The famous Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint is now generally supposed to have been prepared about the third century B.C. at Alexandria in Egypt. This version is one of the sources most constantly studied by the conscientious translator of the Old Testament in our own day, and for that reason it is fitting that the student of the English Bible should know something of the significance of the Septuagint and of its value as a witness to the original text of the Jewish Scriptures.
One of the prime points in favor of this version is that it was based on very ancient Hebrew manuscripts—manuscripts many hundreds of years earlier than the oldest which are now extant. It is true that the text of the Septuagint itself has suffered in the course of its transmission through the centuries, and that those who originally prepared it often manifestly misunderstood the sense of the Hebrew original; nevertheless there are instances in which the Greek translation suggests what may well be the true meaning of words or sentences which seem to have been incorrectly transcribed in the Hebrew text as we have it today. Then, too, the Septuagint translators often preserve words or pharases which were evidently represented in the very early Hebrew manuscripts from which they made their rendering, but have since been inadvertently omitted.
For example, the Septuagint version of Isaiah 9:6 contains a pharase which is lacking in the ordinary Hebrew text, and which, despite its significance, appears to have been overlooked by commentators. The concluding portion of that verse may be literally translated from the Greek—"I will bring peace upon the princes, and health by him;" and since the remainder of the passage is universally accepted as foretelling the mission of the Messiah, we are surely justified in assuming that the Septuagint has rescued from oblivion a striking prediction of the healing activity taught and practiced by Christ Jesus.
