All: Where the oldest copies differ

Where the oldest copies differ

Whose Septuagint: the two Greek witnesses here disagree

The Septuagint is not one book. It survives in copies that differ, as the Hebrew does. The figures above come from Brenton's 1851 English Septuagint, which was made from Codex Vaticanus; another copy can read otherwise, and here two do. The Literal Standard Version, also hosted here, prints an alternative reading in double brackets at most of these verses, for example at Genesis 11:12 it prints "And Arphaxad has lived thirty-five years" (Genesis 11:12, LSV) and then, in double brackets, an alternative of one hundred and thirty-five years, which matches Brenton exactly.

At two verses it does not match.

VerseBrenton printsThe LSV's bracketed alternative
Genesis 5:25 (Methuselah)167no alternative given, i.e. the Hebrew 187
Genesis 11:24 (Nahor)17979

The first of those two is the one ISBE already explained above: 167 and 187 are both ancient readings of the Greek, and Josephus used the second.

The second is simply an open question here.The copy of the Literal Standard Version here carries no key saying which manuscript tradition its bracketed alternatives come from, so this file does not name one for them. It reports what each text prints and stops.

⚠️

What follows for the totals at they are Brenton's. On the Nahor reading of 79 the Genesis 11 chain would be a hundred years shorter. Attribute a figure to a named copy, never to "the Septuagint" flat, which is, in miniature, the point of this whole file.

Sources: Genesis 11:12 (LSV); Genesis 5:25 and 11:24 (Brenton and LSV); ISBE 1915, article Antediluvian Patriarchs.

---

Sources, trace every one

Every cited verse, in full. Tap any reference to open it in the reader.

  • Genesis 5:25bsb

    When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech.

  • Genesis 11:24bsb

    When Nahor was 29 years old, he became the father of Terah.

On contested questions we show every major view, attributed and cited, and pick no winner. Answers are synthesized from primary sources, truth you can trace, not opinion.

Whose Septuagint: the two Greek witnesses here disagree · Bubble Bible