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Re: orion Earliest LXX Leviticus Mss?



Dear Dr Simms

Concerning your requests about the LXX of Lev.
> From what date are the earliest LXX mss. of Leviticus, particularly
> the "Thou shalt not" chapters.  (I'm hoping there are pre CE copies)

The oldest known to me are among the Dead Sea Scrolls. 4QLXX Lev a and 
b are dated to the first century BCE. The MSS are very fragmentary 
and they contain some very interesting variants (such as the 
rendering of the Tetragrammaton as <gr>iaw</gr>). I would like to 
suggest that you take a look at the MSS. yourself. They are published 
in DJD 9. For the rest of the LXX of Leviticus, please refer the 
edition by John Wevers (1986) and the two companion volumes of the 
edition, i.e. _Text History of the Greek Leviticus_ (Mitteilungen des 
Septuaginta-Unternehmens XIX) Goettingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht 1986 
and _Notes on the Greek Text of Leviticus_ (Septuagint and Cognate 
Studies 44) Atlanta, GE: Scholars Press 1997.

If compared with the Masoretic text LXX of Leviticus does not contain 
any _major_ deviations, but there are, of course, some minor things 
here and there. In case you are able to read French, please, take a 
look at an excellent French translation of the LXX of Lev with copious 
notes: Paul Harle & Dider Pralon _Le Levitique_ (Bible d'Alexandrie 
3) Paris: Cerf 1988.

Hope this helps!

Seppo

---

Mr Seppo Sipila
Department of Biblical Studies
University of Helsinki
seppo.sipila@helsinki.fi
http://www.helsinki.fi/~sesipila/