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Septuagint or Masoretic

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:45 pm
by _drdrfor
Does the Mormon Church have any stated opinion as to which text for the old testament is accepted?

There are quite a few years difference between the calculations birth of Adam and when the Noah's flood occurred. The Septuagint text puts creation at 5509 BC and the Masoretic text puts it at 4146 BC, roughly 1400 years difference. Noah's flood is similarily at 3246 BC in the Septuagint text and 2490 BC in the Masoretic.

The New Testament has several quotes that reference back to ancient texts in the old testament but they always quote from the Septuagint text...in other words not the scriptures used in the King James translation. http://www.bible-researcher.com/quote01.html

So what do the authorities say?

Re: Septuagint or Masoretic

Posted: Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:46 pm
by _Aristotle Smith
The church doesn't have a stated position on the subject. The KJV Old Testament was translated from the Masoretic text, so I assume that's the version they prefer. Most Christians prefer the Masoretic text. Eastern Orthodox Christians prefer the Septuagint. This does make a certain amount of sense, since the Septuagint was produced in the Hellenistic culture of the eastern Mediterranean, which is also the culture in which the executive order church was born. It's been a part of their heritage for a long time, so it makes a certain amount of sense for them to keep using it.

Re: Septuagint or Masoretic

Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:45 pm
by _madeleine
Catholics, east and west, and all rites, use a text that contains the deuterocanoncicals, which, are found in the Septuagint. Modern Catholic translations (such as the New American Bible) of course contain all the books of the Septuagint.

It is only Protestant Bibles, such as the KJV, that have them removed (in the late 16th to early 17th century).

As to the question of calculating the earths age, it is not something Catholics do (east or west). We don't read Genesis as a literal, scientific, text. Neither do Jews.

Peace.