Jefus. This was the Defign of the Tranflations of Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion (of whom I fhall have Occafion to speak again) as St. Ferom, who faw their Tranflations, informs us, qui multa Myfteria Salvatoris fubdola Interpretationt celarent. Nothing therefore is more certain than that this fecond Verfion, and the two other that followed it, which were made by Judaizing Hereticks, as St. Jerom calls them, were made out of Hatred to Chriftianity. This alfo appears in the next Place from the Jews changing the Feaft, which they had kept in Memory of the Tranflation of the LXX unto the Time that Chriftianity began to be received, into a Feaft, on Account that fuch a Tranflation had been made. For Phile the Jew, who lived in the Time of Caligula the Roman Emperor, when the Apoftles were going about and publishing the Gofpel in all Parts, tells us, in his Life of Mofes, that to that Time they yearly kept a Feast in the Ifle of Pharus, in Memory of the Scriptures having been there tranflated into Greek by the feventy-two Interpreters. But after Philo's Days, the Jews turned that Feaft into a Faft, lamenting that fuch a Tranflation had been made. And Dean Prideaux, though no great Friend to the LXX, tells us, that " As this "Verfion grew into Ufe among the Chriftians, it grew out of Credit "with the Jews. For they being pinched in many Particulars urged "against them by the Chriftians out of this Verfion, for the evading "thereof, they were for making a new one, that might better ferve "their Purpose."

But that which juftly depreciated the Septuagint, and made it of less Authority even among the Chriftians as well as the Jews and Judaizing Hereticks, proceeded not from any Unfaithfulness or Ignorance in the firft Tranflators (as fome pretend) but from the Ignorance, Boldness, and Carelefnefs of Tranfcribers. An ignorant Tranfcriber, copying from a Book in which many marginal Notes have been written, might think they belonged to the Text, and accordingly bring them into it. A bold Transcriber, meeting with a Paffage which he thought did not express the Sense he took it in, might alter the Words in order, as he fuppofed, to make it plainer: And a carelefs Tranfcriber might heedlefly write one Word for another, and alfo leave out, not only Words, but whole Sentences. And as Christianity fpread, Multitudes of Copies were written for the Ufe of the Numbers that were daily converted; and as in the Times of Perfecution, the Heathens deftroyed all the Copies they could get, and thereupon new Tranfcripts were made; fo many Tranfcripts made, fometimes by ignorant, bold and careless Copiers, caufed the LXX to become fo faulty, that the Chriftians judged it needed Correction.

Hereupon Origen, in the former Part of the third Century, put out a new Edition of the LXX, made with great Labour and Accuracy: Yet not fingly by itself, but joined with other Greek Tranflations. For, as obferved before, Aquila, an Apoftate Chriftian, and afterwards a Jewish Profelyte, and, not long after him, Symmachus, a Samaritan by Birth (who firft turned Jew, then Chriftian, then Ebionite, or Judaizing Chriftian), and about the fame Time Theodotion (who for fome Time had been an heretical Chriftian and afterwards became a Jew), all these made Tranflations of the Old Teftament out of the Hebrew into Greek.

Greek. Origen therefore made a Tetrapla of these four Verfions, which he placed one against the other in four different Columns. To these he added two Columns more, containing the Hebrew Text twice written, one Column in Hebrew and the other in Greek Letters. This containing fix Columns, Epiphanius calls it Hexapla. Afterwards he put out another Edition of two Columns more, adding thereto two other Greek Verfions; the one found at Nicopolis, a City near Altium in Epirus, and the other at Jericho in Judea. Thefe were called the fifth and fixth Verfions, which, being added to the other, made an Octapla in the Columns; and a feventh Tranflation of the Pfalms being also added, made it there an Enneapla. But as the two Editions made by Origen generally bore the Names only of the Tetrapla and Hexapla, Dr. Grabe judges they were fo called, not from the Number of the Columns, but of the Verfions, which were fix, the feventh containing the Pfalms only. How the whole was difpofed in this Edition of Origen will be beft understood by the following Scheme.

Origen himself tells us in his Comment on St. Matthew (Tom. I. Oper. Græco-Lat. p. 381.) "That his Purpose was to correct the "Differences in the feveral Copies of the Old Teftament; ufing the "other Tranflations for a Rule whereby to form his Judgment, pre"ferving what he found agreeable to them. And fome Paffages which "he did not find in the Hebrew Text, he noted with an Obelisk, not "daring wholly to omit them: And fome he marked with an Afterisk, "because he found them not in the LXX, but were placed there by "himself, being taken from the other Verfions according to the He"brew Text. And he that will, may admit of them; but if any think "not fit to receive them, he may do as he pleafes."

The Obelisks which he speaks of were fuch a Mark as this, either a ftrait line, or a little bending at each End: The Afterisk was a Cross made thus. X., with four Points. The Obelisk noted fuch Words or Sentences as were in the LXX, but not in the Hebrew: The Afterisk noted such as were in the Hebrew, but not in the LXX, at least not

in

in any of the Copies Origen made ufe of. And that it might be known how much was added by Origen from one of the other Verfions, agreeble to the Hebrew, or what was in the LXX which was not in the Hebrew, at the End of the Word or Sentence, to which the Obelisk or Afterifk was prefixed, he placed this Mark .

St. Jerom, in his Epiftle to Fretela and Junia, fays, that the Additions which Origen made to the LXX, and marked with an Afterisk, were taken from the Tranflation of Theodotion. And in his Prologue to the Prophecy of Daniel, he fays, Danielem prophetam juxta Septuaginta interpretes Domini Salvatoris Ecclefiæ non legunt; utentes Theodotionis editione: Et hoc cur acciderit nefcio. Which looks as if that Book had been fo corrupted by Tranfcribers, that Origen knew not how to correct it, and therefore placed the Tranflation of Theodotion in the Room of it, that being the Verfion he feems to have beft approved.

Though Origen's Tetrapla and Hexapla was of great Ufe to thofe who were difpofed diligently to ftudy and underftand the Scriptures, yet neither the Hebrew Text, or more than one of all these Verfions, could be read in the Church; and as the Verfion of the LXX was what had been read in the Church from the Beginning, fo alfo it continued to be read in all the Greek Churches. For which Reafon, after the Publication of Origen's Hexapla, the Verfion of the LXX, as then corrected, was transcribed by itself (with the Afterisks and Obelisks) for the publick Ufe of the Churches. And when that alfo became faulty by frequent Tranfcripts, about the Year 300 Pamphilus and Eufebius publifhed a very correct Edition of the LXX, according to Origen's Hexapla. But the whole Greek Church did not feem pleased with what Origen had done; for although all were fenfible, that by the Carelefnefs or Audacioufnels of Tranfcribers the LXX was become very faulty, yet it is certain they did not receive Origen's Amendments. For Hefychius, an Egyptian Bishop, and Lucian, a Prefbyter and Martyr of Antioch, did each of them undertake to make a new and correct Edition of the LXX, about the fame Time that Pamphilus and Eufebius publifhed their Edition of that which had been corrected by Origen; and the Eastern Part of the Roman Empire, where Greek was vulgarly fpoken, as Latin was in the Western, was divided between these three Editions. For St. Jerom, in his Epiftle to Chromatius, prefixed to his Tranflation of the Books of Chronicles, fays, Alexandria & Egyptus in Septuaginta fuis Hefychium laudat Authorem Conftantinopolis ufque Antichiam Luciani Martyris exemplaria probat. Media inter has Provincie Palestinos codices legunt; quas ab Origine elaboratos Eufebius & Pamphilus evulgaverunt. So that at leaft two-third Parts of the Eaftern Church would not receive Origen's Edition as worthy to be read in their publick Affemblics: But one preferred that of Hefychius, and the other that of Lucian before it. However Origen's Edition was certainly the beft, on Account of the Afterisks and Obelisks: Whereby the Reader might know and diftinguifh how and where the Tranflation of the Septuagint differed from the Hebrew Copy, which he and the other Tranf lators made ufe of: Whereas the Corrections made by Hefychius and Lucian being alfo made by a Comparison of the LXX with the thea Hebrew Copies, without thofe Diftinctions, the Reader could not

diftinguish

diftinguifh the pure LXX from the Alterations made by them. What he added from the Hebrew Copy, he marked with an Asterisk, and what was not in the Hebrew Copy, he made Ufe of, he would not leave out, only marked it with an Obelisk, as not knowing but it might be in that Copy of the Hebrew from whence that Tranflation was made. To give an Inftance, Exod. xii. 40. our English Bible, translated from the prefent Hebrew Copies, has thus given the Text, Now the fojourn ing of the Children of Ifrael who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty Years. But the LXX has it,. Ἡ δὲ παροίκησις τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ ἣν παρώκησαν ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἐν γῇ Χανααν αὐτοὶ καὶ οἱ πατέρες αὐτῶν) ἔτη τετρακόσια Texta. Now thofe Words I have put in a Parenthesis are in the LXX, but not in the prefent Hebrew Copies. Yet we have Reafon to believe they were in the Copy from whence the Tranflation of the LXX was made, and were left out of the prefent Copies by the Carelefnefs of a Transcriber. For they are in the Samaritan Pentateuch, which is but another Copy of the Hebrew: And befides, as the Text ftands in the prefent Hebrew and our English Bibles, it is not true: For the Children of Ifrael were not in Egypt 430 Years, for the Time that they fojourned there was but little more than 200 Years. I know it is faid, that the Text, as it now ftands, does not imply that the Children of Ifrael dwelt or fojourned in Egypt 430 Years, only that they were fo long Sojourners, and dwelt in a Land not their own. Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, whofe fojourning must be brought into this Account of 430 Years, or there will want near 200 Years of that Number, cannot be called the Children of Ifrael; therefore, unles thefe Fathers of the Children of Ifrael are brought into the Account, as in the LXX and the Samaritan Copy, the Text is not true. From whence we may be fatisfied, that this was the true original Reading, and was in that Hebrew Copy from which the Verfion of the LXX was made.

But

I have given this Inftance, to fhew that Origen had juft Reason not to omit thofe Paffages in the LXX, which he could not find in his Hebrew Copy; fince, notwithstanding it might be in a more ancient Copy from which that Verfion was made, and omitted in the later Hebrew Copies through the Overfight of a Tranfcriber, from whence it would neceffarily be omitted in all the Copies taken from that. Such Omiffions may, and will be often made without Defign, and the most careful Copier in a long Work can hardly fail of being fometimes overfeen. But a Copier can hardly put in a Word or Sentence, which is not in the Book he Copies from, through mere Carclefnefs or Overfight, but muft do it defignedly: Therefore I do not fee that we need accufe the Jews of having added to the Text any of thofe Words or Sentences which Origen found to be omitted in the Copies of the LXX, which he collated. They might be in the original LXX, but were omitted by the Overfight of Tranfcribers, which were very numerous, as appears from the Neceflity that was found in all Places to correct their Errors. Neither on the other Hand need we fuppofe that the Words or Sentences which we find in the LXX, which are not in the Hebrew, were added to the Text; they might be in the original Hebrew, but omitted by the Overfight of Tranfcribers, from whence the

Hebrew

Hebrew Copies, which were extant in Origen's Time, were taken. We should not accufe either the Jews or Chriftians of wilfully corrupting the Scriptures, when the Matter may be otherwife fairly accounted for. And for this Reafon I, for my own Part, esteem those Words and Sentences which Origen has marked with an Obelisk to be genuine Parts of Holy Scripture, no lefs than those he has marked with an Afterisk, or which he has not marked at all. Nay, I doubt not but thofe Texts, which Justin Martyr in his Dialogue with Trypho (p. 218, &c. Edit. Jebb.) accufes the Jews of having expunged, though they are not now to be found either in the Hebrew or LXX according to the present Copies, were originally in both, and in Juftin's Time, and alfo in that of Irenæus, and were therefore Parts of the Holy Scripture; particularly that Text which he fays was in Jeremiah ; Εμνήσθη δὲ κύριος ὁ Θεὸς ἅγιος Ἰσραὴλ τῶν νεκρῶν αὐτοῦ τῶν κεκοιμημένων εἰς γῆν Σώμαλος, καὶ καλέβη πρὸς αὐτοὺς εὐαγγελίζασθαι αὐτοὶς τὸ σωτήριον αὐτοῦ. Sylburgius, in his Notes on Juftin Martyr, and Dr. Grabe, in his Notes on Irenæus, both obferve, that St. Peter appears to have had this Prophecy in his Thoughts, Epift. iv. 6. faying, For this Cause was the Gospel preached alfo to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to Men in the Flefh, but live according to God in the Spirit.

The Greek Verfions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, are now loft, except Theodotion's Tranflation of the Book of Daniel, as before mentioned, and fome few Fragments of all of them to be found here and there in the Writings of the Ancients, as likewise are those of the other two or three Tranflations in Origen's Hexapla, none remaining now intire but the LXX. The Jews, though in their Difperfion before Chrift came, they read the Scriptures in the Greek Tongue according to the LXX in most of their Synagogues, yet afterwards, in Oppofition to the Chriftians, who used that Verfion in the Churches, they determined to read their Scriptures in Hebrew only, or in Hebrew and Chaldee. But it was fome Ages before they could intirely bring this to pafs. This we learn from a Novel of Juftinian's (No. 146.) wherein that Emperor mentions a Contest among the Jews, fome of them maintaining that the Scriptures fhould be read in their Synagogues in the Hebrew Tongue only; and others requiring that they should be read not in Hebrew only, but alfo in Greek, or fuch Language as was understood by all. And accordingly he decreed, that it should be read in Greek, or fome other vulgar Language, as well as in Hebrew. But notwithstanding this Decree of the Roman Emperor, made about the Year 550, the Jews, who flood for the Hebrew Language only, prevailed at laft. The Jews therefore took no Care to preferve the LXX, or any other Greek Tranflation: And the Chriftians took care to preferve only the LXX, which was daily read in all the Greek Churches. But Bifhop Walton juftly accufes the Greeks of great Negligence, for not preferving that noble Work of Origen's Hexapla, and contenting themTelves with only taking Copies of the LXX from it.

As there were three Editions of the LXX anciently, of Origen, Hefychius and Lucian, so, for near 200 Years after the Invention of Print ing, there were only three principal Editions of it. The firft was printed by the Order, Direction, and at the Charge of Cardinal Ximenes,

Arch