The Septuagint (LXX)   During the period from the 3rd to the 1st centuries B.C.E., Jews living in the diaspora became more comfortable reading Greek than Hebrew, and so texts they considered sacred were translated into that language.  All of the books later designated part of Tanakh were translated, some new Greek passages were added to some of these books (e.g., Daniel, Esther), other Hebrew and Aramaic works were translated and included (Judith, Tobit, Sirach, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah [= Baruch 6]?, 1 Maccabees, 1-2 Esdras, Psalm 151), and some original Greek works were added as well (2-4 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, the Prayer of Manasseh).  Because legend had it that 70 (or 72? or 5?) Jewish elders translated the Pentateuch portion, tradition has assigned the name "septuaginta" ("seventy") to this text.  The differences between the Greek and the original Hebrew (where Hebrew originals are known or posited) is most dramatic in Jeremiah, Job, Daniel and Esther.  Other major differences are in the order of Psalms and the twelve minor prophets, and in the inclusion of the additional texts.   Greek Text Rahlfs, Alfred, ed.  Septuaginta, 2 vols.  Stuttgart: Württembergische Bibelanstalt, 1965, c1935.   Rahlfs, Alfred, ed.  Septuaginta: Vetus Testamentum Graecum auctoritate Academiae Litterarum Gottingensis editum, multiple volumes.  Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1931- .   English Translations Brenton, L. C. L.  The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament.  Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1971.   Online Texts & Tools     Studies Fernández Marcos, Natalio.  The Septuagint in Context: Introduction to the Greek Versions of the Bible, trans. Wilfred G. E. Watson.  Leiden: Brill, 2000.   n.b. The NAB, a Catholic translation, incorporates many of the extra books found only in the Septuagint in its canon, while many historically Protestant versions, notably the NRSV, translate these books in a section between the Testaments called the "Apocrypha" or "Deuterocanonical Writings." © 2017 Catherine Murphy, Associate Professor cmurphy@scu.edu   Dept of Religious Studies, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA 95053