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108-692: The text of the canticle is taken from the Gospel of Luke ( 1:46–55 ) where it is spoken by Mary upon the occasion of her Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth . In the narrative, after Mary greets Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist , the latter moves within Elizabeth's womb. Elizabeth praises Mary for her faith (using words partially reflected in the Hail Mary ), and Mary responds with what

216-638: A Magnificat . Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament 's four canonical Gospels . It tells of the origins, birth , ministry , death , resurrection , and ascension of Jesus . Together with the Acts of the Apostles , it makes up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts , accounting for 27.5% of the New Testament. The combined work divides

324-516: A critical apparatus with diacritical marks indicating to which version each line (Gr. στίχος) belonged. Perhaps the Hexapla was never copied in its entirety, but Origen's combined text was copied frequently (eventually without the editing marks) and the older uncombined text of the Septuagint was neglected. The combined text was the first major Christian recension of the Septuagint, often called

432-592: A libretto by Helmut Schlegel includes the full Latin text of the Magnificat, expanded by writings of Clare of Assisi , Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis . In Nicaragua , the Magnificat is a favorite prayer among many peasants and is often carried as a sacramental . During the Somoza years, campesinos were required to carry proof of having voted for Somoza; this document was mockingly referred to as

540-696: A Greek-English interlinear Septuagint. It includes the Greek books of the Hebrew canon (without the apocrypha) and the Greek New Testament; the whole Bible is numerically coded to a new version of the Strong numbering system created to add words not present in the original numbering by Strong. The edition is set in monotonic orthography . The version includes a Bible concordance and index. The Orthodox Study Bible , published in early 2008, features

648-646: A Magnificat in every major key, and Herbert Howells published 18 settings over his career, including the Collegium Regale setting and the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis for St Paul's Cathedral . An Eastern Orthodox setting of the Magnificat (text in Latin and English) is to be found in the 2011 All-night Vigil (Section 11) by the English composer Clive Strutt. Maria Luise Thurmair wrote in 1954

756-586: A historical justification of the Christian faith – "did it happen?" – but to encourage faith – "what happened, and what does it all mean?" Following the author's preface addressed to his patron and the two birth narratives (John the Baptist and Jesus), the gospel opens in Galilee and moves gradually to its climax in Jerusalem: The structure of Acts parallels the structure of the gospel, demonstrating

864-462: A magician. The disciple Peter is given a notably more positive depiction than the other three gospels, with his failings either occluded or excused, and his merits and role emphasized. Despite this, he follows Mark's narrative more faithfully than does Matthew. Despite being grouped with Matthew and Mark, the Gospel of Luke has a number of parallels with the Gospel of John which are not shared by

972-863: A new translation of the Septuagint based on the Alfred Rahlfs' edition of the Greek text . Two additional major sources have been added: the 1851 Brenton translation and the New King James Version text in places where the translation matches the Hebrew Masoretic text. This edition includes the NKJV New Testament and extensive commentary from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. Nicholas King completed The Old Testament in four volumes and The Bible . Brenton's Septuagint, Restored Names Version (SRNV) has been published in two volumes. The Hebrew-names restoration, based on

1080-479: A number of canonical and non-canonical psalms in the Dead Sea scroll 11QPs(a) (also known as 11Q5), a first-century-CE scroll discovered in 1956. The scroll contains two short Hebrew psalms, which scholars agree were the basis for Psalm 151. The canonical acceptance of these books varies by Christian tradition. It is unclear to what extent Alexandrian Jews accepted the authority of the Septuagint. Manuscripts of

1188-407: A setting of the Latin text for soloists, choir, and orchestra, as did Johann Sebastian Bach in his Magnificat (1723, rev. 1733). Other notable examples include C.P.E. Bach's Magnificat and two extant settings by Jan Dismas Zelenka (ZWV 106 is missing). Anton Bruckner composed a Magnificat for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. Rachmaninoff and, more recently, John Rutter also composed

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1296-408: A setting , inserting additions into the text. Dieter Schnebel wrote a Magnificat in 1996/97 for small choir (schola), percussion and additional instruments ad libitum. Arvo Pärt composed a setting for choir a cappella . Kim André Arnesen 's Magnificat for choir, strings, piano, and organ premiered in 2010. The Taizé Community have also composed an ostinato setting of the text. Together with

1404-505: A single author, providing the framework for both the Church's liturgical calendar and the historical outline into which later generations have fitted their idea of the story of Jesus . The author is not named in either volume. According to a Church tradition, first attested by Irenaeus ( c.  130  – c.  202 AD), he was the Luke named as a companion of Paul in three of

1512-437: A stronger Greek influence. The Septuagint may also clarify pronunciation of pre- Masoretic Hebrew; many proper nouns are spelled with Greek vowels in the translation, but contemporary Hebrew texts lacked vowel pointing . However, it is unlikely that all Biblical Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. The Septuagint does not consist of a single, unified corpus. Rather, it is a collection of ancient translations of

1620-614: Is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud : King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one, without revealing to them why they were summoned. He entered each one's room and said: "Write for me the Torah of Moshe , your teacher". God put it in the heart of each one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria writes that

1728-560: Is always sung at Matins . The Magnificat may also be sung during worship services, especially in the Advent season during which these verses are traditionally read. Mary's Magnificat, recorded only in Luke's Gospel, is one of four hymns, distilled from a collection of early Jewish-Christian canticles, which complement the promise-fulfillment theme of Luke's infancy narrative . These songs are Mary's Magnificat; Zechariah's Benedictus (1:67–79);

1836-635: Is appended to the canticle, but is not part of Luke's Gospel. Traditional Modern The oldest (likely original) version of the Magnificat was written in Koine Greek . In Eastern Orthodox worship, the Ode of the Theotokos is accompanied by the following refrain sung between the verses (a sticheron ) and a megalynarion , which is the second part of the Axion Estin hymn: Amharic In

1944-465: Is by reading Luke in the context of similar Greco-Roman divine saviour figures (Roman emperors are an example), references which would have made clear to Luke's readers that Jesus was the greatest of all saviours. A third is to approach Luke through his use of the Old Testament, those passages from Jewish scripture which he cites to establish that Jesus is the promised Messiah. While much of this

2052-578: Is disputed. Papyrus 75 (= Papyrus Bodmer XIV–XV) is another very early manuscript (late 2nd/early 3rd century), and it includes an attribution of the Gospel to Luke. The oldest complete texts are the 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus , both from the Alexandrian family; Codex Bezae , a 5th- or 6th-century Western text-type manuscript that contains Luke in Greek and Latin versions on facing pages, appears to have descended from an offshoot of

2160-447: Is familiar, much also is missing: for example, Luke makes no clear reference to Christ's pre-existence or to the Christian's union with Christ, and makes relatively little reference to the concept of atonement: perhaps he felt no need to mention these ideas, or disagreed with them, or possibly he was simply unaware of them. Even what Luke does say about Christ is ambiguous or even contradictory. For example, according to Luke 2:11 Jesus

2268-722: Is found in Isaiah 7:14 , in which the Hebrew word עַלְמָה ‎ ( ‘almāh , which translates into English as "young woman") is translated into the Koine Greek as παρθένος ( parthenos , which translates into English as "virgin"). The Septuagint became synonymous with the Greek Old Testament, a Christian canon incorporating the books of the Hebrew canon with additional texts. Although the Catholic Church and

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2376-644: Is identical in the Septuagint, Vulgate and the Masoretic Text, and Genesis 4:8 to the end of the chapter is the same. There is only one noticeable difference in that chapter, at 4:7: The differences between the Septuagint and the MT fall into four categories: The Biblical manuscripts found in Qumran , commonly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), have prompted comparisons of the texts associated with

2484-435: Is no evidence that the Septuagint included these additional books. These copies of the Septuagint include books known as anagignoskomena in Greek and in English as deuterocanon (derived from the Greek words for "second canon"), books not included in the modern Jewish canon. These books are estimated to have been written between 200 BCE and 50 CE. Among them are the first two books of Maccabees ; Tobit; Judith;

2592-518: Is now known as the Magnificat. Some ancient authorities have Elizabeth, rather than Mary, speaking the Magnificat. The Magnificat is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn . Within the whole of Christianity, the canticle is most frequently recited within the Liturgy of the Hours . In Western Christianity , the Magnificat is most often sung or recited during

2700-468: Is part of the sung Vespers, many composers, beginning in the Renaissance , set the words to music, for example Claudio Monteverdi in his Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610). Henry Dumont , André Campra (1713), Antoine-Esprit Blanchard (1741), Marc-Antoine Charpentier , 10 settings (H.72, H.73, H.74, H.75, H.76, H.77, H.78, H.79, H.80, H.81), François Giroust (12 settings), Vivaldi composed

2808-699: The Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran . Sirach , whose text in Hebrew was already known from the Cairo Geniza , has been found in two scrolls (2QSir or 2Q18, 11QPs_a or 11Q5) in Hebrew. Another Hebrew scroll of Sirach has been found in Masada (MasSir). Five fragments from the Book of Tobit have been found in Qumran: four written in Aramaic and one written in Hebrew (papyri 4Q, nos. 196-200). Psalm 151 appears with

2916-770: The Eastern Orthodox Church include most of the books in the Septuagint in their canons, Protestant churches usually do not. After the Reformation , many Protestant Bibles began to follow the Jewish canon and exclude the additional texts (which came to be called the Apocrypha) as noncanonical. The Apocrypha are included under a separate heading in the King James Version of the Bible. All

3024-599: The Gospel of Mark , Marcion's gospel lacked any nativity story, and Luke's account of the baptism of Jesus was absent. The Gospel of Marcion also omitted Luke's parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son . Septuagint The Septuagint ( / ˈ s ɛ p tj u ə dʒ ɪ n t / SEP -tew-ə-jint ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of

3132-641: The Hexaplar recension . Two other major recensions were identified in the century following Origen by Jerome , who attributed these to Lucian (the Lucianic, or Antiochene, recension) and Hesychius (the Hesychian, or Alexandrian, recension). The oldest manuscripts of the Septuagint include 2nd-century-BCE fragments of Leviticus and Deuteronomy (Rahlfs nos. 801, 819, and 957) and 1st-century-BCE fragments of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and

3240-539: The Jews of Alexandria were likely to have been the writers of the Septuagint, but dismisses Aristeas' account as a pious fiction . Instead, he asserts that the real origin of the name "Septuagint" pertains to the fact that the earliest version was forwarded by the authors to the Jewish Sanhedrin at Alexandria for editing and approval. The Jews of Alexandria celebrated the translation with an annual festival on

3348-656: The Letter of Jeremiah , the Book of Odes , the Prayer of Manasseh and Psalm 151 are included in some copies of the Septuagint. The Septuagint has been rejected as scriptural by mainstream Rabbinic Judaism for a couple of reasons. First, the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew source texts in many cases (particularly in the Book of Job ). Second, the translations appear at times to demonstrate an ignorance of Hebrew idiomatic usage. A particularly noteworthy example of this phenomenon

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3456-717: The Letter of Jeremiah , which became chapter six of Baruch in the Vulgate ; the additions to Daniel ( The Prayer of Azarias , the Song of the Three Children , Susanna , and Bel and the Dragon ); the additions to Esther ; 1 Maccabees ; 2 Maccabees ; 3 Maccabees ; 4 Maccabees ; 1 Esdras ; Odes (including the Prayer of Manasseh ); the Psalms of Solomon , and Psalm 151 . Fragments of deuterocanonical books in Hebrew are among

3564-638: The MT seemed doubtful" Modern scholarship holds that the Septuagint was written from the 3rd through the 1st centuries BCE, but nearly all attempts at dating specific books (except for the Pentateuch, early- to mid-3rd century BCE) are tentative. Later Jewish revisions and recensions of the Greek against the Hebrew are well-attested. The best-known are Aquila (128 CE), Symmachus , and Theodotion. These three, to varying degrees, are more-literal renderings of their contemporary Hebrew scriptures compared to

3672-717: The Magnificat is always sung during the Matins service before the Irmos of the ninth ode of the canon (except on greater feasts of the Lord or the Theotokos, where the magnificat is excluded completely). After each biblical verse, i.e. as a sticheron , the following megalynarion or troparion is sung: More honourable than the Cherubim , and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim , without corruption thou gavest birth to God

3780-654: The Magnificat —the Cantate Domino , Psalm 98 —and some Anglican rubrics allow for a wider selection of canticles, but the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis remain the most popular. In Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic services, the Magnificat is generally followed by the Gloria Patri . It is also commonly used among Lutherans at the Feast of the Visitation (July 2). In Eastern Orthodox liturgical practice,

3888-528: The Nunc dimittis , the Magnificat is a regular part of the Anglican Evensong . The "Mag and Nunc" has been set by many composers – such as Thomas Tallis , Ralph Vaughan Williams , Herbert Sumsion , Charles Wood and John Tavener – of Anglican church music , often for choir a cappella or choir and organ. Since the canticles are sung every day at some cathedrals , Charles Villiers Stanford wrote

3996-467: The Old Testament of his Vulgate from Hebrew rather than Greek. His choice was sharply criticized by Augustine , his contemporary. Although Jerome argued for the superiority of the Hebrew texts in correcting the Septuagint on philological and theological grounds, because he was accused of heresy he also acknowledged the Septuagint texts. Acceptance of Jerome's version increased, and it displaced

4104-496: The Septuagint . As with other canticles and psalms, Western liturgical tradition usually adds the doxology known as Gloria Patri to the end of the Magnificat. This is not found in the original text. In a style reminiscent of Old Testament poetry and song , Mary praises the Lord in alignment with this structure: The Gloria Patri is appended to the canticle but is not part of Luke's Gospel. The Gloria Patri

4212-545: The Tanakh , along with other Jewish texts that are now commonly referred to as apocrypha . Importantly, the canon of the Hebrew Bible was evolving over the century or so in which the Septuagint was being written. Also, the texts were translated by many different people, in different locations, at different times, for different purposes, and often from different original Hebrew manuscripts. The Hebrew Bible , also called

4320-490: The Tanakh , has three parts: the Torah ("Law"), the Nevi'im ("Prophets"), and the Ketuvim ("Writings"). The Septuagint has four: law, history, poetry, and prophets. The books of the Apocrypha were inserted at appropriate locations. Extant copies of the Septuagint, which date from the 4th century CE, contain books and additions not present in the Hebrew Bible as established in the Jewish canon and are not uniform in their contents. According to some scholars, there

4428-436: The Twelve Minor Prophets ( Alfred Rahlfs nos. 802, 803, 805, 848, 942, and 943). Relatively-complete manuscripts of the Septuagint postdate the Hexaplar recension, and include the fourth-century-CE Codex Vaticanus and the fifth-century Codex Alexandrinus . These are the oldest-surviving nearly-complete manuscripts of the Old Testament in any language; the oldest extant complete Hebrew texts date to about 600 years later, from

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4536-411: The Twelve Tribes of Israel —from Jerusalem to Alexandria to translate the Tanakh from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek, for inclusion in his library . This narrative is found in the possibly pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, and is repeated by Philo of Alexandria , Josephus (in Antiquities of the Jews ), and by later sources (including Augustine of Hippo). It

4644-409: The Word : true Theotokos , we magnify thee. As a canticle, the Magnificat has frequently been set to music. Most compositions were originally intended for liturgical use, especially for Vesper services and celebrations of the Visitation, but some are also performed in concert . In the Catholic Church, the Enchiridion Indulgentiarum of 2004 provides for partial indulgence . As the Magnificat

4752-415: The history of first-century Christianity into three stages, with the gospel making up the first two of these – the life of Jesus the messiah ( Christ ) from his birth to the beginning of his mission in the meeting with John the Baptist , followed by his ministry with events such as the Sermon on the Plain and its Beatitudes , and his Passion , death, and resurrection. Most modern scholars agree that

4860-477: The 2nd century BCE, and early manuscripts datable to the 2nd century BCE. After the Torah, other books were translated over the next two to three centuries. It is unclear which was translated when, or where; some may have been translated twice (into different versions), and then revised. The quality and style of the translators varied considerably from book to book, from a literal translation to paraphrasing to an interpretative style. The translation process of

4968-420: The English translation. Reflecting on those problems, American orientalist Robert W. Rogers (d. 1930) noted in 1921: "it is most unfortunate that Syria and Syrians ever came into the English versions. It should always be Aram and the Aramaeans". The first English translation (which excluded the apocrypha) was Charles Thomson's in 1808 , which was revised and enlarged by C. A. Muses in 1954 and published by

5076-555: The Falcon's Wing Press. The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English was translated by Lancelot Brenton in 1854. It is the traditional translation, and most of the time since its publication it has been the only one readily available. It has also been continually in print. The translation, based on the Codex Vaticanus , contains the Greek and English texts in parallel columns. It has an average of four footnoted, transliterated words per page, abbreviated Alex and GK . The Complete Apostles' Bible (translated by Paul W. Esposito)

5184-422: The Gospel of Luke clearly admired Paul, but his theology was significantly different from Paul's on key points and he does not (in Acts) represent Paul's views accurately. He was educated, a man of means, probably urban, and someone who respected manual work, although not a worker himself; this is significant, because more high-brow writers of the time looked down on the artisans and small business-people who made up

5292-406: The Gospel of Luke fall into two "families" with considerable differences between them, the Western and the Alexandrian text-type , and the dominant view is that the Western text represents a process of deliberate revision, as the variations seem to form specific patterns. The fragment 𝔓 is often cited as the oldest witness. It has been dated from the late 2nd century, although this dating

5400-484: The Greco-Roman world at large. He begins his gospel with a preface addressed to " Theophilus ": the name means "Lover of God", and could refer to any Christian, though most interpreters consider it a reference to a Christian convert and Luke's literary patron. Here he informs Theophilus of his intention, which is to lead his reader to certainty through an orderly account "of the events that have been fulfilled among us." He did not, however, intend to provide Theophilus with

5508-468: The Hebrew Bible (including the Septuagint). Emanuel Tov , editor of the translated scrolls, identifies five broad variants of DSS texts: The textual sources present a variety of readings; Bastiaan Van Elderen compares three variations of Deuteronomy 32:43, the Song of Moses : The text of all print editions is derived from the recensions of Origen, Lucian, or Hesychius: One of the main challenges, faced by translators during their work, emanated from

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5616-405: The Hebrew Bible. In the Greek translation, the region of Aram was commonly labeled as "Syria", while Arameans were labeled as "Syrians". Such adoption and implementation of terms that were foreign ( exonymic ) had far-reaching influence on later terminology related to Arameans and their lands, since the same terminology was reflected in later Latin and other translations of the Septuagint, including

5724-464: The Hebrew text was, according to Irenaeus, interpreted by Theodotion and Aquila (Jewish converts ), as a "young woman" who would conceive. Again according to Irenaeus, the Ebionites used this to claim that Joseph was the biological father of Jesus. To him that was heresy facilitated by late anti-Christian alterations of the scripture in Hebrew, as evident by the older, pre-Christian Septuagint. Jerome broke with church tradition, translating most of

5832-481: The Hebrew text when it is unclear, corrupted, or ambiguous. According to the New Jerusalem Bible foreword, "Only when this (the Masoretic Text) presents insuperable difficulties have emendations or other versions, such as the [...] LXX, been used." The translator's preface to the New International Version reads, "The translators also consulted the more important early versions (including) the Septuagint [...] Readings from these versions were occasionally followed where

5940-467: The Jewish community. The Septuagint therefore satisfied a need in the Jewish community. The term "Septuagint" is derived from the Latin phrase Vetus Testamentum ex versione Septuaginta Interpretum ("The Old Testament from the version of the Seventy Translators"). This phrase in turn was derived from the Ancient Greek : Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα , romanized :  hē metáphrasis tôn hebdomḗkonta , lit.   'The Translation of

6048-410: The Jews ( Antiquities of the Jews ). All three authors anchor the histories of their respective peoples by dating the births of the founders (Romulus, Moses, and Jesus) and narrate the stories of the founders' births from God, so that they are sons of God. Each founder taught authoritatively, appeared to witnesses after death, and ascended to heaven. Crucial aspects of the teaching of all three concerned

6156-403: The Old Greek (the original Septuagint). Modern scholars consider one (or more) of the three to be new Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible. Although much of Origen 's Hexapla (a six-version critical edition of the Hebrew Bible) is lost, several compilations of fragments are available. Origen kept a column for the Old Greek (the Septuagint), which included readings from all the Greek versions in

6264-584: The Oriental Orthodox Church Scripture of Ethiopia according to the Ye' Luqas Wongel, Gospel of Luqas (Luke): 46፤ ማርያምም እንዲህ አለች። 47፤ ነፍሴ ጌታን ታከብረዋለች፥ መንፈሴም በአምላኬ በመድኃኒቴ ሐሴት ታደርጋለች፤ 48፤ የባሪያይቱን ውርደት ተመልክቶአልና። እነሆም፥ ከዛሬ ጀምሮ ትውልድ ሁሉ ብፅዕት ይሉኛል፤ 49፤ ብርቱ የሆነ እርሱ በእኔ ታላቅ ሥራ አድርጎአልና፤ ስሙም ቅዱስ ነው። 50፤ ምሕረቱም ለሚፈሩት እስከ ትውልድና ትውልድ ይኖራል። 51፤ በክንዱ ኃይል አድርጎአል፤ ትዕቢተኞችን በልባቸው አሳብ በትኖአል፤ 52፤ ገዥዎችን ከዙፋናቸው አዋርዶአል፤ ትሑታንንም ከፍ አድርጎአል፤ 53፤ የተራቡትን በበጎ ነገር አጥግቦአል፤ ባለ ጠጎችንም ባዶአቸውን ሰዶአቸዋል። 54-55፤ ለአባቶቻችን እንደ ተናገረ፥ ለአብርሃምና ለዘሩ ለዘላለም ምሕረቱ ትዝ እያለው እስራኤልን ብላቴናውን ረድቶአል። The translation of

6372-400: The Pauline letters, but "a critical consensus emphasizes the countless contradictions between the account in Acts and the authentic Pauline letters." An example can be seen by comparing Acts' accounts of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31, Acts 22:6–21, and Acts 26:9–23) with Paul's own statement that he remained unknown to Christians in Judea after that event (Galatians 1:17–24). The author of

6480-435: The Roman Empire and Judaism. Regarding the Empire, Luke makes clear that, while Christians are not a threat to the established order, the rulers of this world hold their power from Satan, and the essential loyalty of Christ's followers is to God and this world will be the kingdom of God, ruled by Christ the King. Regarding the Jews, Luke emphasises the fact that Jesus and all his earliest followers were Jews, although by his time

6588-446: The Septuagint initially in Alexandria but elsewhere as well. The Septuagint also formed the basis for the Slavonic , Syriac , Old Armenian , Old Georgian , and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament . The Septuagint is written in Koine Greek. Some sections contain Semiticisms , which are idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages such as Hebrew and Aramaic . Other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs , have

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6696-408: The Septuagint and from the Septuagint into other versions can be divided into several stages: the Greek text was produced within the social environment of Hellenistic Judaism , and completed by 132 BCE. With the spread of Early Christianity , this Septuagint in turn was rendered into Latin in a variety of versions and the latter, collectively known as the Vetus Latina , were also referred to as

6804-450: The Septuagint have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and were thought to have been in use among various Jewish sects at the time. Several factors led most Jews to abandon the Septuagint around the second century CE. The earliest gentile Christians used the Septuagint out of necessity, since it was the only Greek version of the Bible and most (if not all) of these early non- Jewish Christians could not read Hebrew. The association of

6912-444: The Septuagint was given to Ptolemy two days before the annual Tenth of Tevet fast. According to Aristobulus of Alexandria 's fragment 3, portions of the Law were translated from Hebrew into Greek long before the well-known Septuagint version. He stated that Plato and Pythagoras knew the Jewish Law and borrowed from it. In the preface to his 1844 translation of the Septuagint , Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton acknowledges that

7020-404: The Septuagint with a rival religion may have made it suspect in the eyes of the newer generation of Jews and Jewish scholars. Jews instead used Hebrew or Aramaic Targum manuscripts later compiled by the Masoretes and authoritative Aramaic translations, such as those of Onkelos and Rabbi Yonathan ben Uziel . Perhaps most significant for the Septuagint, as distinct from other Greek versions,

7128-412: The Septuagint's Old Latin translations . The Eastern Orthodox Church prefers to use the Septuagint as the basis for translating the Old Testament into other languages, and uses the untranslated Septuagint where Greek is the liturgical language. Critical translations of the Old Testament which use the Masoretic Text as their basis consult the Septuagint and other versions to reconstruct the meaning of

7236-413: The Septuagint. Matthew 2:23 is not present in current Masoretic tradition either; according to Jerome , however, it was in Isaiah 11:1 . The New Testament writers freely used the Greek translation when citing the Jewish scriptures (or quoting Jesus doing so), implying that Jesus, his apostles, and their followers considered it reliable. In the early Christian Church, the presumption that the Septuagint

7344-418: The Septuagint. The Books of Chronicles , known collectively as Παραλειπομένων (Of Things Left Out) supplement Reigns. The Septuagint organizes the minor prophets in its twelve-part Book of Twelve, as does the Masoretic Text. Some ancient scriptures are found in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew Bible. The books are Tobit ; Judith ; the Wisdom of Solomon ; Wisdom of Jesus son of Sirach ; Baruch and

7452-420: The Seventy ( Ancient Greek : Ἡ μετάφρασις τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα , romanized :  Hē metáphrasis tôn Hebdomḗkonta ), and often abbreviated as LXX , is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Hebrew . The full Greek title derives from the story recorded in the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates that "the laws of the Jews" were translated into the Greek language at

7560-482: The Seventy'. It was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo (354–430 CE) that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures was called by the Latin term Septuaginta . The Roman numeral LXX (seventy) is commonly used as an abbreviation, in addition to G {\displaystyle {\mathfrak {G}}} or G . According to tradition, Ptolemy II Philadelphus (the Greek Pharaoh of Egypt) sent seventy-two Hebrew translators —six from each of

7668-418: The Wisdom of Solomon; Sirach; Baruch (including the Letter of Jeremiah), and additions to Esther and Daniel. The Septuagint version of some books, such as Daniel and Esther , are longer than those in the Masoretic Text , which were affirmed as canonical in Rabbinic Judaism . The Septuagint Book of Jeremiah is shorter than the Masoretic Text. The Psalms of Solomon , 1 Esdras , 3 Maccabees , 4 Maccabees ,

7776-582: The angels' Gloria in Excelsis Deo (2:13–14); and Simeon's Nunc dimittis (2:28–32). In form and content, these four canticles are patterned on the "hymns of praise" in Israel's Psalter . In structure, these songs reflect the compositions of pre-Christian contemporary Jewish hymnology. The first stanza displays graphically a characteristic feature of Hebrew poetry—synonymous parallelism—in ascribing praise to God: "my soul" mirrors "my spirit"; "proclaims

7884-553: The appearance of John the Baptist; second, the epoch of Jesus, in which the Kingdom of God was preached; and finally the period of the Church, which began when the risen Christ was taken into Heaven, and would end with his second coming . Luke's understanding of Jesus – his Christology – is central to his theology. One approach to this is through the titles Luke gives to Jesus: these include, but are not limited to, Christ ( Messiah ), Lord , Son of God , and Son of Man . Another

7992-532: The authentic Pauline letters (the view that the author, not necessarily Luke, met Paul is more common, perhaps including most scholars). The most probable date for its composition is around AD 80–90, and there is evidence that it was still being revised well into the 2nd century. Autographs (original copies) of Luke and the other Gospels have not been preserved; the texts that survive are third-generation copies, with no two completely identical. The earliest witnesses (the technical term for written manuscripts) for

8100-473: The authentic letters of Paul the Apostle . The eclipse of the traditional attribution to Luke the companion of Paul has meant that an early date for the gospel is now rarely put forward. Most scholars date the composition of the combined work to around 80–90 AD, although some others suggest 90–110, and there is textual evidence (the conflicts between Western and Alexandrian manuscript families) that Luke–Acts

8208-632: The books in Western Old Testament biblical canons are found in the Septuagint, although the order does not always coincide with the Western book order. The Septuagint order is evident in the earliest Christian Bibles, which were written during the fourth century. Some books which are set apart in the Masoretic Text are grouped together. The Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings are one four-part book entitled Βασιλειῶν ( Of Reigns ) in

8316-489: The early church of Paul and were presumably Luke's audience. The interpretation of the "we" passages in Acts as indicative that the writer relied on a historical eyewitness (whether Luke the evangelist or not), remains the most influential in current biblical studies. Objections to this viewpoint, among others, include the claim that Luke-Acts contains differences in theology and historical narrative which are irreconcilable with

8424-691: The eastern parts of the Roman Empire at the time and the language of the Greco-Roman Church, while Aramaic was the language of Syriac Christianity . The relationship between the apostolic use of the Septuagint and the Hebrew texts is complicated. Although the Septuagint seems to have been a major source for the Apostles , it is not the only one. St. Jerome offered, for example, Matthew 2:15 and 2:23 , John 19:37, John 7:38, and 1 Corinthians 2:9 as examples found in Hebrew texts but not in

8532-574: The enabling power of the Spirit, expressed through non-discriminatory fellowship ("All who believed were together and had all things in common"), to be the basis of the Christian community. This community can also be understood as the Kingdom of God , although the kingdom's final consummation will not be seen till the Son of Man comes "on a cloud" at the end-time. Luke needed to define the position of Christians in relation to two political and social entities,

8640-463: The first half of the 10th century. The 4th-century Codex Sinaiticus also partially survives, with many Old Testament texts. The Jewish (and, later, Christian) revisions and recensions are largely responsible for the divergence of the codices. The Codex Marchalianus is another notable manuscript. The text of the Septuagint is generally close to that of the Masoretes and Vulgate. Genesis 4:1–6

8748-661: The god who sent Jesus into the world was a different, higher deity than the creator god of Judaism. While no manuscript copies of Marcion's gospel survive, reconstructions of his text have been published by Adolf von Harnack and Dieter T. Roth, based on quotations in the anti- Marcionite treatises of orthodox Christian apologists , such as Irenaeus , Tertullian , and Epiphanius . These early apologists accused Marcion of having "mutilated" canonical Luke by removing material that contradicted his unorthodox theological views. According to Tertullian, Marcion also accused his orthodox opponents of having "falsified" canonical Luke. Like

8856-453: The greatness" with "has found gladness"; "of the Lord" with "in God my Savior." The balance of the opening two lines bursts out into a dual Magnificat of declaring the greatness of and finding delight in God. The third stanza again demonstrates parallelism, but in this instance, three contrasting parallels: the proud are reversed by the low estate, the mighty by those of low degree, and the rich by

8964-465: The hungry. Although there is some scholarly discussion of whether the historical Mary herself actually proclaimed this canticle, Luke portrays her as the singer of this song of reversals and the interpreter of the contemporary events taking place. Mary symbolizes both ancient Israel and the Lucan faith-community as the author/singer of the Magnificat . The canticle echoes several biblical passages, but

9072-698: The hymn into Church Slavonic is as follows: [REDACTED] The text forms a part of the daily office in the Catholic Vespers service, the Lutheran Vespers service, and the Anglican services of Evening Prayer , according to both the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship . In the Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer service, it is usually paired with the Nunc dimittis . The Book of Common Prayer allows for an alternative to

9180-546: The introduction by scribes of "proofs" for their favourite theological tenets. The Holy Spirit plays a more important role in Luke–Acts than in the other gospels. Some scholars have argued that the Spirit's involvement in the career of Jesus is paradigmatic of the universal Christian experience, others that Luke's intention was to stress Jesus' uniqueness as the Prophet of the final age. It is clear, however, that Luke understands

9288-573: The island of Pharos, where the Lighthouse of Alexandria stood—the location where the translation was said to have taken place. During the festival, a large gathering of Jews, along with some non-Jewish visitors, would assemble on the beach for a grand picnic. The 3rd century BCE is supported for the translation of the Pentateuch by a number of factors, including its Greek being representative of early Koine Greek, citations beginning as early as

9396-621: The lyrics for a popular German ecumenical hymn based on the Magnificat, " Den Herren will ich loben ", set to a 1613 melody by Melchior Teschner (that of Valet will ich dir geben ). Timothy Dudley-Smith wrote " Tell Out, My Soul ", a popular paraphrase of the Magnificat, in 1962. Krzysztof Penderecki composed an extended Magnificat for the 1200th anniversary of the Salzburg Cathedral in 1974, for bass soloist, men's and boys' voices, two mixed choirs and orchestra. The oratorio Laudato si' composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on

9504-643: The main evening prayer service: Vespers in the Catholic and Lutheran churches, and Evening Prayer (or Evensong) in Anglicanism . The traditional form is found the Book of Common Prayer (1662) and in Common Worship , as well as the Book of Common Prayer (1928) and Book of Common Prayer (1979) of the Episcopal Church (United States) . In Eastern Christianity , the Magnificat

9612-400: The main manuscript tradition, departing from more familiar readings at many points. Codex Bezae shows comprehensively the differences between the versions which show no core theological significance. The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts . Together they account for 27.5% of the New Testament , the largest contribution by

9720-491: The main sources used for Luke were a), the Gospel of Mark , b), a hypothetical sayings collection called the Q source , and c), material found in no other gospels, often referred to as the L (for Luke) source . The author is anonymous; the traditional view that Luke the Evangelist was the companion of Paul is still occasionally put forward, but the scholarly consensus emphasises the many contradictions between Acts and

9828-566: The majority of Christ-followers were gentiles ; nevertheless, the Jews had rejected and killed the Messiah, and the Christian mission now lay with the gentiles. The gospels of Matthew , Mark and Luke share so much in common that they are called the Synoptics , as they frequently cover the same events in similar and sometimes identical language. The majority opinion among scholars is that Mark

9936-653: The most pronounced allusions are to the Song of Hannah , from the Books of Samuel ( 1 Samuel 2:1–10 ). Scriptural echoes from the Torah , the Prophets , and the Writings complement the main allusions to Hannah's "magnificat of rejoicing". Along with the Benedictus , as well as several Old Testament canticles, the Magnificat is included in the Book of Odes , an ancient liturgical collection found in some manuscripts of

10044-638: The need to implement appropriate Greek forms for various onomastic terms, used in the Hebrew Bible. Most onomastic terms (toponyms, anthroponyms) of the Hebrew Bible were rendered by corresponding Greek terms that were similar in form and sounding, with some notable exceptions. One of those exceptions was related to a specific group of onomastic terms for the region of Aram and ancient Arameans . Influenced by Greek onomastic terminology, translators decided to adopt Greek custom of using "Syrian" labels as designations for Arameans, their lands and language, thus abandoning endonymic (native) terms, that were used in

10152-493: The number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the twelve tribes of Israel . Caution is needed here regarding the accuracy of this statement by Philo of Alexandria , as it implies that the twelve tribes were still in existence during King Ptolemy's reign, and that the Ten Lost Tribes of the twelve tribes had not been forcibly resettled by Assyria almost 500 years previously. Although not all

10260-432: The other synoptics : There are also several other parallels that scholars have identified. Recently, some scholars have proposed that the author of John's gospel may have specifically redacted and responded to the Gospel of Luke. Some time in the 2nd century, the Christian thinker Marcion of Sinope began using a gospel that was very similar to, but shorter than, canonical Luke. Marcion was well known for preaching that

10368-465: The people of the ten tribes were scattered, many peoples of the ten tribes sought refuge in Jerusalem and survived, preserving a remnant of each tribe and their lineages. Jerusalem swelled to five times its prior population due to the influx of refugees. According to later rabbinic tradition (which considered the Greek translation as a distortion of sacred text and unsuitable for use in the synagogue),

10476-459: The relationship between rich and poor and the question of whether "foreigners" were to be received into the people. Mark, written around 70 AD, provided the narrative outline for Luke, but Mark contains comparatively little of Jesus' teachings, and for these Luke likely turned to a hypothesized collection of sayings called Q source , which would have consisted mostly, although not exclusively, of "sayings". Mark and Q account for about 64% of Luke;

10584-584: The remaining material, known as the L source , is of unknown origin and date. Most Q and L-source material is grouped in two clusters, Luke 6:17–8:3 and 9:51–18:14, and L-source material forms the first two sections of the gospel (the preface and infancy and childhood narratives). Luke was written to be read aloud to a group of Jesus-followers gathered in a house to share the Lord's Supper . The author assumes an educated Greek-speaking audience, but directs his attention to specifically Christian concerns rather than to

10692-594: The request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) by seventy-two Hebrew translators —six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel . Biblical scholars agree that the first five books of the Hebrew Bible were translated from Biblical Hebrew into Koine Greek by Jews living in the Ptolemaic Kingdom , centred on the large community in Alexandria , probably in the early or middle part of

10800-400: The speeches of Jesus and the Apostles, as such speeches were the mark of a "full" report, the vehicle through which ancient historians conveyed the meaning of their narratives. He seems to have taken as his model the works of two respected Classical authors, Dionysius of Halicarnassus , who wrote a history of Rome ( Roman Antiquities ), and the Jewish historian Josephus , author of a history of

10908-535: The third century BCE. The remaining books were presumably translated in the 2nd century BCE. Some targums translating or paraphrasing the Bible into Aramaic were also made during the Second Temple period . Few people could speak and even fewer could read in the Hebrew language during the Second Temple period; Koine Greek and Aramaic were the most widely spoken languages at that time among

11016-603: The universality of the divine plan and the shift of authority from Jerusalem to Rome: Luke's theology is expressed primarily through his overarching plot, the way scenes, themes and characters combine to construct his specific worldview. His "salvation history" stretches from the Creation to the present time of his readers, in three ages: first, the time of "the Law and the Prophets", the period beginning with Genesis and ending with

11124-910: Was published in 2007. Using the Masoretic Text in the 23rd Psalm (and possibly elsewhere), it omits the apocrypha. A New English Translation of the Septuagint and the Other Greek Translations Traditionally Included Under that Title (NETS), an academic translation based on the New Revised Standard version (in turn based on the Masoretic Text) was published by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies (IOSCS) in October 2007. The Apostolic Bible Polyglot , published in 2003, features

11232-477: Was still being substantially revised well into the 2nd century. Charlesworth, James H. (2008). The Historical Jesus: An Essential Guide . Abingdon Press. ISBN   978-1-4267-2475-6 . Luke–Acts is a religio-political history of the founder of the church and his successors, in both deeds and words. The author describes his book as a "narrative" ( diegesis ), rather than as a gospel, and implicitly criticises his predecessors for not giving their readers

11340-407: Was that the Septuagint began to lose Jewish sanction after differences between it and contemporary Hebrew scriptures were discovered. Even Greek-speaking Jews tended to prefer other Jewish versions in Greek (such as the translation by Aquila ), which seemed to be more concordant with contemporary Hebrew texts. The Early Christian church used the Greek texts, since Greek was a lingua franca of

11448-726: Was the Christ at his birth, but in Acts 2:36 he becomes Christ at the resurrection, while in Acts 3:20 it seems his messiahship is active only at the parousia , the " second coming "; similarly, in Luke 2:11 he is the Saviour from birth, but in Acts 5:31 he is made Saviour at the resurrection; and he is born the Son of God in Luke 1:32–35, but becomes the Son of God at the resurrection according to Acts 13:33. Many of these differences may be due to scribal error, but others are argued to be deliberate alterations to doctrinally unacceptable passages, or

11556-424: Was the earliest of the three (about 70 AD) and that Matthew and Luke both used this work and the "sayings gospel" known as Q as their basic sources. Luke has both expanded Mark and refined his grammar and syntax, as Mark's Greek writing is less elegant. Some passages from Mark he has eliminated, notably most of chapters 6 and 7, which he apparently felt reflected poorly on the disciples and painted Jesus too much like

11664-491: Was translated by Jews before the time of Christ and that it lends itself more to a Christological interpretation than 2nd-century Hebrew texts in certain places was taken as evidence that "Jews" had changed the Hebrew text in a way that made it less Christological. Irenaeus writes about Isaiah 7:14 that the Septuagint clearly identifies a "virgin" (Greek παρθένος ; bethulah in Hebrew) who would conceive. The word almah in

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