Bible origins

In the 2nd century CE, Jewish scholars produced deliberate Greek revisions (often called redactions or recensions) of the earlier Septuagint (LXX) translation to align it more closely with the stabilized Hebrew text and counter Christian interpretations that relied on the LXX's renderings (e.g., in messianic passages like Isaiah 7:14). The three main figures -"the Three" - were:Aquila (ca. 130 CE), a proselyte possibly influenced by Rabbi Akiva, created a hyper-literal version that mirrored Hebrew words, syntax, and even particles mechanically, often resulting in awkward Greek but ensuring precise fidelity to the Hebrew consonantal text; it sometimes retained the Tetragrammaton in paleo-Hebrew letters.

Theodotion (likely mid-2nd century, possibly earlier roots), revised the LXX toward greater conformity with the Hebrew, showing verbal consistency and less freedom than the original LXX; his Daniel version largely replaced the older Greek one even in Christian circles.

Symmachus (late 2nd century) offered a more idiomatic, elegant Greek rendering that balanced literal accuracy with readable style, avoiding the extremes of Aquila's stiffness.

These Jewish Greek versions aimed to provide diaspora synagogues with scriptures that resisted Christian apologetic use of the LXX while preserving the proto-Masoretic Hebrew tradition, marking a shift away from the LXX (originally a Jewish work from the 3rd–2nd centuries BCE) toward Hebrew primacy in rabbinic Judaism.

The Septuagint (LXX), the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, was produced by Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, primarily during the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE to serve Greek-speaking diaspora Jews. Tradition, recorded in the pseudepigraphical Letter of Aristeas, claims that Ptolemy II Philadelphus (r. 285 to 246 BCE) commissioned 72 (or 70) translators to render the Torah (Pentateuch) into Koine Greek for the Library of Alexandria, with later books translated over time.

Though the miraculous uniformity story is legendary, the LXX began with the Pentateuch around the mid-3rd century BCE and expanded to include the Prophets, Writings, and additional deuterocanonical/apocryphal books (e.g., Tobit, Judith, Maccabees) not in the later Hebrew canon.

It became the standard Old Testament for Hellenistic Jews and early Christians, influencing New Testament quotations (often matching LXX readings over Masoretic Hebrew), and survives in major ancient codices like Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, and Alexandrinus (4th to 5th centuries CE), making it a key witness to pre-Masoretic biblical texts and early interpretive traditions.

There are earlier texts than the Septuagint (LXX) in the form of original Hebrew (and some Aramaic) compositions and manuscripts that the LXX translated. The Hebrew Bible books were composed over centuries, with the Pentateuch likely reaching near-final form by the 5th to 4th centuries BCE (post-exilic period), the Prophets largely by the 6th–5th centuries BCE, and the Writings finalized later.

The earliest surviving physical Hebrew biblical manuscripts predate or overlap with the LXX's creation (starting mid-3rd century BCE for the Torah): the Dead Sea Scrolls (ca. mid-3rd century BCE to 1st century CE) include Hebrew copies from as early as the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE, close in time to the LXX's translation but representing the Hebrew source texts (or similar variants) that the Alexandrian Jewish scholars used. Even older are tiny pre-Dead Sea Scroll artifacts like the Ketef Hinnom silver amulets (ca. late 7th to 6th centuries BCE), inscribed with a version of the priestly blessing from Numbers 6, providing the oldest direct biblical text fragments.

No complete pre-LXX Hebrew Bible survives, as earlier manuscripts are lost, but these witnesses confirm Hebrew originals centuries older than the Greek translation or its surviving manuscript fragments (oldest LXX papyri from 2nd century BCE).

The Ketef Hinnom amulets (also called Ketef Hinnom scrolls) are two tiny silver scrolls discovered in 1979 by archaeologist Gabriel Barkay in a late Iron Age burial cave (Tomb repository) at Ketef Hinnom, southwest of Jerusalem's Old City. Dating paleographically and archaeologically to the late 7th or early 6th century BCE (ca. 650 to 587 BCE, pre-Babylonian exile/First Temple period), they represent the oldest surviving physical texts containing biblical material - centuries older than the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Rolled up like small cylinders (resembling cigarette butts when found), they were likely worn as protective amulets around the neck. The larger one (KH1) unrolls to about 9.7 cm × 2.7 cm with 18 lines; the smaller (KH2) to about 3.9 cm × 1.1 cm. Inscribed in tiny paleo-Hebrew script with a fine stylus on nearly pure silver sheets, they contain variations of the Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:24 - 26 ("May YHWH bless you and keep you; May YHWH make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; May YHWH lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace"), plus phrases echoing Deuteronomy 7:9 (covenant-keeping God). The texts include the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) and show close fidelity to later biblical versions, attesting to early transmission of Torah material in personal devotional use.

These artifacts are hailed as one of the most significant finds in biblical archaeology for evidencing pre-exilic Hebrew scripture and the antiquity of specific pentateuchal passages

Here are images of the amulets: