Septuagint - 4ᵗʰ Maccabees

By Scriptural Research Institute

4ᵗʰ Maccabees is a philosophical interpretation of 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees. It was added to the Septuagint in the 1ˢᵗ century AD, however, it could have been written anywhere between 140 BC and 100 AD. This text includes more details regarding the torture of the Israelite youths from 2ⁿᵈ Maccabees, which may have come from Jason of Cyrene's original five-

• Language: English
• Publisher: Digital Ink Productions
• Release date: Dec 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781989604595

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Septuagint: 4ᵗʰ Maccabees

Septuagint, Volume 25

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: 4th Maccabees

Digital edition. January 5, 2024

Copyright © 2024 Scriptural Research Institute.

ISBN: 978-1-989604-59-5

The Septuagint was translated into Greek and compiled at the Library of Alexandria between 250 and 132 BC. 4ᵗʰ Maccabees appears to have been composed in Greek, and added as an appendix to the Septuagint in the 1ˢᵗ century AD.

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 ‘The martyrdom of the Maccabees’ by Antonio Ciseri, painted in 1860.

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 Greek, Hebrew, and Samaritan 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 all of the scripts used.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright

Forward

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Septuagint Manuscripts

Also Available

FORWARD

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 include three books of Maccabees, which are not based on the Greek books, or Josephus. An Arabic book of Maccabees also exists, which is often mislabeled as 5ᵗʰ Maccabees in English language literature, because it was initially misidentified as being the same book as Syriac 5ᵗʰ Maccabees. The Arabic book is a translation of a Palestinian Aramaic book from circa 525 AD, which itself appears to be based on the Hebrew book of Maccabees, which surfaced much later.

The Hebrew version of Maccabees was collected with other Hebrew language manuscripts from various eras in a Yiddish compilation in the 1300s. The Hebrew translation of Maccabees was likely composed in Iberia earlier than 500 AD and was probably based on an Aramaic text, along with an Iberian tale about Hannibal. The Aramaic text that was used is closely related to the text found in the Josippon, which is believed to have been composed in southern Italy in the 900s. The Josippon claims to be a