Septuagint - 3ʳᵈ Maccabees: 3rd Maccabees

By Scriptural Research Institute

3ʳᵈ Maccabees happens earlier than 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, set between 217 and 205 BC, and does not include Judas the Hammer (the Maccabee), or his brothers, which implies it is part of a larger collection of Maccabean texts, possibly Jason of Cyrene's now lost five-volume version of Maccabees. If it was part of Jason's version of Maccabees, then

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
• Release date: Dec 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781989604588

Book preview

Septuagint: 3ʳᵈ Maccabees

Septuagint, Volume 24

SCRIPTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Published by Digital Ink Productions, 2024

COPYRIGHT

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Septuagint: 3rd Maccabees

Digital edition. January 5, 2024

Copyright © 2024 Scriptural Research Institute.

ISBN: 978-1-989604-58-8

The Septuagint was translated into Greek and compiled at the Library of Alexandria between 250 and 132 BC. 3ʳᵈ Maccabees was likely composed in Aramaic in the mid-2ⁿᵈ century BC, and was translated into Greek by 132 BC. The fourth version of the Septuagint which included the first 3 books of Maccabees, was published circa 132 BC.

This English translation was created by the Scriptural Research Institute in 2019 through 2024, primarily from the Codex Sinaiticus, although the Codex Alexandrinus was also used for reference.

The image used for the cover is an artistic reinterpretation of ‘Maccabees’ by Wojciech Stattler, painted in 1842.

Note: The notes for this book include multiple ancient scripts. For your convenience, fonts correctly depicting these scripts are embedded in the ebook. If your reader does not support embedded fonts, you will need to install Unicode fonts that cover the ranges for Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphs, Ethiopic, Glagolitic, Greek, Hebrew, Imperial Aramaic, and Phoenician on your reader manually, or you may see blank areas, question marks, or squares where the scripts are used. The Noto fonts from Google cover most of the scripts used, however, will not depict Egyptian hieroglyphs correctly due to current limitations in Unicode.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Forward

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Septuagint Manuscripts

Also Available

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In the mid 3ʳᵈ century BC, King Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt ordered a translation of the ancient Hebrew scriptures for the Library of Alexandria, which resulted in the creation of the Septuagint. The original version, published circa 250 BC, only included the Torah, or in Greek terms, the Pentateuch. The Torah is the five books traditionally credited to Moses, circa 1500 BC: Cosmic Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. According to Jewish tradition, the original Torah was lost when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple of Solomon, and was later rewritten by Ezra the Scribe from memory during the Second Temple period.

It is generally accepted that there were several versions of the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan scriptures before the translation of the Septuagint, mostly written in Canaanite or Aramaic, although the older sections of the Torah appear to have originated in Akkadian Cuneiform.

Four books of Maccabees were ultimately added to the Septuagint, three in the 1ˢᵗ century BC, and the 4ᵗʰ as an appendix in the 1ˢᵗ century AD. No trace of these books has been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they are generally thought to have been written in Greek. 1ˢᵗ and 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees do include several Aramaic loanwords that support an Aramaic source text. The Syriac Bibles also include a 5ᵗʰ Maccabees, which is a translation of book 6 of Josephus’ The Judean War. The Judean War is considered extended canon in the Ethiopic Bibles, however, the Ethiopic Bibles also