One thing I mentioned in my last post was that I thought about doing a blog post dealing more in the theological realm. The reason is Theology and Religion are two things I find very interesting. For me, it’s not just the idea of looking at/reading/hearing what someone believes, but also the foundation for that belief. For example, if you believe in a literal 6 day creation, what you use to prove that can be more important than the belief itself. For those whose basis of life and everything else is only the Bible, it may be comforting to point to something solid as your basis. The comfort level can go down considerably when you begin to consider the many versions/translations/variations of the Bible currently in print (and online).
Certain denominations may choose one version over the other (There are ‘King James only’ groups as an example). If you dare go poking around the different corners of the internet (they’re not dark or bad corners, they just may not be very heavily traveled), there are websites whose sole purpose is upholding or putting down different versions/translations of the Bible. Apparently, the ‘bad’ version(s) don’t support one or more of their particular theological positions. How do you view the Bible? Is it the sole source of your theology? Or is it a single supporting part of a greater system?
Why are there so many different versions of the Bible (especially in English)? One of the simplest explanations is that each version uses a different Greek and/or Hebrew text as the basis of their translation. Another reason is translating a Greek or Hebrew word differently into English. Sometimes the difference is a small as an article (‘a’ or ‘an’ instead of ‘the’), or it may be a different word (‘maiden’ instead of ‘virgin’). Each difference can cause significant theological upheavals, because as we are often told, ‘words matter’.
Anyway, as an Orthodox Christian, the version of the Old Testament we use is called the Septuagint. For those who do not know, the Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. The oldest version found is from the late second century BCE (BC). This is the text used during Christ’s time. Most Bibles today use the Masoretic Text for the Old Testament. This is a Hebrew text of which the oldest is from the sixth century CE (AD). You can find a number of websites discussing (in great detail) the differences between the Septuagint and the Masoretic text. There are many who do not use or trust the Septuagint because it is ‘a translation of a translation’. I’m not a textual critic, so I’m not going to try and defend or attack one school of thought or another.
I have found in reading through the Septuagint Old Testament that the differences from the Masoretic text bring entirely new meanings to passages. There are also times when the Septuagint Old Testament doesn’t match the Masoretic Old Testament. Sometimes, the Septuagint version has additional text in the verse. Other times, the verse is completely different. One interesting difference I found recently has to do with a well known verse in Proverbs. The verse in question was Proverbs 22:6. The Masoretic text version has ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.' (King James Version). The Septuagint version (from the Orthodox Study Bible) has the following for Proverbs 22:6 ‘The rich will rule over the poor. And servants will lend to their own masters.’ I tried to look through the rest of Proverbs, to see if the verse was in a different place, or perhaps the versions were numbered differently. I could not find it.
Why is there the difference between the texts? Why was the version regarding child training added (or removed depending on your perspective)? I really don’t have an answer for that. And I don’t really need to have an answer, as the Bible for me is a single part of a greater theological whole. These things may pique my interest, and cause me to consider the deeper meanings of the passage, but they do not ‘shake’ my faith, or cause me to doubt what I believe.
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