Greek Old Testament
The common Greek translation of the Old Testament is known
as the Septuagint (LXX). The Greek version probably arose because
of the needs of the large Jewish community in Alexandria, Egypt.
Many of them were only conversant in Greek and had lost familiarity
with the written Hebrew. However, they wanted to understand
the Scriptures on which their faith and life depended. The similarity
between the Septuagint and Egyptian Greek, used in vernacular
Egyptian papyri of the area, supports this possibility. The
Pentateuch was translated first and became somewhat of a basis
for other parts of the work. Some parts render a literal translation
while other parts are a free translation. The arrangement of
books differs from the Hebrew Bible and includes additional
books and supplements while deleting some portions of text.
New Testament quotes come largely from this Greek translation.
Later, this version was considered to be a calamity by Talmudic
scholars.
Latin Old Testament
In the 5th century Jerome used the original Hebrew to make
a fresh Latin translation of the Old Testament. This was incorporated
into what became known as the Vulgate. Eleven hundred years
later Lorenzo Valla discovered that the text then being used
in the Roman Catholic church (having endured many handwritten
copies) differed from Jerome's original work. Valla then produced
a corrected version.
Printed Greek
Erasmus found Valla's work in 1504 and had it published that
same year in Paris. In 1516 he produced the first printed Greek
text which went through several revisions by 1535 because of
its rapid initial production. He also published a fresh Latin
translation. Erasmus only had a few texts to research. This
text (through Stephanus and Beza) led to the text that became
known as the Textus Receptus which was labeled the basis for
the KJV. The term Textus Receptus was associated with the Greek
New Testament produced by the Elzevir brothers edition of 1633
which was described as the "textum . . . ab omnibus receptum,"
(the text . . . now received by all). This text mainly followed
Beza, but included others as well. This text is close to the
Majority Text (Byzantine) but not identical to it.
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Greek
Old Testament