren't invented by Christians.

📊How consistent is all of it, really?

Cross-checking the copies against each other — and against the Hebrew Jewish Bible.

This is the heart of it. When you line up these witnesses across the centuries — early Greek scraps, the complete 4th-century codices, the Hebrew Dead Sea Scrolls, and the standard Jewish Hebrew Bible — they agree to an extraordinary degree. There is no single honest "X% for everything" (the number depends on what you count, and a few books genuinely vary) — but every documented head-to-head comparison lands very high:

~95%

Great Isaiah Scroll vs the Hebrew Bible — 1,000 yrs apart

~98%

Proto-Masoretic scrolls vs the medieval text (the rigorous figure)

~92–94%

Papyrus 75 vs Codex Vaticanus (older copy vs the big codex)

~2,000

Manuscripts cross-checked against each other

Per-book scorecard — the earliest copy of each book vs the later standard text, with an honest read on how much each was edited or could have been tampered with:

Book / passage	Earliest copy — exists?	Gap	% accuracy vs later	Editing frequency	Tampering likelihood	Honest note
Isaiahincl. Isaiah 53	✓ Yes — Great Isaiah Scroll, complete, ~125 BCE	~1,000 yrs	~95% word-for-word	Low	Very low	Isa 53 = 166 words, ~17 letters in doubt — mostly spelling (+ "light" in v.11). Complete in Hebrew and Greek before Christ.
Psalm 22the "pierced" psalm	✓ Yes — 4QPsf ~50 BCE + Nahal Hever ~50 CE	~1,000 yrs	~99% (1 notable variant)	Low	Very low	Matches the MT except v.16: "pierced/dug" (DSS + Greek) vs "like a lion" (medieval Hebrew). That variant is pre-Christian — so it can't be a Christian edit either way.
Daniel 9prayer + 70 Weeks	✓ Yes — Hebrew 4QDanᵉ ~50 BCE (9:12–17); Greek P967 ~210 CE (incl. 9:24–27)	~1,000 yrs	~99% where preserved	Low–Mod.	Low	Hebrew 9:12–17 matches the MT; 9:24–27 isn't preserved in any Hebrew scroll (it survives in Greek). Greek Daniel has two editions (Old Greek vs Theodotion) — the biggest "editing" story here.
TorahGenesis–Deuteronomy	✓ Yes — Hebrew & Greek from ~250 BCE	~1,000 yrs	~98%	Low–Mod.	Very low	Mostly proto-Masoretic; a few copies expand/harmonize (paleo-Exodus, Samaritan type). Core text unchanged.
Jeremiahhonest contrast	✓ Yes — 4QJerᵃ (long) & 4QJerᵇ (short), ~200 BCE	~1,000 yrs	~87% (1 edition ~⅛ longer)	High	Low	The clearest case of real editing: a short (Greek) and a long (Hebrew) edition both circulated in antiquity. Editorial growth — not doctrinal forgery; both are ancient and Jewish.
Whole Old Testamentoverall	✓ Yes — ~2,000 manuscripts, 3rd c. BCE onward	~1,000 yrs	~98% consonantal (Tov)	Low	Very low	Three independent streams — Hebrew (Masoretic), Greek (Septuagint), Dead Sea Scrolls — converge. No single party could have altered all three.

% accuracy — how closely the earliest copy matches the later standard text (documented where sourced; ≈ = assessed from the fragments). Editing frequency — visible change across copies: Very low Low Moderate High. Tampering likelihood — odds of deliberate, agenda-driven alteration (our graded read of the evidence, not a published statistic).

▸ Click each passage to expand the in-depth consistency estimate, why it holds, and the independent witnesses — in different languages, lands and cultures — that carry the same text. Badge key: Independent = its own text-line · From Greek = a daughter translation of the Septuagint (shows geographic spread, not a separate source) · Quotation.

Psalm 22— ≈99% consistent · the "pierced" reading testified in 4 languages across 4 lands▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈99% Across the preserved Hebrew fragments the psalm is word-for-word essentially identical to the later Masoretic text. Exactly one meaning-level variant exists in the whole psalm — v.16 "pierced/dug" vs "like a lion" — so meaning-consistency is ~99%, and that single fork turns on one Hebrew letter (waw vs yod), the classic tiny scribal split, not a rewrite.

Why it holds

Four languages, four regions independently carry the psalm — Hebrew (Judea), Greek (Egypt), Syriac (Syria), Latin (Rome/N. Africa).
Three of the oldest version-lines read "pierced" (Greek, Syriac, Latin) — centuries before the medieval Hebrew read "lion." The reading is demonstrably pre-Christian.
The New Testament independently quotes Psalm 22 at the crucifixion ("My God, my God…"; soldiers casting lots) — a separate 1st-century line.

Who independently testifies — different lands, cultures, languages

Witness	Language	Place / culture	Date	What it reads	Source-line
Nahal Hever (5/6ḤevPs)	Hebrew	Judean Desert	~50 CE	v.16 כארו "pierced/dug"	Independent
4QPsf (Qumran)	Hebrew	Qumran, Judea	~50 BCE	Ps 22 (v.16 damaged)	Independent
Septuagint (Ps 21)	Greek	Alexandria, Egypt	~2nd c. BCE	ὤρυξαν "they dug/pierced"	Independent
Peshitta	Syriac	Edessa / Syria	~2nd c. CE	"they pierced"	Independent*
Vetus Latina / Vulgate	Latin	Rome / N. Africa	2nd–4th c. CE	"foderunt" (they pierced)	From Greek
Masoretic (Aleppo / Leningrad)	Hebrew	Tiberias, Galilee	~925–1008 CE	v.16 כארי "like a lion"	Independent
Matt 27:46 · John 19:24	Greek	(NT)	~1st c. CE	quotes Ps 22 (forsaken; garments/lots)	Quotation

Honest note: the Latin/Coptic lines descend from the Greek, so they aren't fully independent of it — but Hebrew, Greek, and (largely) Syriac are three genuinely independent streams, and they converge. The one divergence (MT "lion") is itself ancient, so neither reading is a late invention.

Isaiah— ≈95% word-for-word (≈99.5% by meaning) · Hebrew + Greek + Aramaic + Syriac agree▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈95% word-for-word (Great Isaiah Scroll vs Masoretic). But ~95% of the ~5% difference is spelling/slips, so meaning-affecting differences are well under 1% → meaning-consistency ≈ 99.5%. Isaiah 53: of 166 words, ~17 letters are in question — mostly spelling, plus the word "light" in v.11.

Why it holds

~21 Hebrew copies of Isaiah were found at Qumran alone — the most-attested prophet there.
In 53:11 the Qumran Hebrew (1QIsaᵃ) and the Greek (LXX) independently agree on "he shall see light" — two separate streams against the medieval Hebrew.
An independent Jewish Aramaic line (Targum Jonathan) carries Isaiah too — and reads chapter 53 messianically.

Who independently testifies

Witness	Language	Place / culture	Date	Attests	Source-line
Great Isaiah Scroll (1QIsaᵃ)	Hebrew	Qumran, Judea	~125 BCE	complete Isaiah incl. 53	Independent
1QIsaᵇ + ~19 more 4QIsa copies	Hebrew	Qumran, Judea	2nd–1st c. BCE	Isaiah (closer to MT)	Independent
Septuagint Isaiah	Greek	Egypt	~140 BCE	Isaiah incl. 53 ("light")	Independent
Targum Jonathan	Aramaic	Jewish (Babylon/Palestine)	early centuries CE	Aramaic Isaiah; 53 = Messiah	Independent
Peshitta	Syriac	Syria	~2nd c. CE	Isaiah	Independent*
Vulgate (Jerome, from Hebrew)	Latin	Bethlehem	~400 CE	Isaiah	Independent*

Honest note: "~17 letters in Isa 53" is a popular count (disputed in detail), but the chapter is strikingly stable; the real headline is that complete Isaiah exists in Hebrew and Greek before Christ.

Daniel 9— ≈99% where preserved · the 70 Weeks carried in Greek, Syriac, Latin & Hebrew▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈99% for the Hebrew that survives (9:12–17 matches the Masoretic text). The honest asterisk: 9:24–27 (the 70 Weeks) is not preserved in any Hebrew scroll — its earliest physical copy is the Old-Greek Papyrus 967 (~210 CE). Greek Daniel also exists in two editions (Old Greek vs Theodotion), which is why editing is graded Low–Moderate.

Why it holds

Daniel was copied heavily — 8 manuscripts at Qumran, more than most Bible books.
The 70-Weeks prophecy is carried independently in Greek (Old Greek + Theodotion), Syriac, Latin, and the Hebrew Masoretic — all converging on the same 490-year schema.
The oldest Daniel copy (4QDanᶜ, ~125 BCE) sits within ~50 years of the book's critical date — little room for legendary growth.

Who independently testifies

Witness	Language	Place / culture	Date	Attests	Source-line
4QDanᵉ	Hebrew	Qumran, Judea	~50 BCE	Dan 9:12–17 (prayer)	Independent
Old Greek (Papyrus 967)	Greek	Egypt	~210 CE	Daniel incl. 9:24–27 (70 Weeks)	Independent
Theodotion	Greek	Jewish reviser	~2nd c. CE	Daniel (the dominant Greek)	Independent
Peshitta	Syriac	Syria	~2nd c. CE	Daniel incl. ch. 9	Independent*
Vulgate (uses Theodotion)	Latin	Bethlehem	~400 CE	Daniel incl. ch. 9	From Greek
Masoretic	Hebrew/Aram.	Tiberias	~925–1008 CE	complete Daniel 9	Independent

Honest note: Daniel is the one passage here with a real two-edition Greek complication — stated plainly. But the 70-Weeks text is consistent across every version that preserves it.

Torah— ≈98% · four independent lines (Jewish, Samaritan, Greek, Aramaic) converge▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈98% word-level across the streams. The strongest proof is the Samaritan Pentateuch — a completely separate Hebrew text-line (different script, hostile community) — differing from the Jewish Hebrew in ~6,000 details of which ~99% are spelling/grammar; only a handful are doctrinal. Four independent lines land in the same place.

Who independently testifies

Witness	Language	Place / culture	Date	Attests	Source-line
Dead Sea Torah scrolls	Hebrew	Qumran, Judea	3rd c. BCE–1st CE	Torah (mostly proto-MT)	Independent
Samaritan Pentateuch	Hebrew	Samaritans, Mt Gerizim	text ancient	Torah — separate Hebrew line	Independent
Septuagint Pentateuch	Greek	Alexandria, Egypt	~250 BCE	Torah	Independent
Targum Onkelos	Aramaic	Jewish	early centuries CE	Aramaic Torah	Independent
Masoretic	Hebrew	Tiberias	~925–1008 CE	Torah	Independent

Honest note: some Qumran/Samaritan copies expand (harmonizing pluses), which is why editing is Low–Moderate — but the core wording is stable across all four independent lines.

Jeremiah— the honest contrast: ≈87% · two genuine editions (short & long)▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈87% by length — the clearest case of real editing in the Bible. Jeremiah circulated in a short edition (Greek + a Hebrew Qumran copy) and a long edition ~1/8 bigger (Masoretic + another Hebrew Qumran copy). The content overlaps heavily; the difference is editorial length & arrangement, not doctrine.

Why it's still not "tampering"

Both editions are ancient and Jewish — and the Dead Sea Scrolls contain both, proving the Greek short form is a real Hebrew edition, not Greek abridgment.
The divergence is growth/arrangement (a longer edition adding headings and expansions), not a changed message.

The two families

Witness	Language	Edition	Date	Source-line
4QJerᵇ	Hebrew	Short (= LXX)	~2nd c. BCE	Independent
Septuagint Jeremiah	Greek	Short (~1/8 shorter)	2nd c. BCE	Independent
4QJerᵃ	Hebrew	Long (= MT)	~200 BCE	Independent
Masoretic	Hebrew	Long	~925–1008 CE	Independent

Included deliberately for brutal honesty — this is what a book that was edited looks like, and even here it's editorial, not doctrinal.

Whole OT— ≈98% consonantal · up to 7 independent streams cross-check each other▸

In-depth consistency estimate ≈98% consonantal agreement (Tov's rigorous figure for the proto-Masoretic stream vs the medieval text). The deeper point: the Old Testament survives in multiple independent lines from different peoples and languages — and no single party could have altered them all.

The independent streams

Stream	Language	People / place	Covers	Source-line
Masoretic Text	Hebrew	Rabbinic Jews, Tiberias	whole OT	Independent
Dead Sea Scrolls	Hebrew/Aram.	Qumran sect, Judea	most of the OT	Independent
Samaritan Pentateuch	Hebrew	Samaritans, Gerizim	Torah	Independent
Septuagint	Greek	Hellenistic Jews, Egypt	whole OT	Independent
Targums	Aramaic	Jewish	most of the OT	Independent
Peshitta	Syriac	Syriac Christians/Jews	whole OT	Independent*
Vetus Latina / Vulgate	Latin	Western church	whole OT	From Greek / Hebrew

Honest note: some of these descend from others (the Latin partly from the Greek), so they aren't all fully independent — but at least four lines (Hebrew MT, Samaritan Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic) are genuinely separate, and they converge. *Peshitta = largely from Hebrew, with some Greek influence.

Why they're so consistent

Professional scribes copied under strict rules — counting letters and lines, checking each column against the exemplar.
Many independent copies, from different places and centuries, agree — they could not all have colluded.
"Late" doesn't mean "changed": the 4th-c. codices turned out to be faithful copies of 2nd-c. exemplars (Papyrus 75 → Vaticanus proved it directly).
Three independent streams converge — the Hebrew (Masoretic), the Greek (Septuagint), and the Dead Sea Scrolls — a built-in cross-check no forger could rig.

The other Jewish Bibles — how stable is the Hebrew?

The "other Jewish Bible" is the Masoretic Text (MT) — the official Hebrew Bible finalized by Jewish scribes (the Masoretes) between about the 7th and 10th centuries CE (the Aleppo Codex, ~925 CE; the Leningrad Codex, 1008 CE). Its stability is staggering:

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ~1,000 years older than those Hebrew codices — yet the proto-Masoretic scrolls match them at ~98% of the consonants. A thousand years of copying changed almost nothing.
The Samaritan Pentateuch (the Samaritans' independent Hebrew Torah) differs from the Jewish MT in ~6,000 details — but the vast majority are spelling/grammar, with only a handful doctrinally meaningful.
So across the Jewish witnesses — Masoretic, Samaritan, and the Dead Sea Scrolls — plus the Greek Septuagint, the text lands in the same place again and again.

Honest caveats on the numbers

No single global percentage exists. Each figure above is a specific comparison; the result shifts with what you count (letters vs words, whether spelling counts).
The biggest real exception is Daniel: the codices use the later Theodotion version, while the older Papyrus 967 preserves the Old Greek — here the copies genuinely differ. Jeremiah likewise circulated in a short (Greek) and a long (Hebrew) edition.
Septuagint-vs-Masoretic is a translation compared to an original, so it's measured differently than copy-to-copy agreement — high, but not the same kind of number.

📖So what is it, exactly?

A translation — the first time the Bible crossed a language barrier.

The name: "Septuagint" is Latin for seventy (written LXX = 70), from a tradition that ~70 Jewish elders made the translation.
The thing itself: the Hebrew Scriptures rendered into Koine Greek — the common language of the ancient Mediterranean. For millions of Jews who spoke Greek and no longer read Hebrew, this was their Bible.
It's a translation, not a different religion's book: same Scriptures, new language — like having an ancient "Greek edition" of the Old Testament.

Papyrus Fouad 266 — a Greek Deuteronomy scroll from about **50 BCE**, one of the oldest surviving Septuagint copies. The box-shaped **Hebrew letters** in the middle of the Greek are the divine name (יהוה). A real Jewish copy of the Greek Bible from before Christ. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

🧐"Did they literally find a whole Bible?"

Great question — here's the honest, exact answer.

QDid archaeologists dig up one complete ancient Septuagint?

No single super-old complete scroll — but yes, complete bound Bibles do survive, and the full text is reconstructed from about 2,000 copies. Two things get confused here: the translation (the text, finished before Christ) and the physical copies (manuscripts, which range from tiny scraps to whole books). What was "found" climbs a ladder from fragments to a complete Bible:

~150 BCE Papyrus Rylands 458 — the oldest piece. A few verses of Deuteronomy

~50 BCE Papyrus Fouad 266 — chunks of Deuteronomy. Part of a scroll

1st c. BCE Dead Sea Scrolls (Greek) — Leviticus, Exodus, the Minor Prophets in Greek. Fragments

~210 CE Papyrus 967 — most of Ezekiel, Daniel (incl. the 70-Weeks prophecy) and Esther. Large sections

~350 CE Codex Sinaiticus — a complete bound Bible: the whole Greek Old Testament + the New Testament. The oldest complete Christian Bible on earth

~325 CE Codex Vaticanus — a near-complete Greek Bible of the same era. Whole book, a few leaves lost

~2,000

Septuagint manuscripts known to scholars

~150 BCE

Oldest surviving fragment

~350 CE

Oldest complete Bible (Sinaiticus)

Yes

Whole Bibles survive — just not from 250 BCE

The plain-English version Think of it like a famous old book: we don't have the author's first handwritten copy, but we have thousands of copies — early fragments, then big sections, and finally complete bound Bibles from the 300s AD (Codex Sinaiticus is literally the oldest complete Bible in the world). Lining all these copies up, they agree so closely that we can reconstruct the original Greek text with confidence. So: yes, whole ancient Bibles were found — and the complete text is rock-solid.

Codex Sinaiticus (~350 CE) — **the oldest complete Christian Bible in existence.** Its Old Testament is the Septuagint. This is what "a whole Bible" actually looks like when you find one. Wikimedia Commons (public domain).

📚What's actually inside it?

The whole Hebrew Old Testament — plus a shelf of extra books.

Part 1 — every book of the Hebrew Bible (the 39 books in your Old Testament), grouped like this:

Law (5)

Genesis · Exodus · Leviticus · Numbers · Deuteronomy

History

Joshua · Judges · Ruth · 1–2 Samuel · 1–2 Kings · 1–2 Chronicles · Ezra · Nehemiah · Esther

Poetry & Wisdom

Job · Psalms · Proverbs · Ecclesiastes · Song of Songs

Prophets

Isaiah · Jeremiah · Lamentations · Ezekiel · Daniel · the Twelve (Hosea → Malachi)

Part 2 — about 10 extra books the Septuagint added that are not in the Hebrew Bible (called the deuterocanon or "Apocrypha"):

Tobit & Judith — Jewish short stories of faith and courage.
1 & 2 Maccabees — the real history of the Jewish revolt (origin of Hanukkah).
Wisdom of Solomon & Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — wisdom writings.
Baruch & the Letter of Jeremiah — from Jeremiah's circle.
Extra parts of Esther and Daniel — e.g. Susanna, and Bel and the Dragon.
In the biggest copies: 1 Esdras, 3–4 Maccabees, Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151.

Why Bibles are different lengths today Those extra books are exactly why Christian Bibles vary. It all traces back to the Septuagint:

Tradition	OT books	Includes the extra (Septuagint) books?
Jewish & Protestant	39	No — Hebrew canon only
Roman Catholic	46	Yes — 7 extra books + additions to Esther & Daniel
Eastern Orthodox	~49	Yes — the Catholic set plus a few more

🏛️Where & when did it come from?

Alexandria, Egypt — in stages, all before Christ.

The place: Alexandria, home to a huge Greek-speaking Jewish community and the famous Library.
The story (Letter of Aristeas): King Ptolemy II (285–246 BCE) asked Jerusalem for scholars; 72 elders came and translated the Law. Later legend said they worked separately yet produced identical texts — a pious embellishment.
The history: the Torah was translated ~250 BCE; the rest followed through the 2nd century BCE.

⏳ The whole thing, translated before Christ

c. 250 BCEThe Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy) translated in Alexandria.

2nd c. BCEProphets & Writings translated — including Isaiah (~140 BCE) and the Psalms.

c. 132 BCEA Greek preface to Sirach already names "the Law, the Prophets, and the rest of the books" in Greek — it's essentially done.

✝ ~4 BCEJesus is born. The entire Greek Old Testament already exists — so its prophecies are provably pre-Christian.

Library of Alexandria (artist's impression) — The Library of Alexandria — where the Hebrew Law first became Greek, under Ptolemy II. 19th-c. artist's impression (O. Von Corven), Wikimedia Commons — a reconstruction, not a photo.

🎯Why it matters — the evidence

A pre-Christian Greek Bible is a powerful witness. Here's the proof, point by point.

1The Apostles actually quoted it

Of the ~300 Old Testament quotations in the New Testament, roughly two-thirds follow the Septuagint — often word-for-word.
One detailed count (Archer & Chirichigno): the NT matches the Septuagint in 340 places vs the Hebrew in only 33.
So when the Gospels and Paul say "it is written," they're usually quoting the Greek Old Testament.

2It proves key prophecies are pre-Christian

Because the whole Greek OT predates Jesus, nobody could have edited these readings in later to "fit" Christianity:

Isaiah 7:14 — the Septuagint says παρθένος = "virgin" (the Hebrew word just means "young woman"). Matthew 1:23 quotes the Greek.
Psalm 22:16 — the Septuagint says ὤρυξαν = "they pierced / dug" my hands and feet — centuries before the medieval Hebrew read "like a lion."
Isaiah 53 — the whole Suffering Servant prophecy ("pierced for our transgressions") stands complete, in Greek, long before Christ.

3The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm it's real, not loose

A Hebrew Jeremiah from Qumran (4QJerᵇ) matches the Septuagint's shorter edition — proving the Greek followed a real Hebrew text.
A Hebrew Samuel (4QSamᵃ) repeatedly agrees with the Greek against the later standard Hebrew.
So the Septuagint isn't sloppy paraphrase — it preserves genuinely ancient readings.

The Great Isaiah Scroll (Hebrew, ~125 BCE). Isaiah existed in **both** Hebrew (this scroll) **and** Greek (Septuagint, ~140 BCE) before Christ — a double pre-Christian lock on Isaiah 7:14 and 53. Wikimedia Commons.

⚖️Being honest about it

What's true, stated fairly — no overselling.

The honest caveats

It's a collection, not one book — many translators over ~250 years; some books rendered literally, some freely.
It differs from the Hebrew in real places — Jeremiah is ~1/8 shorter, the Psalms are numbered differently, Samuel and Daniel diverge. Some of this reflects a different ancient Hebrew original (confirmed by the Scrolls), not mistakes.
Its oldest complete copies are 4th-century — the translation is centuries older, but the whole bound Bibles are from the 300s AD.
Later Jewish revisions (Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion) pulled the Greek back toward the Hebrew; Theodotion's Daniel later replaced the original Greek Daniel in most Bibles.
The extra books' status is genuinely disputed between Jews/Protestants and Catholics/Orthodox. This page describes that difference — it doesn't settle it.

🏁 Bottom line

The Septuagint is the Old Testament in Greek, made by Jews before Jesus. It holds the whole Hebrew Bible plus about ten extra books; no one found a complete copy from 250 BCE, but complete bound Bibles survive from the 300s AD and the full text is secured by ~2,000 manuscripts. It gave the early Church its Scriptures, supplied most of the New Testament's Old Testament quotes, and stands as proof that the great messianic prophecies were already in Jewish hands, in two languages, before Christ.

Go deeper: the Evidence Ledger (every manuscript ≤300 AD, sortable) · the Psalm 22 "pierced" study.

What Is the Septuagint? · GodExamined.com · plain-English evidence explainer
Dating per standard scholarship (Seeligmann; the Sirach prologue c. 132 BCE). NT-quote counts: Archer & Chirichigno. Images: Wikimedia Commons (public domain). Legend separated from history; canon differences described, not adjudicated. Local study document.