The Septuagint Translation (LXX) of Hebrew Bible was compiled from 285-270 B.C. by 72 scholars at Alexandria hence the name Septuagint. It is the primary text quoted in the New Testament. It is the oldest Greek version of the Old Testament.
There is a question if the whole Hebrew Bible was completed by 270 B.C. Some scholars theorize only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. These books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The remaining books were translated in the next two centuries well before the birth of Jesus. Not having complete confidence in most Bible academics, I tend towards all of the Hebrew Bible being completed by 270 BC.
A Brief History of the Septuagint
"The Origins of the Septuagint
The very first translation of the Hebrew Bible was made into Greek, probably as early as the third century BC. This, the so-called Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, is traditionally dated to the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt (285-246 BC).
It is commonly called the “Septuagint” version (from the Latin for “seventy”) because according to the traditional account of its origin, preserved in the so-called Letter of Aristeas, it had seventy-two translators. This letter tells how King Ptolemy II commissioned the royal librarian, Demetrius of Phaleron, to collect by purchase or by copying all the books in the world. He wrote a letter to Eleazar, the high priest at Jerusalem, requesting six elders of each tribe, in total seventy-two men, of exemplary life and learned in the Torah, to translate it into Greek."
The balance of this interesting article is at:
[http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2016/03/31/A-Brief-History-of-the-Septuagint.aspx#Article]
One fact I use as a witnessing tool is telling people that the Septuagint Bible was completed nearly 300 years before the birth of Jesus and that He fulfilled more than 100 prophecies found therein.
The following are direct comparisons of the KJV and the Septuagint both from the Pentateuch and the complete Hebrew Bible:
Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Zecharias 11:12-13, "12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD."
[KJV]
Genesis 3:16, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed, he shall watch against thy head, and thou shalt watch against his heel."
Zacharias 12-13, "12 And I will say to them, If it be good in your eyes, give me my price, or refuse it. And they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, Drop them into the furnace, and I will see if it is good metal, as I was proved for their sakes. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the furnace in the house of the Lord."
[Brenton, Sir Lancelot C. L.. English Translation of the Greek Septuagint, Including the Apocrypha]
When Jesus walked the earth, there was no New Testament. Jesus taught from either the Hebrew Bible or the Septuagint and most often from Deuteronomy. After the crucifixion and resurrection Jesus taught two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:27, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.“
The Septuagint is indeed an excellent witnessing tool.
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