Masoretic Text vs Septuagint

When modern Christians speak of "the Old Testament," they typically mean one of two textual traditions: the Masoretic Text (MT), the Hebrew Bible preserved by Jewish scribes and used by the KJV translators, or the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced in Alexandria, Egypt, beginning in the 3rd century BC. These two traditions agree in the vast majority of their content, but they differ in some significant ways — in wording, in the ordering of books, in the length of certain passages, and occasionally in matters that touch on chronology and theology. Understanding these differences is essential for anyone who wants to know why the KJV Old Testament reads the way it does and why it sometimes differs from modern translations that consult the Septuagint.

According to the Letter of Aristeas (c. 2nd century BC), the Septuagint was produced when Ptolemy II Philadelphus, king of Egypt (285–246 BC), invited 72 Jewish scholars (six from each tribe) to Alexandria to translate the Torah into Greek for the famous Library of Alexandria. The name "Septuagint" (from the Latin septuaginta, meaning "seventy") derives from the approximate number of translators. Historians generally accept that the Torah (the five books of Moses) was translated into Greek in the 3rd century BC. The remaining Old Testament books were translated over the following two centuries by various translators of varying skill. This is a critical point: unlike the Masoretic Text, which represents a single, carefully controlled textual tradition, the Septuagint is a collection of translations by different hands, produced at different times, with different levels of fidelity to the Hebrew. Some books of the Septuagint (such as the Pentateuch) are quite literal and close to the Hebrew. Others (such as Job, which is significantly shorter in Greek, or Daniel, which was so poorly translated that it was replaced by Theodotion's version) show substantial divergence.

The most visible difference between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint is the scope and order of the books: The Masoretic canon contains 39 books (by Protestant reckoning), organized into three divisions: Torah (Law), Nevi'im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings) — together called the Tanakh. This is the canon recognized by Judaism and by Protestant Christianity. The Septuagint includes the same 39 books but arranges them differently (Pentateuch, Historical Books, Poetical Books, Prophets). It also includes additional books not found in the Hebrew canon: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Baruch, 1 and 2 Maccabees, and additions to Esther and Daniel. The KJV translators followed the Masoretic/Protestant canon of 39 Old Testament books. The additional Septuagint books, known as the Apocrypha, were included in the original 1611 KJV as a separate section between the Old and New Testaments — not as inspired Scripture, but as books "read for example of life and instruction of manners" (Article VI of the Thirty-Nine Articles). Modern KJV editions typically omit them.

Several notable textual differences between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint have significant implications: The Genesis genealogies (Genesis 5 and 11): The Septuagint adds roughly 100 years to each patriarch's age at the birth of his son, extending the chronology from Adam to Abraham by approximately 1,500 years. The Masoretic Text (followed by the KJV) gives a shorter chronology. The question is whether the Septuagint translators inflated the numbers or the Masoretic scribes reduced them. The KJV follows the Hebrew, and Archbishop James Ussher's famous chronology (4004 BC for creation) is based on the Masoretic numbers. Jeremiah: The Septuagint version of Jeremiah is approximately one-eighth shorter than the Masoretic Text and arranges the oracles against the nations in a different order. The KJV follows the longer Masoretic text. Psalm 22:16: The Masoretic Text reads "they pierced my hands and my feet" (ka'aru), while some Hebrew manuscripts and the Septuagint support this reading. A variant Hebrew reading (ka'ari, "like a lion") changes the meaning significantly. The KJV follows the reading "pierced," which is supported by the Septuagint and by the Dead Sea Scrolls (Nahal Hever). Isaiah 7:14: The Masoretic Text uses almah ("young woman" or "virgin"). The Septuagint translates this as parthenos (unambiguously "virgin"). The KJV renders it "virgin," in agreement with both the Septuagint and the New Testament quotation in Matthew 1:23.

The KJV translators made a deliberate choice to translate the Old Testament from the Masoretic Hebrew text rather than from the Septuagint. Their reasons were sound: 1. The Hebrew is the original. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew (with small portions in Aramaic). The Septuagint is a translation — and no translation can fully replace the original. As Rule 1 of the translation guidelines stated, the translators were to work from "the Original Tongues." 2. The Masoretic Text was the received text of the Jewish community. The Jewish scribes who preserved the Old Testament had access to the original language and an unbroken tradition of transmission. Paul affirmed that "unto them were committed the oracles of God" (Romans 3:2). 3. The Septuagint is uneven in quality. While some books were translated with great care, others were paraphrased loosely or translated poorly. Relying on the Septuagint would mean trusting the judgment of Hellenistic translators over the Hebrew original. 4. Jesus affirmed the Hebrew canon. In Luke 24:44, Jesus referred to "the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms" — the three divisions of the Hebrew Tanakh, not the expanded Septuagint canon. The KJV translators did consult the Septuagint, however. When the Hebrew text was difficult or ambiguous, they used the Greek as an aid to interpretation. But the Hebrew always had priority.

The debate between the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint is not a debate between two rival Scriptures — it is a question of which textual tradition best represents the inspired original. The KJV translators answered that question clearly: the Hebrew Masoretic Text, preserved by the Jewish scribes to whom God entrusted His oracles, is the authoritative Old Testament text. This does not mean the Septuagint is without value. It is an ancient and important witness to the Old Testament text. It was widely used by the early church. The New Testament authors sometimes quoted from it. But when the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text disagree, the Hebrew is to be preferred — because it is the original language, transmitted by the original custodians, through an unbroken chain of faithful scribal labor. The King James Old Testament stands on the firmest possible foundation: the Hebrew text that God preserved through His people for over three thousand years.